raising turkeys

[Baymule]

Older eggs left in the nest do not necessarily fail as badly as older egg collected and stored by people. There has been some research that indicates that the short times of being warmed by the hens while waiting to lay an egg may be beneficial to their hatchability.

I got a call the other day from some guy wanting me to bring Sweetgrass poults to Denver for him. Ain't gonna happen.

If he wanted them bad enough, he’d come get them. Like you have nothing else to do with your life, but cater to him.

 

[Finnie]

Older eggs left in the nest do not necessarily fail as badly as older egg collected and stored by people. There has been some research that indicates that the short times of being warmed by the hens while waiting to lay an egg may be beneficial to their hatchability.

I got a call the other day from some guy wanting me to bring Sweetgrass poults to Denver for him. Ain't gonna happen.

Well, tonight was lockdown for a different batch, just chicken eggs. But I ended up candling the turkey eggs while I was in there. 7 of the ones I marked “old” or “dirty” had to be thrown out. They were obviously dead and liquified looking. I saw good veins and/or movement in most of the rest. There are 15 left now.

Wow! Asking you to go to Denver seems quite presumptuous! One time I had a caged bird for sale, and someone from Kentucky asked me if I would lower the price since they had to drive a long way. Well of course not! That’s on them, not me.

 

[R2elk]

Wow! Asking you to go to Denver seems quite presumptuous!

The people in Denver seem to have the mistaken idea that Wyoming is a suburb of Denver.

 

[Baymule]

The people in Denver seem to have the mistaken idea that Wyoming is a suburb of Denver.

Probably visiting the dispensary a little too much…….

 

[R2elk]

Probably visiting the dispensary a little too much…….

Probably because there are more people in Denver than there are in the whole State of Wyoming.

 

[BaBaaHMonica]

Update here on my chicks: They are doing great and getting nice feathers. I think I have a boy and a girl as the one is much bigger and keeps pestering the other one for attention. She is smart though and wants nothing to do with him until there is food and then she tolerates his presence. It is like watching PePe' le Puu the little skunk chasing after the cat . LOL They are named Stuffed and Roasted.

The cornish rocks are getting big and feel like they are filling out nicely. I do have a question though ... they seem to be getting feathers, but not around the butt. Should I be changing their feed? The lady at the feed store told me to give a little kitten chow to up the protein, but so far most of them still bald. It might be a good thing so I don't get attached.

 

[Baymule]

The Cornish Cross chickens are only 3 weeks old, they do look a bit scraggly at this point. They really don’t get thick feathers. That makes them easier to pick!

 

[BaBaaHMonica]

Well another update: Stuffed puffed up and his eyes got real big, even his tail fanned out! I picked him up from behind and put him in the other run for a bit to move their run they stay in. I figured that out from the egg layer roosters--they can't peck if they can't see what is holding them. Since i never had turkeys before...raising them is all new. They are starting to loose feathers on the neck and it is getting more red, but i think this is normal as adults get the flap of skin that hangs down.

This is exciting!

 

[misfitmorgan]

We have found putting the meat chickens out on grass as soon as possible helps with them actually getting feathers. To be honest though, you dont eat feathers and everything they put into growing feather is more you have to remove and less put into making size/meat. What are you feeding them?

Our meat birds despite grass and lots of room never have feathered out like laying hens would, we do butcher at 5-6 weeks old though as we only want 4-5lbs birds for our table.

I spent a lot of time with our turkeys while they were in the brooder. They are very friendly and dont mind being picked up. I do hold their neck with one hand when picking them up so they have no chance to peck my face. Not that they would do it out of meaness or anything they are just hardwired to peck anything shiny or glistening. I used that to tame them in the brooder, they were fascinated by my ring because the diamonds caught the light and glittered. They now follow me around everywhere and talk to me almost constantly. The boys do become jerks in spring but I've taught them that I dont mess around with them so they dont challenge me anymore...for now. Some day we will get a turkey fence up.

 

[BaBaaHMonica]

i just finished the medicated chick starter so today they will be getting meat bird crumble. I have a turkey/gambird chick starter for the turkeys. I have been putting kale that i shred in pieces and the turkeys are right there with a look of "what you got??" I put the clump of dirt the kale has around the roots hoping to give them a worm and they don't seem interested. The chicks are too lazy to get some good food. Maybe i should put the kale in before the crumbles? When i move the run, it is quite a production since the chicks don't want to move, I am certain to squish one. The run is a bit to heavy, so i pull it with a rope hooked to the bumper on my jeep.
Since this is our first batch, we are learning and the next ones will have a box to put them into with a door so they move inside the run. The run is plenty big enough, I just have an old wooden box Dad had for firewood in the house for a coop. I have blue tarp held on with ziptiesover the whole fence area. It is truly a bonus to be able to stand up in the run.
and yep they go nuts over my rings. I went through my craft supplies and found some big fake jewels and they go nuts for them. I bought some marbles to put in there too. That seems to satisfy that urge for pecking at shiny things.