Being a student, I believe, has influenced how I look at almost everything in life. When I decide that I want to start a project I make it a point to do research on it before hand. When I decided that I wanted heritage turkeys I started the search for everything turkey related. When I began raising chickens I did the same thing. Luckily there is a ton of information on keeping chickens. Turkeys, not so much. Not heritage breeds, anyway. All of the information I found was related to factory farming and the broad breasted breeds. I went to book store after book store, searched online, and asked people I know that farm. Nothing! I did find a couple of forums that have been a godsend. People that raise turkeys and are interested enough to want to join a forum are the best people to ask for advice and to learn from. The forums that I found to be most helpful are
http://www.backyardchickens.com/f/20/turkeys and
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RareHeritageTurkey/ . The first is a forum that you can go to look through questions that people have had in the past, and the answers to them, and ask your own. The second is an email group where people ask and answer questions to either the whole group or to individuals as well as simply to share stories. They both have been unbelievably valuable to me. What I still have not been able to find, however, is a place that I can see week by week pictures and information on development and personality. Perhaps I am just an overachiever and feel the need for much more information than most people. Even just pictures of the size of the turkeys would be helpful, in my opinion, because it is difficult to gauge how much room they need as they grow. And they grow rapidly.... at least that's what I have heard, since I can find no pictures! I have found a source that has been invaluable to me with chickens, and the lady posts daily pictures of a chick that she hatched in an incubator. It is really helpful as well as being highly entertaining. I don't have the time or the creativity to do that (although I would like to share her page addresses, as soon as I ask her permission, so others can benefit from her wonderful information). I am, however, going to start taking weekly pictures and sharing general information about my poults.
The turkey-heads are a week old. They are VERY curious! Some might say nosy, I prefer curious. The want to see everything you get near them and try to figure out what it is, including my camera. The first worry I had was whether I was going to be able to get them to eat and drink. I have read many things about turkeys, one being that they are too stupid to figure out how to eat and drink on their own, and have a tendency to just forget, and die as a result. Taking the advice or many turkey keepers, I put a chicken chick in with them to show them how it was done. It only took about 30 seconds of them "chewing" on the chick for me to decide that wouldn't work. I put a supplement in their water to help boost their energy and keep them hydrated (from the hatchery but I believe you can get it at any feed store as well). After watching my hen, Idgie, with her babies I figured the best way to do it was to show them like she does her babies (I am "mom", after all, right?). I didn't put my head in there and peck at it... I opted to use my fingers instead. I dipped my fingers in the water and then into the food so that it stuck and then held my fingers up for them to peck at. It worked! For water I dipped my fingers in the water and held them up so that they could peck the drips off of my fingertips. I did this every so often throughout the day and eventually I saw them starting to eat on their own. For the first few days I put paper towels down in the bottom of the cage and sprinkled the food on it, along with keeping a feeder in there. The bedding is likely to confuse them and with only food on the ground at their feet they are much ore likely to find it.They are eating and drinking with no help or reminders now and are doing great!
The make a peeping sound, which I believe translates to "MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM!". It kind of sounds like a wet sponge on glass. They do this a LOT! They always face whichever direction they think I am... I can see them from my bed while I am trying to sleep. When I go over there to hold them and talk to them they stop for a while. I believe that they get bored and lonely. They have a stuffed animal in there with them to cuddle up to and it helps. I also have started putting toys, like giant cat balls, in there to amuse them. The jury is still out on whether they are stupid are very smart. I've never seen a chicken need toys to play with. They have a stick to perch on, but they are still working on landing on it. They tend to over shoot and hit the frog. When I put my hand in the cage they step up onto it to get some personal snuggle time. Much to the dismay of "my other half", I have taken to carrying them around in my shirt (well... bra if I don't have a tank top on) which keeps them warm and gives them cuddle time AND I have my hands free. They seem to enjoy it and I want to make sure that they have
enough one-on-one time to ensure that, when they are 30lb giants, they don't chase me around the yard and try to attack me. In my opinion, him thinking that I am weird (like he doesn't have a thousand other reasons to know that already) is worth the benefit the turkey-heads seem to get from it. Other than growing a bit, the main difference a week has made in their physical appearance is that their wings have feathered out and their energy level is through the roof! They still have nap time quite often though, which scares me every time I see them. All those little bodies laying everywhere with their necks bent at odd angles... I just know that I did something wrong and they all just fell over dead! As I rush over to the cage, nearly tearing up from the horrific scene before me, they pop up, bright eyed and wondering what great treat I must have to have come running over in such a hurry. Speaking of treats, they LOVE blueberries! I only give them one or two a piece every day. Without grit they are unable to properly digest anything other than turkey crumbles. The turkey crumbles must be high in protein, think around 28%. I use turkey starter/grower but game bird feed can be used if turkey feed is not available. Chicken starter/grower is not suitable. So far I am LOVING being a turkey-mom. The only thing that I am really worried about at this point is getting too attached to them. Maybe it would be a good thing to let them turn into 30lb giants that chase me around the yard...? Only time will tell... until then I'm going to continue enjoying my nosy little turkey heads. :)
Being a student, I believe, has influenced how I look at almost everything in life. When I decide that I want to start a project I make it a point to do research on it before hand. When I decided that I wanted heritage turkeys I started the search for everything turkey related. When I began raising chickens I did the same thing. Luckily there is a ton of information on keeping chickens. Turkeys, not so much. Not heritage breeds, anyway. All of the information I found was related to factory farming and the broad breasted breeds. I went to book store after book store, searched online, and asked people I know that farm. Nothing! I did find a couple of forums that have been a godsend. People that raise turkeys and are interested enough to want to join a forum are the best people to ask for advice and to learn from. The forums that I found to be most helpful are http://www.backyardchickens.com/f/20/turkeys and http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RareHeritageTurkey/ . The first is a forum that you can go to look through questions that people have had in the past, and the answers to them, and ask your own. The second is an email group where people ask and answer questions to either the whole group or to individuals as well as simply to share stories. They both have been unbelievably valuable to me. What I still have not been able to find, however, is a place that I can see week by week pictures and information on development and personality. Perhaps I am just an overachiever and feel the need for much more information than most people. Even just pictures of the size of the turkeys would be helpful, in my opinion, because it is difficult to gauge how much room they need as they grow. And they grow rapidly.... at least that's what I have heard, since I can find no pictures! I have found a source that has been invaluable to me with chickens, and the lady posts daily pictures of a chick that she hatched in an incubator. It is really helpful as well as being highly entertaining. I don't have the time or the creativity to do that (although I would like to share her page addresses, as soon as I ask her permission, so others can benefit from her wonderful information). I am, however, going to start taking weekly pictures and sharing general information about my poults.
The make a peeping sound, which I believe translates to "MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM!". It kind of sounds like a wet sponge on glass. They do this a LOT! They always face whichever direction they think I am... I can see them from my bed while I am trying to sleep. When I go over there to hold them and talk to them they stop for a while. I believe that they get bored and lonely. They have a stuffed animal in there with them to cuddle up to and it helps. I also have started putting toys, like giant cat balls, in there to amuse them. The jury is still out on whether they are stupid are very smart. I've never seen a chicken need toys to play with. They have a stick to perch on, but they are still working on landing on it. They tend to over shoot and hit the frog. When I put my hand in the cage they step up onto it to get some personal snuggle time. Much to the dismay of "my other half", I have taken to carrying them around in my shirt (well... bra if I don't have a tank top on) which keeps them warm and gives them cuddle time AND I have my hands free. They seem to enjoy it and I want to make sure that they have
enough one-on-one time to ensure that, when they are 30lb giants, they don't chase me around the yard and try to attack me. In my opinion, him thinking that I am weird (like he doesn't have a thousand other reasons to know that already) is worth the benefit the turkey-heads seem to get from it. Other than growing a bit, the main difference a week has made in their physical appearance is that their wings have feathered out and their energy level is through the roof! They still have nap time quite often though, which scares me every time I see them. All those little bodies laying everywhere with their necks bent at odd angles... I just know that I did something wrong and they all just fell over dead! As I rush over to the cage, nearly tearing up from the horrific scene before me, they pop up, bright eyed and wondering what great treat I must have to have come running over in such a hurry. Speaking of treats, they LOVE blueberries! I only give them one or two a piece every day. Without grit they are unable to properly digest anything other than turkey crumbles. The turkey crumbles must be high in protein, think around 28%. I use turkey starter/grower but game bird feed can be used if turkey feed is not available. Chicken starter/grower is not suitable. So far I am LOVING being a turkey-mom. The only thing that I am really worried about at this point is getting too attached to them. Maybe it would be a good thing to let them turn into 30lb giants that chase me around the yard...? Only time will tell... until then I'm going to continue enjoying my nosy little turkey heads. :)
Perhaps being a student causes people to research things before delving into them. It didn't happen for me while I was in school. It was more of a gradual thing. Now, years later, I hardly do anything without researching it to death. Part of the fun of a new project is doing the research. The internet, for better or worse, has made a huge impact on society having data (wrong or right) so readily available. Farm steading is a great example of where newfangled ideas usually have their origins in time tested way of our seniors. We always collected data from old-time (locals) and new comers (on the internet) alike. blending the worlds seemed to produce the best results.
ReplyDeleteKarl, I couldn't agree more! I research things to death, as well. I talk to as many old-timers as I can locally, but have found some wonderful places online that I can get more specialized info from them. A heritage turkey group on yahoo is an example. They have been doing it for years and have tons of experience. I'm one of very few people locally that raise heritage turkeys, although I have been selling poults to a lot of people recently so I think that number is growing! Blending is definitely best, and you have to take everything with a grain of salt. One of the best ways I have found to gain information is to read blogs such as yours! You, and others, have such wonderful ideas and really inspire me. It is really helpful to see what has or hasn't worked for people, and blend ideas and come up with something that works for me. Thank you so much for stopping by! You made my day! :)
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