I watched the silliest thing I have ever seen tonight. I have a 3 1/2 week old Bronze poult. He is only partially feathered and still has tufts of fuz. He is in a pen with a 5 day old Canada goose who wandered into the yard and attached himself to the turkey. Well the turkey was all fluffed up and pushing the gosling around the pen. I couldn't figure it out till I got closer. He was strutting for the goose! His tail was fanned, his wings down and was just a-stomping his feet as he danced around the gosling.
Is this normal? Or does he have a hormonal overload? I have older poults, (0ne a tom), but they do nothing but eat and poop. I must be raising a real stud muffin. Poor goose, he's really going to grow up confused.
Baby Turkey Strut, Normal?
We have Bronze poults just past 2 weeks old and nearly hurt ourselves laughing at them this afternoon. They are both strutting and trying to gobble. Maybe turkeys are like kids and growing up faster?
I can hadly wait for the gobble. The poor thing just exhausted himself last night. The goose still thinks he wierd. Even funnier is that I have an adult wild turkey hen in a small yard next to him (she is recouperating from a "run in" with a car) She just sits there and stares at him and makes a little clucking sound. I was hoping she would think of him as her chick as we couldn't find her nest after she was struck. But now, she figgures he's demented and keeps her distance.
At least this way, if my Narraganset Tom turns out to be a dud, I have one who will be more than willing to take his place. It's going to be a real riot when he is big enough to display with the peacock. (who right now is showing off for a rabbit) I have strange animals.....
I only have two babies, took me a while to find them but I now am the proud Mama of two little White Royal Palms!! They are about 4 weeks now and Yep the one with the black showing on his wings is already doing his little "Turkey Dance", especially if some other chick comes near his friend , that I am now assuming is a Hen, I hope, I hope!!
This message was edited May 30, 2007 9:42 AM
This is so cute! I didn't know baby turkeys would do the turkey dance. And that baby peacocks would do their display. For rabbits. LOL
The royal palms are beautiful. It was a real toss up between them and Narragansetss for my breeding turkeys, but I figgured if the Narragansetts bred with any wild turkeys passing through, it wouldn't be as obvious.
That silly peacock will display for anything. He is a year old and I think I need to find him a female. He's beginning to wink at me!
LOLOL! Yes, I think you'd better. LOL
SO wants to get peacocks. When I was a kid, the lady who came and took care of us when my mom had cancer used to take us out to her farm to spend the weekend. They had the prettiest peacocks and we got such a thrill finding the tail feathers to take home.
Peacocks have come up as a possible addition here as well.....i think it's so funny/ironic that one of the most beautiful birds has one of the ugliest (at least to non-peacocks) sounds of any animals or birds any where!
Actually the noise is not nearly as bad as I thought. I had asked for a peacock for my 50th birthday a few years ago. My husband hated the screams so he got me chickens instead. Well, you can imagine that chickens were not really what I was expecting. Last Spring he was feeling especially guilty about it and bought me two peacock chicks. We kept them pened for most of the summer, thinking that they would return to the pen at night to sleep. Wrong.Chickens do that, not peacocks. They prefered to sleep on top of the chicken coop. Last winter we lost one when a neighbours dog dug under the fence and killed one. The remaining peacock is really pretty pleasant. He rarely leaves the yard (dangerous dog, no longer lives in this county) unless it's to roost high up in the next door tree. (This neighbour loves him and feeds him toast with jam). He calls a few times in the evening and if I am outside the yard, but he can still see me (obviously, he thinks I only belong in HIS yard) The sound is not all that loud and even my husband admitted that he likes hearing him in the evening. He is loud enough to get my attention if there is something out there that doesn't belong. (like the poor stray cat he had cornered by the fence)
All in all, I find the peacock one of the more pleasant occupants of this place and even though he doesn't have his full tail and colors, he is beautiful. He also doesn't scratch like chickens do and boy, does he eat bugs in the garden! We'll have to see what he does with tomatoes.
He sounds really neat. They are gorgeous & if they cut down on the bugs that is a huge bonus :-)
Hi
I got my turkey babies (not sure what they are called when they are babies) today. I took the silkies (2wks old ) out and put them in with the guineas. One guinea bolted and was screaming I went to close the door (I use the huge plastic kennels as brooders) and one of the turkey charged me wings spread. but wings tip pointed towards the ground. I marked him with a dot of food coloring, I think even at a couple of days old his a male!
I cannot belive how much those guineas and tukeys eat! Those guineas are growing so fast! Its amazing! We only wanted a couple of turkeys for thanksgiving but we had missed the order at my local store so we went to the next town and had to order 6. So friends and family will have a nice holiday dinner!
That's great LoraK! Yes, they eat a ton! Just think of all the energy that being spent in growing so fast. Each morning, they're bigger than the night before! It's amazing how much of a personality they have when they're so little too. One of my WC Polish chicks (Einstein, I think) attacked my hand when I reached into the brooder. It behaved just like a full grown rooster, and it's only 4 inches tall! I wished I had thought about marking it with food coloring. If it does it again, I'll do just that and see later if it's a rooster. ;) Enjoy them now, and your "fine dining" later at Thanksgiving!! Post some pictures if you can! I'd love to see them!
Oh, by the way.... :)
American Heritage Dictionary
poult (pōlt) n.
A young fowl, especially a turkey, chicken, or pheasant.
Well, am I dissapointed! Its not too bad though but still dissapointing! My two little Turkeys, I thought were a pair, has turned out to be two toms!!!!! Awwwww!!!! I now know I have one Royal White Palm tom and a white tom! Heres the proof tooooooo funny , hes only a4weeks old now and he is already "dancing" and this morning he actually "Gobbled" I wish you all could have heard him! I laughed til I cried!!!
This message was edited Jun 4, 2007 5:20 PM
I wish I could have gotten better pics!
What a bummer! Now you have to hunt down a female!
Eufaula, the turkeys are very cute and love the white color..
If they get lose at night us will see them cuties..Pretty Birds..
Tracey
Yep I would have loved having a female but......., we dont always get what we want , and it is usually for a reason! Soooo, I will bide my time with these two cuteys and see what happens ! I have really fallen in love with them! And when the solid white :Gobbled" the other day I just knew he was never going to go anywhere! Hmmmm, maybe I'll have two beautiful Tom Turkey Guard Dogs!!!! LOL!!!!
Now isnt this the face of ...."Im Bad, Yes I'm Bad"
How about pics from the rest of you Turkeys!!!! Lol!!!!
Mine are only 8inces tall and think they are grown! Already gobbling and determining territory!
Hi
I will post a pic this weekend. I need to locate my wire connector thingy. The guineas are as big as the marans and the turkeys are catching up quickly. My next clutch of guineas is hatching as I write this, they would in the incubator 28 days saturday. Its a bunch of different colors, I know one looks like a "normal" and the other two that hatched are lighter. Hopefully a good a range of colors! I will post pics as soon as eveyone is dry and walking around (and I find my wire thingy)
Here one is, I have had them 15 days
