A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[R2elk]

R2, I’m thinking I’ll build my turkeys-to-be a three-sided shelter facing south for next winter like the cows have, only smaller:

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I might (probably) put on a barn door for really bad storms. I have hardware to add one to the cow shed but the weather caught up with us and it didn’t happen. Now I’m thinking it was never necessary, not for the cows anyway. Maybe the turkeys don’t need one either... Any suggestions, sage advice, etc? I am busily over-thinking here... too much coffee...

Build it so the open side is facing away from the prevailing wind. My turkey roosts are on the east side of the chicken coop because the prevailing wind comes from the west or southwest. Even on extremely cold days, my turkeys can be found in the shade on bright sunny days.

 

[duluthralphie]

Turkeys can dig huge holes to dust bathe in. They can eat a lot of vegetables. For some unknown reason they take pleasure in either clipping off or pulling up young onion plants.

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I think turkeys are OCD. Anything sticking out of the ground and not in the order they think they should be get pulled up.

WW has flower boxes on the deck. The deck being the turkeys favorite place to hang out and all, they have decided they are the ones to determine what belongs in the flower box.

WW puts Xmas decorations in the boxes, the turkeys pull them out and throw them on the ground. She put little flags in for the 4th of July. The turkeys pulled them out. She tried those little solar light decorations, butterfly or flower the light up. They offended the turkeys and they pulled them out.

My turkeys really enjoy tomatoes. They are a tad fussy though they will sample 30-40 before deciding on eating one, or that they just aren't hungry for tomatoes.

Even though they dig huge holes to sunbathe in, I do not find them sunbathing in the garden often. They seem to like to bathe with the chickens under the lilacs or in my old lean too off the granary.



Yesterday when I fed them, I left the turkey Toms and roosters until last. They had plenty of feed left from the day before. BUT they refused to shut up. They followed me, and protested the whole time that I was feeding the others first. I felt a tug behind my leg, one of them actually grabbed my pants leg to let me know I had "forgot" them.

As soon as I gave them feed they shut up. They were not interested in eating, a few pecked at it. They just wanted to be first.

Just for fun they decided to unplug the water heaters. I had frozen tanks, so no one got fresh water yesterday. I cannot understand what fun unplugging the heaters can be for them.

I know they are bored, I am hoping to be able to open the doors this week and let them run outside. It has just been to cold and the snow is too deep. One got out the other day and floundered in the deep snow. They can't walk on it, they can't fly out of it. He had to bulldoze through it and he refuse to do that. We had to go into the deep snow, filling our boots with the crap......and try to catch him. Which was easy to do, but each time we touched his butt or tried to lift him up he fought us and jumped about 2 feet so we had to do it all over.

The idiot could not have tried it close to the plowed area...He had to fly 40 ft to sit on a fence and jump off the fence into the snow and then whine about being stuck.

They are a lot like toddlers......

 

[duluthralphie]

Build it so the open side is facing away from the prevailing wind. My turkey roosts are on the east side of the chicken coop because the prevailing wind comes from the west or southwest. Even on extremely cold days, my turkeys can be found in the shade on bright sunny days.

And build it tall!

 

[CindyinSD]

Thanks, R2!

I face them south b/c the wind is usually from the north/northwest in our little gulch/valley/place. I worry about the occasional south wind, though. Those so often seem to be the worst for mounds and mounds of snow. That’s why I put up the front edges of corrugated plastic-ish stuff on the cow shed. When you get a chance (no rush) would you mind doing a photo of your turkey shed and the roosts in front? Not that I couldn’t come up with something but I’d rather learn from other people’s experience than from my own boo-boos... (I’m really good at boo-boos, tho... so I’m an expert at something at least. )

I saw your manure bucket heater before... brilliant! I did forget the bit about building a box around it for using it in a coop w/floor. Sadly I missed doing this outside before the ground froze b/c ... bucket de-icer. I’m putting it on my list for when/if the world ever unfreezes.

 

[CindyinSD]

Ralphie, just saw your post after I posted (I compose slow...) How tall?

 

[R2elk]

When you get a chance (no rush) would you mind doing a photo of your turkey shed and the roosts in front?

I do not have a turkey shed. I have a chicken coop which is the basement of my workshop. The turkey roosts are staggered from 3' to 6' tall beside the east side of the chicken coop. I built a retaining wall along the north side of the run so I could have a level garden area. The roosts are therefore protected both from the west and north. There is no roofing so the turkeys roost outside in all kinds of weather.
This is facing the east side of the chicken coop.

This is facing the north side of the run showing the east edge of the roosts.

 

[CindyinSD]

Okay, thanks! So a six foot tall roost is tall. Yay! I was thinking ten? Twelve? I suppose unless I confine them, they’ll end up in the pine trees with their feral cousins.... maybe they could hang out with the cows in winter. But I’m concerned they might run away and join the wild ones. I guess that’s always going to be a risk.

 

[R2elk]

Okay, thanks! So a six foot tall roost is tall. Yay! I was thinking ten? Twelve? I suppose unless I confine them, they’ll end up in the pine trees with their feral cousins.... maybe they could hang out with the cows in winter. But I’m concerned they might run away and join the wild ones. I guess that’s always going to be a risk.

At least one turkey hen is roosting 10' off the ground on the highest point of the dead Russian Olive tree that I planted to support the roosts.

 

[CindyinSD]

Thanks! And thanks for adding the photos. Really helpful. I’m mostly a visual learner, I think.

 

[duluthralphie]

My turkey building is about 12 ft tall,,, the roosts start at over 6 ft and go up to 10...