DEATH (12 so far) and mutilation on the homestead

[Sourdough]

If you are squeamish and can't handle death and mutilation you might want to skip this thread. However real world survival is not always pretty, in-fact there is a lot of ugliness to living on a farm or homestead, hence this thread.

My long awaited 15 Broad Breasted Turkeys arrived Friday at 10:15 AM and four were dead in the box, and the other 11 did not look good, they looked drugged unable to stand., lethargic. Over the next 24 hours 7 more died.

This spring I also experimented with with taking Fertile goose eggs from the mother goose and putting them in with the Hen Turkey eggs, and extracting a non-fertile (No Tom Turkey) turkey egg each time. This worked fine and after 31 days the first goose was born. However it's beak was mutilated, it is still alive, but will most likely have to be destroyed if it can't eat. Today another was born and it had beat its self to death trying to escape the shell. I think that the mother goose helps crack open the thick shell of the goose egg when it is time, as goose hatch-lings have soft flat beaks.

The turkey chicks on the other hand have thin shells, and pointed beaks, and can chop there own way out of the shell. The hen turkey would not know she was sitting goose eggs, I blame me for the death of one and the mutilation of another. Now what to do with the rest of the eggs that the turkey is setting, I guess bring them into the cabin and but them by the wood stove and see what happens.

Please withhold the condolence's in response to this post. I get your pain at having to read this. Again this experience does bring up that some live with the regular experience of death, loss, birth, killing, butchering, etc. In a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI, you may be thrust unwillingly into a new world of harsh realities which you have hitherto avoided.

[Ken]

I feel your pain. DEM was at the next door neighbor's house this morning. Her dog was acting real strange, wouldn't come in the house. When the neighbor went outside to get the dog, the dog led her way behind the house where she found a fawn in the back yard that couldn't get up. She called DEM, and they came and picked up the fawn. Prognosis is uncertain, but we'll be getting updates.

[Sourdough]

Oops, I forgot some good news. Of the Ten (10) Geese that were born three weeks ago tomorrow, ALL are healthy and happy. Yes, the happy part is a guess, but they are cute, and I am happy......

[Rick]

Will the supplier make good on the Turkeys that died? Either they were sick to begin with or improperly shipped. IMHO.

Can't help you on the others. You've already surpassed my experience with fowl, which, in itself, is pretty foul.

[Ken]

*Geese talking to each other - "Well, he LOOKS happy and healthy, don't he?"*

[Rick]

And looks are pretty much all they've got. They don't even have a door on the outhouse. Sad. Really sad.

[Sourdough]

Rick, I called them Friday and they said they are guaranteed for 48 hours. So I need to call them tomorrow morning with the sad news. I do think the problem is the Postal service failed to keep them warm, the mailman had them in the back of his SUV with the window down. They are supposed to be kept very warm, it was 44* above when he arrived. They should be kept at 85* or as close as possable.

I think my attempts at raising turkeys is over, I'll be a Gooser from now-on.

Will the supplier make good on the Turkeys that died? Either they were sick to begin with or improperly shipped. IMHO.

Can't help you on the others. You've already surpassed my experience with fowl, which, in itself, is pretty foul.

[Rick]

Have you thought about Guinea Fowl? They make a heck of a watch dog, eat ticks and snakes and you have to shoot them to kill them. They are one tough bird.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guineafowl

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/G...RKGuineas.html

[Sourdough]

[QUOTE=Rick;127351]Have you thought about Guinea Fowl? They make a heck of a watch dog, eat ticks and snakes and you have to shoot them to kill them. They are one tough bird.

Well, we don't have ticks or snakes in Alaska, but what I remember from the ones we had in my youth, I think they could run a good size Grizzly off.

No, this whole thing with the birds has been to learn about a part of farming that I was clueless about. And they say us OLD people need to use our minds and learn new stuff or loose our memory, Now where was I, where am I, who am I, why are those birds in my cabin, O'yea Memory.

[Rick]

Just curious but geese poop a LOT. Are yours house broken if you have them in the cabin? Otherwise, there isn't going to be a door on the cabin after much longer.

[Sourdough]

The adult geese are in a chain link fence 6' high to protect them from wolves & bears % my dog (Sad to say). I let them out at 3:AM to free range, and round them up every night. What is in the cabin are the chicks & hatchlings. It is still getting down to upper thirties or low forties at night, the high today is 46* above.

Some chicks are in the grain barn under a heat lamp. But the new Born's (in the cabin, by the wood stove) need to be kept at 85 degrees for a week and lowered five degrees per week, till they out grow their fuzz, and get real feathers. The ones born in the nest get there mothers oil from her under wing to keep them warm and waterproof..

And it is very bad for your health to live in an enclosed area with poultry, very bad, can be fatal for humans.

[nell67]

Awe Hope,never tried to sit goose eggs under a turkey,thought about putting one under a banty hen,just for sh*ts and giggles (the egg would have been bigger than the hen...almost) but she would have "sit herself to death" trying to hatch it.

A cutsomer at the place I work just paid $58.18 each for 4 baby peafowl they special ordered,when they came in friday there were 10 Rhode island Red cockerals in the box with them,we went over special orders,looking to find who had ordered the chicks sent with the peafowl,and could find nothing.

Finally,I took the packing slip from the manager,and read the contents of the box,it listed the RIR roosters as "packing material for heat" for the peafowl babies. Customer got to keep the packing material.

[laughingbeetle]

Nell, that has to be one of the most inventive solutions i have heard in a while. what a way to insure satisfied customers and repeat business!

[nell67]

Nell, that has to be one of the most inventive solutions i have heard in a while. what a way to insure satisfied customers and repeat business!

Yep,and it also saved the lives of the little chicks,alot of hatcheries will "terminate" a certain percent of little roosters,since fewer people want them,they do ship out some in a "straight run" (mixed m/f)order but most only order pullets,which leaves an overabundance of the male babies.

using them for packaging material has to be a lot "CHEEPer" than buying straw to line the boxes with!

[laughingbeetle]

I am sure the roosters will grow up to be some mighty fine chicken-and-dumplings...

[Sourdough]

Yes with the turkeys there is a minimum order of 15 birds so they can keep each other warm. And the Geese is minimum of 10 birds.

[Winnie]

Perhaps some of the hatching problem may have been humidity. Goose and duck eggs need a higher humidity towards the the of brooding to soften the membrane so the young can break out.

[Rick]

There you go, Hopeak. Looks like the cabin needs a sauna or a sweat lodge.

[Sourdough]

There you go, Hopeak. Looks like the cabin needs a sauna or a sweat lodge.

I am living in a sauna 85 to 90 degrees in the cabin.

Had the first goose born on the woodstove last night. Think I'll name it woody.

4 of the 15 turkeys are still alive, not growing, but alive.

The hatchery gave me full credit for the turkeys that died in the first 48 hours, I'll order from then again. I still think the U.S. Postal Service is responsable for killing the turkeys.

[Rick]

Well, the Post Office has had some experience with turkeys that are killers.....did I say that right?