The End of The King. TurkZilla is dead.

Friends, yesterday marked the end of an era. TurkZilla, our top turkey.... is dead.

A magnificent foe.

The light in his hateful eye has faded. I will never again gaze upon his regal bearing. Hear his terrible, trumpeting gobble. No more shall mine eye behold his wrathful charge. Gone are the days that I warn visitors, "I can call the dogs back but you are on our own with that turkey." Or yell, "Dog! Get over here and get this stupid turkey off me!"

Dead.

I went out yesterday to the hen house to a quiet calm. I saw TZ on the floor, his feathers akimbo.

"Hey, little buddy....whatcha doing?" I asked hopefully but alas there was no reply.

Nervously I poked him with my boot, ready for him rise like a phoenix, fly into a blind rage, and kill me where I stood.... nothing.

Dang.

Dead.

Real dead.

He wasn't faking it.

The chickens looked at me for guidance. I shrugged.

Then it hit me. TZ is...I mean... was.... my husband's favorite piece of poultry. At one point I wanted to put TZ in a sack and haul his ornery carcass up to the auction where I could fetch a good price but I was denied - and warned - that, and I quote here, "Nothing had better happen to that turkey when I'm gone at work all day!"

There I stood with the dead turkey. My husband would never believe me that TZ just flopped over dead. I considered staging a crime scene as there was no apparent sign of struggle or illness. But I would be found out. I decided to take my chances. I determined to distract my husband with schnitzel when he got home... and then ease him into the news. It had to work.

But first I had to get a huge dead turkey out of my damn hen house.

"Dogs!"  I knew they would help.

Kai carried his head, I took the trotters, and Dog#1 and #2 each took a wing. Zander was in time out for naughtiness or I would have just hooked the huge burden up to Zander's working dog harness and had him haul it out of there.

Reverently we carried the fallen king to the empty Duck Garage. It went mostly as planned.

"Kai! Do NOT chew on his head!"

We left TZ there in a rigor-frozen heap.  Then I went inside to tighten up my story. Everyone knew I hated that stupid turkey. There is no way I wouldn't be blamed.

Later, finally, The Big Man came home. He roared down the driveway and opened the door to his truck.

"Honey!" I yelled from the porch, "The turkey is dead and it's not my fault!"  I probably shouldn't have said that.

He huffed.

Shortly thereafter we made our way up to the Duck Garage. The dogs and I tried to look as innocent as possible. The Big Man opened the door and beheld the sight of the fallen king.

"It looks like he just laid down and died...... of a broken heart because of your hatred for him." Said my husband.

And then The Big Man sighed heavily and turned and lumbered off.

The dogs and I stood there and looked at each other. Kai started to say something but I cut her off, "No, Kai you may not eat that turkey now." She huffed and trotted off after her father. As I watched my husband stalk off towards schnitzel I thought, "At last....I'm free." I could go out in the yard now without risking death by turkey.

Thusly ended the days of TurkZilla. The biggest, meanest, orneriest terror of the barnyard. Farewell now, Good Prince, think no more of the trouble of this world, and go gobble in the halls of your ancestors.

A sad day here, Friends, there will be lamentation later this afternoon, the flag will be flown at half mast, and taps will be played at sundown. Each one of you should hug your turkeys close, you never know when you might go out and find them dead of a broken heart - which was totally not my fault.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Here's Lookin' at YOU, Turkey

We've kind of been in a whirl the last several days. One of the biggest projects was to move the turkeys out of the garage and into the official turkey house. They took to their new digs really well - lots of pippin' and looking around.

 I like how that big one gives me the stink eye at the end. Ha!

Now I need to work on getting them a bigger yard set up. They turned out to be pretty good at free ranging so we are excited about getting them a larger pasture.

Some of the turks are getting really big. One of the biggest toms did a stretch-n-flap move where he kind of got up on his tippy toes and I swear he looked me in the eye. Some of them have feet as big as mine! So we need to get the turkey train moving, if you know what I mean. Last stop, noodles!

Unfortunately we've been distracted with some off farm things. We'll get back on track soon - and then get some of these big guys into a pot pie.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Turkey Progress

Remember these little guys? Well just look at them now!

Turks, now bigger than the buckets.

Our turks are really growing! They are spending most of the day up on the hill pecking around and doing turkey stuff. They are happy to be outside and so are we.

Turkeys love pecking at the grass.

The turkeys are also really entertaining. Probably the funnest part of our day is to take the turkeys up or down the hill. They don't have to go very far but they sure have fun getting there. So do we.

While I was recovering from my recent medical mayhem we might have had an incident known as The Drunk Turkey Drover.... but there is no proof that happened so we just won't talk about it. 

Of course we always have one "Wrong Way Wendell."  It doesn't matter if they are turks, chicks, or ducklings there is always that one guy who won't keep up with the group or who just flat out runs the other way. In this case its Wrong Way Wendellyn - she's a little hen who always panics and flees the other way only to walk in later pippin' and chirpin' like it was entirely normal - she's quite a gal.

As we get closer to the end of September our thoughts turn to the Great Turkey Harvest of 2013. It's going to be turk-i-licious. As usual we will do a rolling harvest. Meaning that we'll butcher a few at a time. By the end of November I fully expect to have a couple 50 pound gobblers out there. The battle will be glorious.

But in the meantime, these young turks are just gonna love being outside and doing turkey stuff.

Happy Sunday everyone!!

Outside Turkeys

I took some of the turkeys outside yesterday. It totally freaked them out.

Turkey, a little freaked out by all the green stuff.

There was a little bit of panic but I got one group to walk out of the garage, up the hill, and into a whacked-together-pen. After a while they kind of loved it. This was their initial reaction.

So excited..and yeah that's Dog#1 who ran past. He helped.

One of the best things about turkeys is all the pippin'. They make a lot of funny noises.

After their big adventure we herded them out of the pen, back down the hill, and into their inside pens. They did a great job and told all their turkey friends about the most amazing place ever, called Outside. They can't wait to go back. 

This turkey hens says, "Hey Outside is great!"

We've had so much heat this week that the turkeys really need to get outside and into the breezy shade. So today I'll be working on getting the rest of them outside.

Happy Friday everyone - hey did you know it's a holiday weekend? We are celebrating by taking our turkeys outside! How about you?

Freakin' the turkeys out with milk

The turkeys are growing like bad weeds. That's the good news. The bad news is that we are going to have to hurry up and get them new accommodations sooner than we thought!

New and expanded turkey pens...we need newer and more expanded pens. Now.

Since these pix at the beginning of August the turkeys have probably doubled in size. They seem to be growing at a rate comparable with the grow out chart on the Meyer Poultry site here.  We've expanded the turkey pens since then but they are growing exponentially so we need to get them into their new digs fast. 

We also have to get them out on pasture. It's a tricky thing. At just over two months their immune systems should now be able to handle anything - including the cocci we know we have in our soil. But with these hot and humid conditions we could be taking a chance. So it's a tough call. We think our best bet is to put them out where it has not been intensely grazed... so that means doing more fencing to expand some areas.

Freakin' turkeys out with milk and corn. They lost their minds.

In the meantime we are freakin' the turkeys out with new things. Including milk. Our big plan, once they got to a certain size, was to feed them out on corn and goat milk like we do with our meat chickens. There's just one problem.....

.... turkeys don't like new things. So we are introducing them to new and amazing things like milk and corn. They were totally freaked out. I have a couple groups who are excited about the milk, one group who are just darn good eaters (their feed bucket is always empty), and one stubborn group who don't like anything new at all. They are going to be the tough ones for sure. But they had better get with the program. We could be calling a few of them to dinner as early at the end of September.

That's the story here. Anybody else growing out their turkeys? How are your gobblers?

Happy Wednesday everyone! Now get out there and freak out your turkeys!

Young Turks Meet the Bucket

Turkeys are not overly stupid. We've found they just don't like new things. Yesterday I introduced them to a water bucket. It blew their minds.

 The bucket was almost too much for them.

We don't let young poultry use an open bucket like this until they are big enough to stand up in it. A bucket of water is the most dangerous thing in the barnyard to little creatures. They must have known since they eyed the bucket with suspicion.

No one was brave enough to belly up to the bucket and get a drink. There were a lot of pips and odd looks... then they shoved someone forward and he got the first drink. The rest of the herd followed. They loved the bucket for the rest of the day.

That one is saying, "What are you kidding me? What is THAT?" Turkey = Mind blown.

Then I really spun their little turkey world on its axis.... I gave them some sunflowers. It was met with surprised resistance. Eventually they started pecking at the flowers. Then they all got exhausted from the new things and so everyone took a nap. Pretty much that's all the excitement turkeys can take for a day.

My big surprise was that they seemingly doubled in size overnight. So I spent the rest of the day shoveling out the garage so I can expand their pens.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Did your turkeys double in size?

T2

This is what I've been working on this morning.....

 Second turkey pen, same as the first. Ratty old hen for scale.

The second turkey pen is set up and half of the young turks have been installed. There was a lot of pipping and flapping but I think they like it. We hope to have less fighting and more growing with these new accommodations.

It's been like September here since the weather broke - sunny and stunning. This morning it was down to about 53* and low, low, low humidity. I have all the windows open.

I also got a tomato! Open the flood gates and let all that tomato-y goodness flow! This is the first of a small but vigorous crop. I can't wait to have tomatoes for every meal.

Happy Thursday everyone - do you have your second turkey pen set up? Did you get any tomatoes today?

Raising Turkeys: Emergency Turkey Management

The funny thing about meat-style birds is that they seem to grow exponentially. We see this a lot with the creepy chicken meat birds but wow the meat style turkeys really surprised us. One day they were cute like this.....

Day One of the Great Turkey Project - new arrivals.

And over night they became this! So we had to implement an emergency turkey plan. We needed to get them out of the house.

They got bigger. Fast. They are now about a month old

As with most day old chicks, the baby turkeys (called poults) started out in a tub in the basement. The peeping is cute for about a day. But then the dust and the noise and the over-interested house cats kind of take the fun out of it. Then the other morning I found that the poults doubled in size over night.

Little turkeys are very small. And adorable. Shoe for scale.

So we needed to spring to action. We quickly shoveled out a spot in the garage and whacked together a pen. Our original plan was to move the meat chickens over to the chicken house and put the poults in the turkey house. But a rascally varmint changed everything. We still haven't caught that slinky mink but we brought in a huge rat haul. We still aren't taking any chances.

The tub set up inside. Totally works like a dream. Until they get too big.

The big differences between meat chickens and meat turkeys (this variety is called Broad Breasted Whites) is that the poults tend to be a little more tender requiring warmer and more stable temperatures...and... well.. the chickens tastes like chicken when its time for dinner.

The poults are also, relatively, very expensive. So you don't want to take any chances with these expensive and not-hardy birds. Starting them inside is a great idea. I got 20 poults for about $99 from Ideal Poultry - which included the tax and shipping. This is the best sale price we've seen all summer.

The new pen set up outside. Totally works like a dream. Until they get bigger.

We decided on an easy to assemble pen based on materials on hand. We used small sections of hog panels for the ends and one half piece for the side. We used fence stables to affix the sides to the posts in the garage and then just tied the side piece together with baling twine. This made a remarkably stable pen. A few shakes of straw and then we proceeded with the turkey transport.

We used fence staples to affix the hog panel sections. Bungee is not necessary but I am over cautious.

Initially we were only going to put half the poults out in the garage but when we saw how happy they were to be in the great outdoors - which they could see from the safety of their pen - we took the rest of them out. Once they were out of the house my allergies immediately improved about 85% so everyone was happy.

We tied the long side of the pen with baling twine. You can use this stuff for anything.

Because we've had the heat dome oppressing us we didn't need any kind of heat source for the poults and they were just about ready to feather out anyway... so they did just fine. We set up a fan in case they got warm but really it was just about the right temperature.

Their initial reaction was stunned silence. They they loved it. 

We are going to expand this pen for them so they have more room and because we figure we can just keep them in there for a while. Like most folks in the Mid-West we really only effectively use about 20% of the space in the garage - which is really a big 1.5 story pole barn. So now that we are properly motivated we are going to do a big clean up and we may just keep the turkeys in there until they are called to dinner.

I kind of had a funny image of opening the big sliding door and a herd of huge turkeys would come wobbling and gobbling out. So if only for laughs I'm going to get that garage cleaned out.

Meat style turkeys can be slaughtered at about 4 months. So by the time the weather cools we'll start hauling in the turkey harvest. But for now these little buddies are my milking partners. They are hilarious at this age - trying to strut and gobble - its very funny.

That's the update so far. Stay tuned for more on how to raise turkeys.

Happy Sunday everyone - do you have turkeys in your house? Garage? In the turkey house where they should be?

Scenes from the First Work Day

Finally! Yesterday I got to work outside - the whole day. It was sunny and not snowing! The Never Ending Winter is losing its grip.....

 Nibbles lookin' very large indeed.

My biggest priority was shoveling out the right side of the Turkey House so we can install Nibbles. She's due to have her babies on our about April 6. But she's looking pretty darn large right now. I don't know if she'll make it that long.

Nibs' little legs are about to buckle under all that weight.

Of course we are doing The Critter Shuffle.... the ducks got evicted from that side of the Turkey House and they are pretty mad about it. But that will be short lived. Very soon our visiting drake will go to his new home. The lady ducks need to get acquainted with the very dapper runner drakes so those gals need to move back to the hen yard.

Keep it up, TZ, and you will be the star of Easter dinner.

The turkeys will stay where they are - for now. TurkZilla has been super aggressive and always on display lately. He's starting to give the ladies a little of the ol' 23-Skiddo... if you know what I mean. We are on the lookout for turkey eggs.  But TZ had better watch his P's & Q's.. I'm about sick of him coming after me. I'm not above having a turkey for Easter dinner.

I love Cindy's beautiful nest.

Next in line for the "Oh Please Pick Me For the Pot" are the geese. Our head gander, OD, and That Speckled One are chasing me all over the darn place. Cindy Lou has started a nest so the ganders are all in a lather. Bunch of hissing galoots! I had just about enough of them and locked them all (except for Cindy) in the turkey coop just so I could get some peace and get my work done. Cindy sat on her beautiful nest.

There was a lot to shovel out of the Turkey House - a long winter's worth of bedding. I had some combination of dogs with me at all time because I knew what lurked deep in the piles of barnyard litter..... When those rats finally made their move they were verily smited and their ruin was thrown down before me. Titan was well pleased with himself - and got a huge meaty bone for this efforts.

The ones that got away will soon meet their doom. Zander and Kai will see what they can dig up today. We need to get all those stupid rats out of the Turkey House before Nibble's little MoneyMakers.... I mean... adorable baby goats arrive. I'm thinking she has at least 4 babies this time. And no we do NOT need to go for another record breaking, boat sinking, net busting haul of babies this time.

Looks like we just got above freezing so I'm gonna get saddled up and head out - we are going to hunt some rats.

Happy Saturday everyone!  Anyone else working outside today?

Crazy Poultry

All of my birds are crazy. Absolutely nuts, if I were to tell you the truth. I think it's because of all the warm days we've had. They might think its spring.

She was giving that "other" turkey the stink eye.

This is Runner, one of my favorite turkey hens. She spent all day "fighting" a new turkey who had moved into her turf. It was an epic battle. She strutted and displayed and snarled and pecked the tarnation right off that other hen.

Who was of course just her reflection in the bumper of the truck.

See how Runner is all puffed up and has her tail displayed?

Last nite I went out to find my other turkey hen strutting around and displaying at her arch nemisis... the wood pile. Something about that fire wood just didn't set right with her and she was fit to be tied.

And then there's the geese. They are always nuts but more so lately. OD, the main gander, has been trying to get ahold of me the last couple of nites. As I'm trying to close their coop door he snakes out his neck, hissing at me, and tries to grab my leg. I have a scar on my arm to prove that he bites pretty hard. The dog doesn't like OD's new game at all. There could be a tussle if that crazy goose keeps it up.

Ganders in the tub. Cindy looks on in wonderment.

Today we are getting a break from the rain - but that just means there's tons of mud. No one is happy but the ducks and they think its great. It's a big flippity, floppity good time out there for them.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

ps Oh! and check it out... I added a new link along the top between "What I know about pigs" and the new store called, "Not Entirely Fiction."  I put all my adventure tails there - linking them at the end of the stories was getting a little complicated. And don't worry, FF, I'm working on Part 3 of The Horn of Battle.

Look who showed up today!

What a joy! Look who showed up today!

Welcome to the world little cutie!

This little baby turkey - called a poult - marched himself right out of the brooder. I was shocked to my shoes. The momma is one of our younger hens - she's the one who I had to take up because her eggs were bad. The day she was up and around both of the other turkey hens ran in and laid eggs. Then the "just got up" hen went in and sat back down on the eggs!

I couldn't convince her to get off the nest so we just let her be. It was a gamble for sure - and very, very hard on her.

She's serious - don't touch her baby!

And now - she's not letting anyone get near her baby. Tonite we'll get her safely into a locking brooder so the other turkey hens, and our tom, don't try and kill the baby. We'll probably need full body armor and leather gloves. She's hissing like a cobra!

In other news.... in a clear declaration of war SOMEONE took some bites out of my most ripe tomato. I've been waiting all year for a vine ripened delight....and this is what I found this morning:

Evidence of garden terrorists.

I'm sending the dogs out on extra patrols tonite. I need a fresh tomato and how.

Happy Friday everyone!  Does anyone have a ripe tomato yet? Is it delicious?

Its not weeds - its a TURKEY!

Another reason we don't randomly go around brush hogging everything down.....

.... that isn't a buncha tall grass - its a hiding spot for a turkey hen and her nest!

We've been looking for this gal for days - and she set her nest about 2 feet from the gate I use about 100 times a day. Kai found her. She was hopping and popping around so I dropped my tools to see what the pup had gotten into....and she found this turkey hen! We think its Turkey Momma - our best setting turkey hen. She has about a dozen eggs under her and she is not budging a bit. She even let me look under to see her beautiful nest and she didn't move an inch.

Kai got a pat on the head and instructions to "leave it." I went to go and find some fence. Of course Turkey Momma couldn't set a nest inside a fenced area so I wrapped some field fencing around her spot to protect her from over interested puppies and varmints. Tomorrow I'll do a better assessment of the situation and we'll find a tarp to put over her.

Happy Thursday everyone! Do you know where all your turkey hens are?

Hoop houses - good for turkeys!

Want turkeys but don't want to build a permanent structure? Have lions, tigers, bears, or wolves so you don't want your birds to run free? Or how about...do you just want a great farm project with a million uses?

Make a hoop house!

Last summer I visited my pal and Farm Master, Bourbon Red, to learn more about how to build a hoop house. You can read the official instructions and get a complete materials list here.

This project was 10x12', used 3 16' panels for the hoop part, a couple of horse fence sections for the end, a tarp for the cover, and a door made of materials on hand. The cost of goods was about $200 and was really pretty easy. You'll need a mitre saw to make a couple of 45* cuts and I'd suggest using deck screws to put the whole thing together (I never nail because I usually rip everything apart at some point). Get a sack of zip ties, some of those heavy duty fence staples, a helper, and you are in business.

If you're short like me the hoop houses are big and roomy enough to walk around in without bonking your head. And you can really fance them up with perches...

and nest boxes.

Five gallon buckets make great nest boxes.

You can use this method to make a hoop house of any size. These big ones can be pulled with a tractor as long as you go slow so you don't run over your birds.

A couple of things I learned about the construction are:

* Use zip ties to secure the hoop panels side by side for additional support.
* Using standard size lumber, the hoop roof will be slightly longer than the base...which is great - you have a slight overhang -- thats the end for your door.
* To make the hoop, secure one end of the panel loosely on the top of one of the rails with those big fence staples, then gently walk toward the base with the other end of the panel (the panel will arch up to make the hoop roof), and have someone hold it in place on that second side rail while you whack in the staples.  Then go back and secure the staples on the first side.

Closed end. Turkeys happily popping all around.

Door end, see the over hang?

For smaller birds you probably want to run chicken wire on the inside of the hoop to keep them in... or to keep predators out. We are pretty cautious so we'd probably lock our birds inside a permanent structure (coop in a house) at night. But I know folks who don't. If you are concerned you could run hot wires/electric mesh around the yard as extra protection.

There are tons of uses for hoop houses - for creepy meat chickens, for instance. And being able to move it around allows them to graze on fresh grass without worrying about their safety. You could also use structures like this for small stock or for storing hay or straw. Or remove the tarp and use plastic and you have a green house.

This is definitely going to be one of our projects this summer. Who's hoopin' with me?

Building the turkey house

So now you've decided to run right out and get a gaggle of turkeys but ... where to you put them? As we learned here, I am the Fred Sandford of farming. I kid you not, I can make something out of just about nothing. Such was the case when I framed in a badly used, yet still structurally sound, shed that was here when we arrived at this property. My brother-in-law, who is a contractor said I should just push the whole thing over, but come on.. its me. So I made do with what I had.

We started with just a plain, three sided shed with a metal roof. So far its housed geese and ducks and turkeys and creepy meats and guineas and even the pigs at one point. After the first winter where it served as a goose day area, I set to framing in the turkey coop on the left. I built a raised floor, framed in the 8x8 area, built the door, and screened the whole thing in using chicken wire. It would have been better to use that wire mesh fabric stuff - but its expensive and since we subscribe to a "coop within a house" theory, we figured it was OK.

The exterior back and side walls is just that exterior siding stuff. We cut a simple hatch/hinged door in the back for the turkey to get to their yard. Inside there are 2 laying boxes (on the floor) and a perch for the birds to roost. It is not fancy but it gets the job done. The coops are set back a couple of feet from the front edge of the building. This allowed a walkway between the exterior doors/wall and the coops.

We used that open area for storage, but then quickly figured out that we could build a 3rd coop right in the center. Our guineas live there now - totally separate from the turks. Aside from the dogs, the guineas are our best watchdogs and therefore are good neighbors for our most valuable birds.

The graveled side on the right is show just before it was framed in much like the turkey side. Instead of a raised floor we decided on just gravel. At that time we figured the ducks could live with the turks - wow that was a huge mistake that I hope you folks don't make. I spent most of the summer with a pick axe trying to dig down 6 inches thru cement-like mud to improve the drainage on that side for waterfowl. Drainage works great now but the ducks aren't going to live here again.

Now we use the right side as a brooder for our turkey hens. This works great. However, we may try and pour cement into the floor. This winter we've had a lot of rats digging around in there. When the weather warms up we'll lock our Shine, King of Barncats, in there for a few nights. Then we'll see who's laughing.  But we'll still probably pour the floor.

This shows the completed, framed in turkey house.

See that we've  added doors on both sides. The guinea coop is between those doors at the center window. We still have an open area between the exterior and interior doors of each coop. The windows were cheap cast offs at a surplus building supply, the doors are just extra heavy exterior siding reinforced with 1x3's (see the propped open door). And we used regular exterior siding to finish off the rest.

If you were to walk up to that open door on the right you would see...

This! See the new coop on the right. It is framed in and covered with chicken wire. The coop door (shown open) is locked up at night so whoever lives there is behind two doors. All of our exterior doors are locked with a clasp that will at least slow down a tricky raccoon. And the interior doors have a different type of clasp. We figure if raccoons or coyotes get into the first door, the guineas will start raising a ruckus and give me enough time to go charging out there, dogs and guns blazing.

There are lots of great plans out there for "real" turkey shelters. Most extension offices have plans or you can find them online here. Or I remember that the Storey's Guide had great info on what you'll need.

With turkeys remember that you need a pretty big hatch-type door for a bird that can be 35 lbs or larger...and you need really good ventilation. Don't worry about it being too cold. Heritage breed turks are extremely winter hardy and like most stock they really just need to be out of the wind.

As far as feeders and accouterments we keep it simple. We like buckets for drinkers (unless there are poults then use a "real" drinker!) and just a $3.99 round metal pan for a feeder. Easy peasy.

So now you have your order for poults in and your gumption up - now get out there and frame up a turkey house!

Anybody else have questions on turkeys? We can just keep this turkey train rolling if you'd like.

Fast talkin' turkey

Chai Chai has some questions yesterday about turkeys... so I thought I'd rattle off the answers here in a post while I'm waiting for some creepy meat to be fried up in a pan. Hows this for some fast talkin' about turkey?

Bramble - one of our favorite turkey hens 

Do they put themselves away at night like chickens?

Yep! Just like most poultry, they like to have one place to roost and they like a routine. You'll have to train them to go in at night but as long as you are consistent, go out at least an hour before sunset, and you have somewhere safe for them to go in...they will start moseying toward home. They will go in unassisted - for the most part.  But expect to put them away every night to do a beak count and make sure everyone made it. We herd ours in like we do with everyone else. You can just slowly walk behind them with your arms out wide and sing "Hey turkeyburkies! Go to bed!"

Or send your hard workin' farm dogs out there. 

If you don't scoot them in at least an hour before sunset they may take matters into their own hands and roost where ever. Usually the most convenient place for predators to eat them. They panic in the dark so don't wait!


If not do they hang around like goats or sheep so the round-up isn't too difficult?

Its pretty easy peasy. We've had two very hard turkey round ups. All because we waited to long.

Do they live in your barn or do they have their own shed?
They have their own shed and we lock them up tight. The guineas have a coop in the turkey house but they are completely separated.

Everyone is different but we do not house turks with the other birds because....
* No ducks/geese because... waterfowl are really wet and can cause cocci to bloom in your soil and your turkeys will flop over dead.
* No chickens because... turkeys are highly susceptible to a disease called "blackhead." Chickens don't die from it but your turkeys will flop over dead. You can ask your local extension office if blackhead is in your area and if not you could probably have them together.  But no sense in taking chances.
* No chickens or other birds because... turkeys are big, heavy birds who can throw their weight around. Sometimes the turkey hens chase the chickens out of their yard. And sometimes the toms will chase the roos around.  Someone I know has an enormous tom turkey who killed his best roo in...ahem...er... a "display of dominance." Lets just say thats no way for a man to die. Either the roo died from suffering such an outrage or because the tom outweighed him by 15 pounds.

You also want to separate your turkey hens from the toms while the ladies are setting their nests . The tom will think the hen is just sitting around waiting for his amorous advances...and she won't get off her eggs... so he could harm or kill her.

If they are outside on their own I can't imagine how they would avoid being wiped out here.
We keep our fenced in with a low fence. Some people use 6' fence and that seems to work. The toms can't fly and the hens "hop"  more than take off flying.  The young jakes (immature males) will fly - like eagles given the chance. But that is for a really limited time. Just trim their wings on one side like chickens. Once they start strutting and getting their weight on they can't get enough lift to fly.

Our big problem is that the hens want to set nests in the brambles or directly next to the fox den. Just ask Bramble.

If I were to give you my best tips I'd say....

* For your first year order Broad Breasted Whites and at least a trio of heritage poults. That way you'll have turkeys for the table the first year and then can get your flock going the next spring.
* Turkeys can be frustrating to raise - last year was a disaster but the year before we were lousy with turkeys. The poults require more care and fussing over than chickens ever will. But the poults are adorable and the little peeping just slays me.
* Keep your poults inside for up to 4 months! They are slow to develop their immune system. Then introduce them to being outside slowly in a shaded area. 
* We love the turkeys - they are fun and funny. And for the work they are a great food value. Some people fall in love with these big goofy birds and don't want to dress them when Thanksgiving comes around. But just like the creepy meats, remember the commercial BBW's aren't long term friends. Name them "mashed potatoes" or something. And don't let them get too big.
* Turkeys can be aggressive the the easy answer is "the pot." TurkZilla, our big tom, is always trying to kill me. But he loves The Big Man. So who knows.. just watch the kids until you are sure the toms aren't aggressive. This can turn on a dime when they mature so step lively.

There is a myth out there that turkeys are SO STUPID they will drown themselves in the rain. That is ridiculous. Young turkeys can easily get chilled so they die from getting sick - not because they can't figure out what is tapping them on the head.  A lot of poultry will stand out in the rain so I don't think they are any different.  We don't think turkeys are any more stupid than any other birds... they just don't like new things and it takes them a while to warm up to changes.

And remember that your neighbors will think its hilarious to go outside and use their turkey call to send your birds into a frenzy. You know who you are! For heavens sakes!

Now go and order your turkeys and discover a whole new fun world of poultry! Gobble Gobble!

Creepy Meat - a bucket of laughs

Its time for a creepy meat update - they are just over 3 weeks now and we have moved them out of the basement. Thank heaven. It was starting to get mighty stinky down in the basement. And several of them managed to pop out of the kiddie pool they were brooding in.

We fixed up half of the turkey house for them. They are now bedded down in pine shavings over gravel in one of the coops. They turkeys are in the other coop next door and the formerly-Inside-Meeps sleep just inside the door of the turkey house (but not in the coop. Got that?).  I used a bucket to transport them 4 at a time out to their new home. The dog thought this was the best thing he'd ever seen. It was a bucket of laughs for sure.  And yes, its a kitty litter bucket. They are good for everything, including meat transport.

As always, the dog was very happy to help.

Meat, meet Mutt.

In fact, the dog kept them from popping out. It seemed that they were interested in heading outside.. but we'll put them on the grass on a warmer day when they are more feathered in.

Usually the dog herds slightly larger animals. 

So far so good. We set up the heat light in a corner so they would be out of the breeze if the outside door is open and we moved to a hanging feeder and drinker. We are also starting to follow a 12 hours with and 12 hours without food. Some folks use this method so the meat chickens don't grow out too fast and flop over dead. While we want them to grow out effectively, we also don't want to rush. We are using a 20% un-medicated chick feed. Some folks use a higher protein for faster grow out, but since the "green muscle incident" we'd rather they just take their time.

When I walk in to check on them in the mornings they attack my boots. Won't I have the last laugh...

In other brooding news... The Four Pack, our incubator hatched baby turkeys, are doing great. Poults tend to be more fragile than chicken chicks so we've been watching them closely. I've had to put them in the bra-brooder a couple times to make sure they are warm and dry enough. Somehow they spilled their water the other day and were wet and cold. I had a shirt-full of peeps until everyone dried off.

Also if any of the poults looks like they  need a little pep in their step, I give them some "momma" time and put them in my shirt. This way they can hear and feel my heartbeat and it allows them to calm down and warm up. If they had a turkey momma they would climb up into her feathers and hold on. They mimic this by crawling up under my chin, under my arm, or wherever they can get the most skin-to-feather contact. Its actually pretty cute. And no, no one has pooped on me yet... but it probably wouldn't even phase me.

That's all the news, Happy Friday Everyone!

Pippin' ain't easy

Our fourth hatchling made his debut this morning... with a little help from me. This is what I found when I went to check the incubator...

A+ for effort.. but C- for implementation.  Hey buddy! Its head first not foot first!

Usually they get their beaks out first so they can breathe and use their egg tooth to break the shell. But this one was a little "breech"...So I helped free him from his pod.. I mean.. egg.

See how the membrane has already dried? Look just below where the egg shell is cracked.  Use the zoom feature to see more clearly.

I'm thinking we need more moisture in the incubator.  This is the second one who has gotten stuck because the membrane inside the eggshell was too dry for him to bust out. We'll be working on that. For now he's drying off in the incubator then we'll put him in the brooder with the rest later on.

The membrane had pretty much pulled away from the shell and was just stuck on the top of his head. The shell came off in two big pieces and he was somewhat dry. I'm glad I got him out.

Some folks think you should not help with the pipping process because they feel a chick that is not strong enough to hatch on its own probably wouldn't live. But honestly... if they are going to die anyway you might as well try to help. We took this approach before and ended up pipping out 3 or 4 poults who lived, thrived, and grew out just fine. So our position is, why not try to give them a fighting chance?

Hatchlings #2 and #3 spent some time in my "bra-brooder" yesterday. They had gotten wet from their drinker and were chilled. But they got dry soon enough and were just so cute. Their Peeps of Misery turned to Musically Peeping and all was right with the world. After sleeping for a while with their little heads on my chest they started screwing around... and then there was too much of a ruckus in my shirt. I popped them in the brooder and they spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what the chick food was...they got it.

Happy Monday!

He made turkey while I was gone

As I type this I have turkey baby in my shirt. You'll remember that the best place for a new baby is in your bra. As before, gentlemen go and find your woman for this task.

I kinda chuckled when the new parents of a preemie baby told me that the revolutionary treatment of "kangaroo care" for little ones is to lay them on the parents bare chest.  This helps stablize the baby's vitals (breathing, heartbeat, etc). Heck.. any farmer knows you can do this...but anyway... he's very happy there. The poult that is.

When I got home from "civilization" - The Big Man rushed out and told me that he made turkey while I was gone. I would have never believed it unless I saw it for myself:

Can you believe it??

Our turkey hens had a disastrous hatching season... we only have 2 poults to show for dozens of eggs and many failed clutches. So when the turkey hens kept laying we figured we didn't have anything to lose... so The Big Man fired up the incubator and put in some eggs. I did not think it would work and I'm glad to see I was wrong!

We have another little pal down there pippin' away... he's working his way out of the shell. See his little beak working that shell? They have a tiny little "egg tooth" that helps with the pipping but its hard work.

When not in my shirt the hatched little singleton is popping around in the incubator. He can hear his pals in the eggs..and they can hear him so it stimulates them to come on out and see The Whole Wide World. As soon as the next little pal gets out of the shell and dries off I'll move them to a brooder. But one is a lonely number so our little buddy can just keep cheering on his egg-mates until more arrive.

How's that for a great surprise?

Happy Pippin' Saturday everyone!

Meet Mater

We've been trying to find one of our younger Bourbon Red Turkey hens. We've looked everywhere.

She is from last years hatch and has been trying to set a nest...somewhere.  The last week or so we've only seen her in the afternoon - she comes down to the yard from where ever she is hiding, stands in the goose pool to cool down, gets a snack, and then high tails it back to wherever she is hiding. We couldn't find her anywhere. And she is as fast as lightening so we haven't been able to track her. Its been an ordeal because we really need to keep her safe - and we really need to protect her eggs so they will hatch.

We've often said that you'd never find a setting turkey hen unless you just about stepped on her... they are really good at hiding.

What? You can't see her? Zoom in.. behind the tomatoes...

Do you see her now?

I probably walked past her 20 times a day, especially since I have been taking up the tomatoes at the other end of the garden. The only reason we found her was because I was weeding right beside her - I almost stepped on her. Turkey can be infuriating.

So we took her, and her nest up, and relocated her in the former bachelor turkey coop. Unfortuantely she was not on her nest when I checked on her the next morning. I don't think her eggs are alive anymore.. but as they say... A turkey in the coop is better than one in Foxy Brown's belly.

At least she is safe. We're going to call her Mater..because that's where she was hiding.

Happy Monday!

Turkeys and Dressing... and Farm Notes

But first... lettin' my little Shine shine in...

 our King of Barncats, Shine, hanging out in the front garden. 

Tons happening. Yesterday (Monday) we dressed the 4 remaining jakes/young tom turkeys. We really whipped them out fast - about 30 minutes each and that was at a very leisurely pace. They are resting in our extra cold beer fridge for a couple days then I'll part them up like I did here.

These jakes were smaller than those huge monsters we did earlier in the spring. But good size - especially for us.  We probably could had waited on the jakes so they'd be a bit heavier.  But really the 3 we dressed earlier this year were monsters and it was kind of a fight to take them down. As it were. If you know what I mean. Ahem. Anyway.

And we didn't want to wait any longer because we really needed to clear out the "Bachelor Coop."  We need the space for our ladies.  Between Foxy Brown taking her toll and the disastrous hatches this spring.....we are hoping for some fall clutches.

Turkey Momma is already laying... and our poor Bramble will probably be off for a while. She is still recovering from her injury and we don't want to risk her being out in the weeds again.  We think we'll put her and Turkey Bob in there with her for you know, a little, you know... l'amore.  Plus he needs to stop roosting in the chicken house - for heavens sakes he's HUGE!


We started with 17 turks this fall/winter and now we only have TZ and Turkey Bob as our toms... Runner, Turkey Momma, and Bramble as our mature hens...and 2 more younger hens.  And then 3 remaining poults.

Thats our turkey word.

In other farm notes:
* FINALLY! The heat broke and today was just like heaven. Still hot but no humidity. I slept on a chair on the deck this afternoon...shhhh... Sloth. Sometimes its good.
* We finally caught Miss Duck off her nest and raided it.. we are leaving her 4 eggs. She'll be made but for heaven's sakes how many ducklings can you have?! Answer: many!
* Mrs. Dowlrimple finally left the brooder! She, very orderly, showed the chicks how to walk out the brooder door, where to peck around, to stay all together.. then made a mad dash outside! Oh the flapping! Oh the springing about! She was like a wild man. Then took a big poop....and calmly walked back inside. Honestly, these chickens... they are hilarious. We'll see about getting the chicks outside tomorrow. Mrs. Dowlrimple, for all her antics, still really needs a dust bath and to eat something besides bagged food.
* Runner, the turkey hen, hopped up on the milk stand this morning, put her head thru the stocks.. and started eating the feed. I don't think she wanted to be milked tho - just wanted the eats.
* As soon as Bianca got up from her nest, beside the milkstand, she toddled over and stamped her little foot. So I adjusted the milk bucket so she could get a little sip. Satisfied, she toddled off. I love her.


More weeding tomorrow but tonite I dream of turkey! Roast turkey, turkey tetrazzini, turkey pot pie, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup....


Note: yikes! Um.. so I need to learn to work WITH the technology...sorry if you got pinged... I've queued up a post for tomorrow.
:-)