Okay. Thanks!

I don't know about turkeys, but chicken eggs are not that easily damaged by handling. I'd just pick it up and shine a mag light through it.

Ppal - Sweet! I've never been around a breeding set of chickens, so I had no idea. We did have chickens when I was a kid for a summer, they laid so many eggs we couldn't give 'em away. But we didn't have a rooster, so they were always infertile. I'm debating on breeding the silkies when they get big enough and am seriously debating on getting a couple of turkeys for dinner. I know *I* could eat 'em, but I don't know if DH would be able to.. but if he didn't know where the bird came from, then I suppose no harm no fowl (get it? no foul/fowl.. I'm such a smartass...).

How old does a turkey have to be before you can nom it? I know that some .. species? types? of turkeys grow faster than others... I'm not sure if I want one that's gonna be noisy (I *do* live in the city).

Yay!!

- And your husband wouldn't notice that you had a turkey or that it vanished?

Ppal - I could probably dye my hair green & pink he wouldn't notice. That's why I have so many cats, he never notices. Heck, at my most, I had over 30 canaries & he thought I had one or two.. I dedicated an entire room to them and he never once stepped inside. He's a geek. He might notice the bird missing after a couple of weeks, but by that time, it'd already been dinner (and lunch, and more left overs..).

Skiekitty said:

How old does a turkey have to be before you can nom it? I know that some .. species? types? of turkeys grow faster than others... I'm not sure if I want one that's gonna be noisy (I *do* live in the city).

They aren't very noisy until they get full grown. Until then, they "peep". Occasionally they'll get a bit high pitched if something scares them, but they grow so fast that by the time they start trying out their "gobble talk" they'll be ready for the table.

I got my 2 or 3 week old poults June 1st, and they were full grown (size-wise) by the end of November.


Here they're about 5 weeks old.

omg, they're so cute!!! I can handle peeps. Friend of mine lives on a 5acre ranchlet outside of main street & she used to have turkeys, ducks, chickens, & horses. I think she's down to just horses now 'cuz she adopted in her daughter's baby so needs to dedicate more time to the child than the critters. Her turkeys were NOISY! What kind of turkeys are those? I'm thinking of getting a single white one 'cuz DH loves white meat & I'd love the feathers.

My only actual experience with turkeys was when I was very young and we were living in the city. A friend of my father's showed up at our front door on Christmas eve with a large white turkey standing next to him. She had a note tied to her neck with a big red bow reading, "My name is Cynthia, I love you. My God, you're not going to eat me are you?"

Well, he knew that we kids would never let that happen. So Cynthia lived with us as a pet for several months. She was generally quiet. The only sounds I remember were her saying, "Goop, goop..." as she followed us around.

Ultimately she was given to a friend who had a turkey farm (from which she probably came) after our parents assured us she was too old to be eaten and would live out her life as a brood turkey.

Awww.. that's a nice story. We would have eaten her.

That is a nice story!

Growing up in the city I'd never have eaten her either, but now that we're adjusted to farm life (on a small scale) it's a different story. Home-raised just plain tastes better!
Especially goose, but that's a story for this year, I hope. I wanted to pick up a couple last year, but the entire family wasn't real sure they even wanted turkeys around again, so I refrained. Geese are a lot messier!

Toni, I think mine are Bronze turkeys.

We raised white ones too, years ago. They seem to get quite a bit larger than the bronze. Whatever you do, don't toss food (especially yummys like lettuce or hornworms) directly to your turkeys. They'll quickly make the connection and before you know it, you'll have 30 pounds of highly interested bird(s) in your face every time you visit them! I found that out the hard way. These days, I'm careful to toss out their greens when or where they can't see me doing it.

Chelle - LOLLLLLLLLLL. When I was a kid my father gave me 4 tiny baby bunnies for Easter. We gave them all kinds of noms.. lettuce, carrots, cabbage, you name it. Very hand tamed, which made it so much easier to slaughter them that fall. I think it'd be fun to hand-feed the turkey... I'm thinking about getting just 1 as it's just me & DH (and the dogs & cats). But turkey *does* freeze well & I do have a nice freezer... I hate goose. I've only had it once, but it was SOOOOOO greasy & unpleasant I'd never eat another one. And I hate geese.. mean mean birds. We have Canadian geese all over the place here and while I have never been chased by one (I always run at them if one of them starts to hiss at me), DH has. Couldn't figure out why he just didn't kick the damned thing.. and they hurt when they bite! (Oh, and I was city-raised too! Until I was 14.. that's when we moved to the country.)

Yeah, but bunnies don't have wings to propel them up toward your head! Turkeys are good fliers, and MUCH bigger - can't forget about those claws either! I know, bunnies have teeth and claws too, but, like you said, a well aimed side of a foot will deter them.

We had to have the DNR come out and take care of some wild turkeys before my son was born; the tom would try to knock me down when I walked across the yard. Tried carrying a big stick, but that just pissed him off. NO WAY was I gonna let that bird make me fall on my protruding tummy....I was taking no chances on losing my young'un. Had I known they were just going to use guns to "relocate" them we'd have just done it ourselves.

[Goose makes really, really good jerky. Yummmmmmy! I think it's so much better than most because of the extra oils in the meat.]

Claws? They have claws? Really? huh. And what's DNR?

Yeah, when they get bigger the talons do too!

Department of Natural Resources. You have to deal with them if you have pest critters that need to be removed when it's either not hunting season, or you don't have a permit, license, or whatever. Most of the time anyway. Wild turkeys were still under protected status here back then, I think, or at least I thought that at the time.

I have to share this turkey story. A couple of years ago, I lost my Royal Palm tom turkey, died of old age I think, so I was on the lookout for a replacement. Found one on Craigs list for $5. So I drove my little Honda Accord the 70 miles to pick him up. I cut the corner off a feed bag so that his head could stick out, and keep the rest of his body from moving about, and drove home with him in the front seat staring at me the whole way. (named him Richy, after the name of the guy I bought him from) Put him with one of my hens and waited for eggs. Later I had a broody hen turkey, so I gave her some eggs to hatch. None of them hatched! Ugh! She wouldn't leave the nest even though I took the eggs out, so I gave her some Chicken eggs to hatch. Sure enough she raised 7 baby chickens. (They were bi-lingual, talked chicken and turkey lol) The next year I ordered 5 Royal Palm poults as I though "Richy" was infertile Well, as luck would have it, Richy and his mate hatched 2 poults. What was really funny was that Richy would help brood the babies just like the mom. He loved his kids. He let them jump on his back and ride around. He was so proud of them. One of the poults started to display really young. It was so cool to watch this little thing walk around all puffed up. I have to put them in at night because of coyotes, so at night I'd chase them into their pen. One morning when I let them out, there was only one baby. The other one was laying dead in their pen. It was the proud little boy that died. Richy was so depressed, he mopped around for 3 days. After awhile he got back to normal. About 3 weeks after this, he started not keeping up with the hen and other poult. He didn't eat much or drink much. I put some electrolites in their water, and after a couple days I saw him start to eat some. But, then he got sicker again. When I went to put them to bed one night, Richy, sick as he was, had his little baby under his wing. The next morning when I let them out, he walked slowly behiind the mother and baby. I went out later and saw him lying on the ground, and there he had died. I picked him up to dispose of him, and the little poult came running and calling for his dad. I've butchered many chickens, ducks and turkeys over the years, but until this happened, I'd never shed a tear over a damn turkey. The baby turned out to be a Tom too, so he's RJ (Richy Junior) and he has a new bride. I'm hoping he's like his daddy! I e-mailed the guy who has the "feathersite" and asked if that was normal for a Tom Turkey to do this. He said he had heard of it, but it was not the norm.

Here's a pic of Richy and RJ Not the best pic, but you get the idea

awww.. what a good daddy! I have no experience with poultry other than eating them, but I know in the canary world, there are good daddies, bad daddies (they eat the eggs), and sperm donors. Unfortunately, most male canaries are sperm donors because they were raised 100% by their moms and haven't a clue on how a father's supposed to act. But I had one male who was the BEST BEST BEST daddy.. he took care of a nest full (4) of chicks by himself 'cuz the hen died (egg bound ). He actually brooded them, fed them, everything!

That's an awesome picture of the baby on the tom's back!

Tom,

What a sweet story, and picture!

chelle said:Tom,

What a sweet story, and picture!

Thanks, RJ sure has turned into a nice tom, I can't wait to see if he's a good daddy like his father was. I sure hope so.

Meant to post last week and just got too busy - my young hen is nesting!
She's got about a dozen eggs in there and she doesn't appear to leave them except to eat and drink.
I do hope they're fertile!