My 4H project for 2015 - No, 2014!

[TheSeedObsesser]

To prevent any more turkey accidents, we built a large pen for the turkeys and chickens and put it inside of the garage - this is our new 4H bird pen. So far no new causalities - they're all growing well and highly appreciate the extra room.

We'll see if I can remember to get pictures today, of both the goslings and new setup.

EDIT: Even though they are getting quite large, I'm still mashing their food. They get excited over the mashed stuff and don't seem to like it as much dry. I'm hoping that keeping the food mashed will encourage them to eat more, and get fat.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Pictures of both new setup and poults/chicks. You could probably use the waterer as a kind of size comparison to get an idea of how big they are. What the picture doesn't show (at least not very well) is how well they have feathered out. Most of the down is gone, the chickens have head feathers to grow yet and the turkeys have down on their heads to lose. A few more weeks and the turkeys should start to get real turkey heads.

I couldn't get pictures of the goslings - nap time. And you don't want to get very close to a mother goose - unless you've worked your way into their little pyramid and proven yourself trustworthy (It's kind of like avoiding getting mauled by a bear that happens to be standing in front of you, do this and you'll escape unharmed).

 

[journey11]

Very nice set up on your brooder there, SeedO! I need to get something better constructed. I get tired of chicks hopping over the cardboard after a while.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

UPDATE (a late one, I think): Well I had another turkey casualty a few days ago. Walked into the pen in the morning to check on them, one was laying dead half covered in cedar chips next to the food bowl. It appears as if it may have choked on something and was trampled to death by the others. That leaves me with four, and those four are doing good. They have grown more, and it looks like their head and neck down is starting to clear out (half way to having real turkey heads). I haven't really changed anything since the last time that I updated this thread. I am considering taking the chickens out in another week or so to get rid of some of the competition (for food) so they can grow bigger. They should be big enough to keep each other warm at night. Pictures:

Sitting on my sister's lap (selfie! )

Another picture with chickens.

And here are those gosling pictures, they're fast so it's kind of hard to get a good picture.

 

[Smart Red]

Yeah, pictures! Sorry about your casualty. They are good looking birds.

 

[baymule]

thanks for the update and the pics. Your birds are looking good, sorry about the one you lost.

 

[Wishin']

You have them on cedar chips? I have always been told that cedar was toxic to chickens, and it will eventually kill them.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Sorry I meant pine shavings, cedar is toxic to a lot of stuff.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I almost forgot to update this thread (it's been nearly a month?). Anyway... we moved them out of the brooder about 2 weeks ago (?) and into the chicken coop (they were sold a while back and we got new birds - Delawares). Yesterday we put a shade cloth up over the fenced area of the chicken coop to give the turkeys a little bit of shade to hide in. I'm still giving them feed supplements (I switched to a brand called "Kickin' - Chicken") and no longer soaking the food. Other than that I haven't really changed anything. I still have four healthy turkeys that are growing well and beginning to gobble. Here's a couple of pictures -

 

[journey11]

Gettin' big!

I've been using Kickin' Chicken for the past 3 months and it has helped make my hens all shiny, fat and fluffy. They had a really hard winter, being mostly confined by the bad weather and picked and pulled a lot of feathers and were looking really rough, so I figured they could use the boost.