I was thinking about buying some heritage turkeys in the spring for my orchard. Will the turkeys dig up the mulch and strip plants like chickens do? I used to have chickens out there but they were way too destructive. I can handle a little mess but not a lot.
Heritage Turkeys
I had Narragansetts for almost two years. They didn't do a lot of damage (other than the poop pile under the clothes line post where they roosted), but the tom was one of the most obnoxious animals I ever had. He flew like a wild bird, fought with my husband everytime he went out the door, wanted an inapropriate relationship with me and finaly started chasing cars. That was the last straw. I have fat stupid broad breasteds now and they are all gone by Thanksgiving and Christmas.
What a turkey!
That sounds like some of my relatives! And folks wonder why I moved to Texas..... =D
I had a Peacock that would go out and try to attack/mate with small blue compact cars. It sure was a spectacle.
It would not have bothered me so much if the man in the red truck didn't drive around the block FOUR times to watch me chase the turkey chasing him. He said he just couldn't decide which was funnier, me or the turkey.
The only thing the broad breasteds chase is the corn scoop.
I just can't stop laughing! Really! I'm answering the phones giggling! Those turkeys could have gone unoticed at one of our family reunions.....Thanks a bunch for posting your adventures! DH has told me in the past that he doesn't know why I just have chickens and the peacocks--and they are pets at that. I should get some turkeys so that at least we could have them for Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. They would at least earn their keep. I just read your posts to him and he now claims he never said anything about turkeys. LOL!
I should tell you that with four turkeys butchered this year, I put 60 pounds of meat in the freezer. We debone the breast and thighs and freeze everything in packages suitable for two to three people. I made turkey burger this year too. I love being able to have turkey any time we want without doing a whole bird.
The largest we ever raised was a tom who dressed out at 45 pounds. I couldn't fit his fat fanny in the oven so I had to take him down to the comercial oven at the lodge to cook him.
Wow Jyl!! That's humongous! I should have raised some.. I have some chicken in the freezer and the taste is amazing.. I bet home grown turkey is out of this world.
I love the turkey story.. LOL
Funniest thread ever! I remember a friend with a city turkey that she thought was a girl but ended up being a tom. He would insist on climbing in my lap when I sat in her yard, preening my neck and picking through my hair. He was gentle but very amorous. I've wanted a tom ever since and when I retire to our country home I'm getting one. Entertainment is short up there. lol
There was a sizable estate that backed up to our home when I was kid. They had exotic animals including a flock of peacocks. The birds vocalized at all hours with a loud and disturbing screaming call. That's politely said and an understatement; can you eat them? I've never seen recipes.
Laurel
I adopted a flock of chickens from a family moving to a sub-division that didnt accept fowl. They had a tom and he was extremely large and thought he was a human. He waddled around and had access to parts of the house. I didnt take him because he acted too much like a person that it freaked me out.
I used to have pet pheasants. They will stick around for a few years before the males eventually take off. We had a silver pheasant called Squeaker. If you have owned a silver before, you know why we named him that. If he saw anyone walking by, he would run up to them and start making a high pitch evil squeak. The sound was like a dog squeaky toy possessed by the Devil. It was always followed by a good stomping on the ground.
We restored the old house next door to us and our Blue Peacock would walk in the back door and corner workers in the bedrooms and not let them leave. That was good stuff.
I have 2 toms who were raised with baby chicks which taught them out to eat and drink water..lol..They go in at nite with the chickens to roost. I do have 1 tom who is a watchturkey around the chickens. He has killed snakes,run off hawks flying low to my chickens, and makes alot of noise when someone other than me is around..lol..Think I will keep my 2 watchturkeys along with Babe my big dog.
OH my Goodness!!!! Im falling off my chair laughing so hard. Have to keep wiping the tears from my eyes! Attack Turkeys.....Hmmm Now thats a thought!!! I wonder if I can train one to only attack Ex-DHs! LOL!!!!
LOLOLOL...mmm..not sure about that...maybe raise one with EX DHs pictures and say ..ATTACK!!!...oops..ah..who was that???..
You guys are just way too funny! Feel like posting this thread on my fb wall. Wonder if the link would work.
Cant you just see the little sign on my driveway a picture of a turkey with teeth!!!!
ROTFL!!!!!..
I have a sign warning "Attack Pig" and it's no joke.
Here is my story for the day.
I went to feed and water the roosters and donkey. Left my trunk up, as I always do, and when I came back, there were two goats in the trunk eating the horse feed, and a baby goat on the roof of my car.
Hahaahaaaaaa! Been there LFJ!!! Now the pig thing.... come on I want to hear about the attack Piggy too!!
The pig is question is a sow that I bottle raised as a piglet as she had pneumonia. She likes me and no one else. She actually will attack anyone who comes into her pasture - even other members of the family. Her name is Psarina.
AWWWWWwwwww! You Mean she is a pampered Piggy with Attitude!
Lots of attitude.
What a great thread, so, so, funny. Terri where were you from before you moved to Texas? I want to avoid your relatives...LOL...My wife was on her knees looking at a turkey with a cyclone fence in between and the turkey hit the cyclone fence so hard it knocked my wife over and I was laughing so hard she would not ride home with me. We were only two blocks from home, but I could not help myself. This turkey had once been mine and I got rid of him because he was so mean. He also chased one of my neighbors about a hundred yards, and when he got to his pickup the turkey attacked the pickup. This same turkey hated chickens. He really hated everything and everybody...Hay
Years ago when my oldest daughter had just learned to drive, a large pig from the lot next to ours jumped in the car and wouldn't get out. I wasn't there at the time. They said they yelled at him and made a bunch of noise and he just didn't care. I think they said they started hitting him to finally get him to move.
They kind of laughed, but also said, it really wasn't funny.
You're terrible Haystack! Poor Karen not only got knocked down but had to walk home? You ol meanie! I would have laughed too..
I am terrible ZZs, but I can tell you if you'd have seen her reaction you'd have laughed yourself sick and she would have flogged both of us. Every time I even think of it I start laughing and when I remind her she is still mad at me...LOLOL...
You Better watch out Hay..... You have to sleep sometime...........nothing more dangerous than a DW that has been laughed at in Public!!! DUM-de dum-dum!!!!
Haystack, I moved from Illinois. My little peacock flock is very quite. So wierd. I wonder if there is something wrong with them?!?
WOW TERRI!!! Now that is a major move. Talk about a change in climate...I really loved Texas when I was there...But the heat is just more than I can bear anymore. I especially enjoyed the Texas City, Galveston area. I remember when in the fifties Johnny Wiesmuller (Tarzan) would swim in to shore from out in the Gulf to start what at that time was called (Splash Day). It was exciting times and the girls were Oooh La La...LOL...Hay
I just got thru googling Splash Day and see that it has been taken over by the Gay community. It does however talk about Tarzan in the old days and his participation of Splash Day years ago. What a shame that such a great community event would deteriorate like it apparently has...
This message was edited Nov 22, 2010 8:57 AM
I'm quite a way from there. We like NE Texas a lot and yes, it was quite a move. The summers aren't much hotter or more humid than the hot summers when I was growing up in central Illinois. So I'm pretty acclimated to the heat/humidity.
your peacocks are so awed by Texas they are dumbfounded.
Nahhhh, they were born here. I got them from Ken Boy. The male like to sit on his swing to ocassionally does loopetyloops. Maybe he's too dizy to make so much noise.
I remember the first time I ever heard a Peacock call......Scared me to death! I was living in a very wooded area in a private mobile housing community. I knew the owners raised Horses and had several Chickens and Ducks but I never knew about the Peacocks! Long Story Short....Woke up in the Middle of the night hearing a poor woman Screaming "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp, Hayyyyyyy-yulp" then over and over "Hayyyyyyyyyyy-yullllp!" I called the county police 911 and told them what was going on , I gave them my address. The Female operator said Ma'am you live at Mr. (----)'s farm? I said yes I do , and please hurry. She tried to cover up her laughter, and said Ma,am , what you are hearing are My fathers Peacocks calling! Sorry Ma'am, I'll call my Dad and see if he can get them back into the Barn, have a good night Ma'am!
To this day I cannot see a Peacock with out cringing! LOL!!
Ah, a faithful and protective pig. Lucky you (seriously).
That is nearly what I did the first time I heard a screetch owl.. Scared me to death! I was a caretaker at a big ranch and it was just me and Krystal who was only about 4... We were not but a couple hundred feet from the barn.. OMG I got a gun and stood by the window for hours.... too scared to call anyone!
I still have that cold icy feeling in the pit of My stomach whenever I hear a Peacock! I understand exactly how you felt ZZ, Its a type of very insecure Feeling you get whenever you do not understand where or from what a night noise is coming From!!
I'm sitting here chuckling, your comments are cracking me up. I remember I took my wife on a motorcycle ride that was supposed to be three hundred miles, when we arrived at out destination we could find no motels with a room to rent, this went on and on, No rooms, I finally asked whey no rooms and it was some kind of event that must have been very large as we found no rooms in over two hundred miles. We finally resolved ourselves that we would have to return home which ended up being an eight hundred mile trip. While going thru the cascade mountains at two o clock in the morning my poor wife who could hardly stand or walk due to so many hours on the bike informed me she had to empty her bladder. No one in the mountains but us. While she was taking care of business we heard a loud crashing sound, she screemed and I told her to calm down it was just a bear that was to large for the limb. I think she finished her business with her clothes on and was really ready to ride. I laughed myself all the rest of the way home...Nighttime noises still scare her and I have to park the car in just the right place even at home as she is scared just going to the car...She does not enjoy my teasing...LOL
I stopped being afraid of the dark when I realised thast there was nothing in the dark that wouldn't eat me in the daylight.