My "girls" had some visiotrs

[irvingj]

Fortunately, not the carniverous variety....

It was interesting to see the interaction! Most everyone acted like ladies & gentlemen, only a bit of wing-fluffing & flapping. Really neat to watch. One of our NH Reds decided the need to "sound the alarm"... all others seemed somewhat curious but OK with the new arrivals. They seemed to part fine, just went their own ways, after the seeds on the ground were cleaned up.

Anybody know of any potential danger when wild turkeys and layers meet?

 

[Thomas]

Never heard of them mixing it up,but seen rooster chase cat once.

About 4:30pm this evening on King Rd. flat section had to stop for 5 deer headed your way.

 

[irvingj]

Oh, yeah-- I forgot to mention... the turkeys are the big ones.....

 

[dave1949]

Oh, yeah-- I forgot to mention... the turkeys are the big ones.....

Don't know of any problems, maybe your hen feed bill goes up and your meat bill goes down.

Your hens look healthy, so your hen house project must be a success.

I see turkeys wandering down our driveway this time of year. It's an easy place for them to get grit for their gizzards. We only have groups of two or three though.
Dave.

 

[Ductape]

You may have some churkeys hatching soon !

 

[MF RED in MT]

Hey Irvingj, I would say if the turkeys start to molest your NH Reds, then you should have a perfect right to kick the stuffing into them just before they go into the oven. KC

 

[jimmyj]

Wow that is really neat. I would not worry about it. If you raised turkeys it may be more of a concern in case there was a respiratory issue with the wild ones (or so I am told). Very cool pics.

 

[jinman]

Your chickens seem to react to the turkeys the same way as our kitties do. Our kitties will get close to them and watch, occasionally chasing them a little. I'm amazed that the kitties know the turkeys are birds even though they are at least twice the size of the kitties. Then, somebody shows up with a miniature dachshund and the kitties run away even though the dog is half their size.

 

[irvingj]

I was really surprised, considering how skittish wild turkeys can be, that they seemed to know the chickens weren't a threat. "Hmmm, feathers, two legs, flapping wings.... bends over, pecks the ground.... one of us; must be OK!"

They don't really intermingle too much (so far), but respectfully look up & watch each other once in a while. Really fun to watch!

We now have four that are laying!

 

[eepete]

Our turkeys seem to get along with the local wildlife OK. This picture is from this last spring. You can tell- the gents are trying to impress the hens, who'll have nothing to do with them (yet). The turkeys love the hay fields and do a good job on the grasshopper population.

Pete

 

[scesnick]

irvingj,

How do you keep your chickens from being a nice dinner for a hawk? My chickens would last about 5 minutes outside their fenced in run. I actually have seen hawks sitting right above the chicken coop ! Not to mention if the hawks didn't get them the coyotes or bobcats would...

 

[irvingj]

How do you keep your chickens from being a nice dinner for a hawk? My chickens would last about 5 minutes outside their fenced in run. I actually have seen hawks sitting right above the chicken coop ! Not to mention if the hawks didn't get them the coyotes or bobcats would...


That's yet to be seen.... we do have a pair of nesting hawks in the area, but they seem to move away in the winter.

I've seen foxes following turkey trails, we've lost several cats to fishers in the past, I've seen and heard coyotes around, and we're occasionally visited by bears.....

But so far, nada this year; in fact, I haven't seen any fishers in the neighborhood for several years now. (Perhaps the time I unloaded 6 shots from a .22 semi-auto pistol at one, they got the message?) I know I'll have to construct some sort of outdoor animal-proof run for them in the spring.

So far, just lucky, I guess, but I keep my eyes & ears open!