Wind Dancer Ranch

The Turkey Sisterhood

Lisa — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:49:00 GMT

Thanksgiving is always a difficult time here at Wind Dancer Ranch as I get very attached to the turkeys. While it feels very good to help people celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, I am always sad about processing the birds. Inevitably there is a bird or two that have become very tame and join the rafter of pets and breeding stock. That's why you will always see a lot of turkeys on the farm no matter what time of year.

As we were processing birds this year an interesting scene played out with Cuddles - our oldest and my favorite pet hen. I was herding a couple of hens that were to be processed into a coop to separate them from others. In addition to the two hens I wanted Mavis (who is Cuddles' sister) walked into the coop. I was half considering processing Mavis for our own TG bird as she is not very tame and she is very sensitive to flys and mites in the summer. They really bother her and she spends about two months of the year standing in a small pond so they cannot get on her legs.

While I was thinking about whether or not I could really go through with it (we normally don't process birds that have been given names) I saw a flash of black feathers jump at me from the side. I turned in times to see Cuddles attack me again! She was making the angry attack "purr" sound, had her tail fanned all the way out, and was pummeling me with both legs and her wing. I quickly realized she was not very happy about Mavis being in that coop. With Cuddles dodging my every step I managed to separate Mavis from the other hens and push her out the door. Cuddles immediately calmed down and followed me out.

To me it was obvious that Cuddles knew why I was separating the hens and she did not want her sister to be part of that plan so she came to her rescue. Once Mavis was safe Cuddles immediately calmed down and was friendly and affectionate again. She did not seem to hold any grudge or resentment for the other hens - she just wanted her sister to be safe. I have written before about the strong bond of "sisterhood" that turkey hens have - they will come to each other's aid when they are in trouble, in a fight with a rooster or Tom, or when they are attacking snakes. Its interesting that this "sisterhood" bond lasts for years and out of all the turkey hens on the farm Cuddles seems to know that Mavis (and Pokey) are her sisters and special.

The fact that Cuddles seemed to know why I was separating the hens has been on my mind all week. She knows I am a predator. But she seems very accepting of it. We have a ritual every night when I check to make sure she is in the coop - I rub her feathers and give her a little massage and she "grooms" my hair. The ritual has not changed even after the Mavis incident. I can only guess that the birds accept the natural order of things and some of them, like Cuddles, know they are special and safe.

Turkey Moms

Lisa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:37:00 GMT

One of my Narragansett hens has hidden her nest in our orchard and is hatching out her poults there. Every morning we see her emerge from a different point of the orchard - as if she is intentionally trying to hide where she is coming from by emerging from a different place every day. After eating, drinking, and taking a dust bath she heads back to the orchard taking a very strange and windy path. She has done a good job keeping the location of her nest hidden.

This past weekend I happened to be enjoying a cup of coffee on the front porch with a group of juevenille turkeys surrounding me when the nesting hen showed up carrying an egg! When she got close to the group she dropped the egg and then proceeded to head to the water bowl. Of course the other birds immediately ate the egg. I was fascinated - not only did the turkey hen know that particular egg was not fertile - but she knew that if it exploded it would stink up her nest and expose it to predators. So she purposely picked it up and "threw it away". And even more than that - she made sure her discard was cleaned up by taking it so close to the other birds.

How did she know to do this? What sort of instincts guide this type of behavior? There is so much more to the animals that share our lives than we ever could have expected. I hope this hen is successful and hatches her poults - she would be a great Mom.

Good Snake Hunting

Lisa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:30:00 GMT

The other night when I was putting the young turkeys in the coop for the night I nearly stumbled upon a King snake hunting. I had seen this snake before - about 3 feet long and brilliant with its sharp black and white stripes. That night it was in the coopls investigating each mouse hole - looking for a meal. I had the opportunity to watch it hunt and see how it investigated every place a mouse could hide.

My turkeys will attack and kill a rattlesnake when they see one. Just the sight of a rattlesnake elicits sharp alarm calls from the hens and immediate action. But the King snake was accepted - no alarm calls and no attacks. Do the turkeys know its no threat? Is there something about its color pattern - which looks so close to the color pattern of a male Narragansett's flight feathers - that lets them know this snake is okay?

Just one of those animal mysteries.

Sad Day

Lisa — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:31:00 GMT

This morning we got to sleep in - well, till 8 am. That does not happen very often and we were just enjoying the sounds of the birds and the morning when all of a sudden there was a rumbling that sounded like a jet taking off. I looked out the window in time to see all the turkey hens flying toward the barn - and high enough that they were clearing the stallion barn and even the house. Some of them hit the house - some hit the backyard fence. Clearly something was very wrong in the orchard.

I ran out and checked on a few of the birds that hit the fence then took the 4 wheeler out to the orchard. I had only gone a little ways in when I saw what looked like a German Shepard hunched over a still struggling turkey hen! As I raced toward my hen the "german shepard" took a few steps and then flew away! It was not a dog at all but a Golden Eagle. The immense size of this bird shocked me. I have never seen a bird that large.

My turkey hen was alive when I reached her but she died shortly after that. I considered leaving her for the Eagle but that would be the Eagle's death sentence. A wild bird that finds domestic animals easy prey is soon a dead wild animal. I am unhappy about losing my hen but I don't hold any animosity toward the Eagle. I just have to find a way to deter it in the future.

I read up on Golden Eagles this afternoon because when I first saw this bird I had no idea what it was. I cannot even being to describe the size of it - it was huge. And I found out that Golden Eagles eat jackrabbits and even deer and coyotes. In some countries they are used to hunt wolves! This is a big bird - wingspan about 7 feet across. And they can dive at 200 mph. Not something you want in your orchard with your turkeys.

We butchered the hen and the intensity of her injuries became apparent. All the injuries appeared to be from talons as far as I could tell from location and "type". Huge tearing scars along her wings, punctures into her body cavity, tears along her breast. I thought at first she might have died from the initial strike but unfortunatley her body provided proof that she was struggling with this the Eagle for at least a few minutes. She had so many cuts that we decided to feed her to the dogs rather than eat her ourselves - no telling where the Eagle's claws may have been before.

The rest of the flock spent the day in the barn - not because we locked them up but because they were terrified to venture out into the orchard. Everything is disrupted - and in the evening some of the older toms took to sleeping in the roosts they knew as poults rather than their current spots. I think the flock had gotten complacent about birds of prey - Red Tailed Hawks are too small to take adult turkeys and the vultures never attacked anything. Suddenly this large bird or prey attacks and all the turkeys are in shock. We will see how they react tomorrow. I hope they remain cautious - I would hate to lose more hens.

I tried to get some video of the Eagles (there were two of them) as they kept coming back during the day but never got a clear shot. They are magnificent birds - and their size is just awe inspiring. I hope they catch the two big annoying jackrabbits in our front field. I hope they stay away from our lambs and turkeys and dogs - all of them are well within the size of prey for these Eagles. I hope they take a few of the Coyotes who keep us awake at night. I like to stay in balance with nature - and respect it. I just hope it works out.

Latest food safety crisis - they were feeding the pigs what????

Lisa — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:21:00 GMT

Like many Americans I was concerned about the recent pet food recall and the harm done to possibly a large number of pets. But I was shocked and disgusted to later hear that poisons actually reached food animals. In case you have not heard - it turns out that REJECT PET FOOD was fed to pigs and chickens in several states. And not just any pigs and chickens but animals soley intended for human food.

What are people thinking feeding REJECT pet food to pigs and chickens? Are they crazy? Do you want to eat an animal that ate something not suitable for your dog to eat? Geez!

A lot of "light" is being shed by this event - such as the lax inspection of imported foods, the questionable ingredients in pet (and other) foods, and the feeding practices of commercial hog and chicken growers. I just hope the reforms that should be put in place are and that they result in transparency for consumers to really understand what they are getting in their foods.

Shared babysitting duty amongst the hens

Lisa — Fri, 25 May 2007 21:59:00 GMT

I am continually fascinated by animal mothers and their young. Their instincts are fascinating and its amazing to see the babies respond and learn and grow. Most people think chickens are fairly simple creatures and while they certainly are not the brightest of creatures they do have a fascinating set of behaviors and social activities. One of which is shared babysitting duty and I recently saw a coupler good examples of it.

The best mother hen in the coop is a white silkie hen I got from a local 4Her. She was setting on a clutch of eggs but for various reasons only one hatched out and it died shortly after birth. I could tell she was pretty upset to not have any chicks to raise so I tried putting her in the brooder box with a mixed assortment of chicks and poults (turkey chicks) that were about two weeks old. Conventional wisdom would say that she would not adopt them - nor would they know what to "do" with a mother hen at that age. But she took to them right away and even though they did not respond at first to her calls that she had food (a clucking associated with picking up and dropping a choice morsel) they came around to them. Within two days her food calls were answered by a mob of chicks and poults trying to grab what she had found. Its amazing that even the poults understand her - how does that work? At night this strange assortment jumps back into the brooder box and cuddles together to sleep. Some of the poults are almost as big as the hen now, but she cares for them. Strange how animals work.

About the same time my silkie was adopting, a cross bantam hen hatched out three chicks right next to a Buff Orpington who was setting on a clutch. The Buff was not a very good setter - she would jump into other nests and randomly incubate whatever she could find - then return to her nest when she felt like it. Her eggs were not going to hatch. When the bantam's eggs hatched I guess the Buff saw an opportunity and grabbed it - she decided she would be second Mom to those chicks and started following the bantam hen and the chicks around. She feeds the chicks, protects them from other chickens, and let's them snuggle under her body to stay warm. The bantam hen seems to appreciate the help - there is no animosity between them and they share duties seamlessly.

Another example is a group of Spanish Black turkey hens who have a communal nest. Not only are they setting on eachother's eggs but they provide a central "warming station" for other hen's poults who have already hatched and are away from Mom. Any poult that wants to can crawl under these brooding hens and get warm and comforted before racing off to the next adventure. Why do they allow this? Maybe they just like babies?

The wildlife scientists make a big deal out of "communal living" and "communal raising of young". I am beginning to think its a much more common adaptation to close quarter living than we think.

Sad news - Carin has died

Lisa — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 04:42:00 GMT

I am sad to have to report that Carin - the most healthy of my Cornish Cross hens - has died. We have had some extremely cold weather here over the last three weeks and on one of the nights the temperature reached 16 degrees. I was not surprised to find one of the "three' Cornish cross hens dead the next morning - she had looked like she was experiencing heart problems for a few days before and I think her grossly over-sized body could not handle any more strain. But Carin's death the next day was a surprise. She had obviously had a heart attack although she was the most active and healthy of the Cornish Cross hens. She continued to make daily rounds with her sisters and Mom and kept up in all aspects except flying (she could not fly at all). I guess that all that selective breeding and manipulation finally caught up with her - and will catch up to the remaining two hens eventually. Its sad - but these hens are only a few months old and have not even started laying yet. They should be at the prime of their life - yet they are dying of old chicken maladies.

This experience has just re-enforced my belief that natural and heritage is better. While man has been shaping animal physiology to his liking since the dawn of domestication, we never before have had the ability to so control an animal's life as to render it entirely unfit for a normal life and lifespan. There is something wrong with manipulating a species that far - wrong ethically, morally, and I believe we will someday come to recognize something wrong physically.

At some point I feel it will be necessary to put down the other two Cornish Cross hens rather to see them weaken from heart disease. Already their combs are too dark on some days and their breathing too labored. No more Cornish Cross for me - but instead I have on order 15 Dark Cornish chicks - the Heritage ancestors of my Cornish Cross hens. The Dark Cornish as slower growing and not as large - but they do forage, fly, and live normal lifespans. I hope these Heritage birds will have a better life than my poor hens.

Free Range Cornish Cross - Not an Urban Legend

Lisa — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 01:25:00 GMT

After a rough start it appears that the Cornish Cross chicks are going to take advantage of their free range lifestyle. When we first put them in the front yard they just stayed in one spot and hid in the shade. Now they are cruising around the entire house - not quickly mind you - but they do get there. It helps that they have a boyfriend to guide them. The Cornish Cross have all turned out to be hens and my California Leghorn rooster - Foghorn Leghorn - has taken a liking to them. He escorts them all over the yard and has really encouraged them to venture out. I guess the babies are growing up.

Sustainable Farming Gets Some Press

Lisa — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:32:00 GMT

The Sustainable Farm movement has gotten some good press from the Washington Post with this recent article. Kudos to the Washington Post!

Walnut Harvest - An early Christmas for Turkeys

Lisa — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:42:00 GMT

Walnut harvest is just wrapping up and the turkeys have discovered the joys of eating the leftover walnuts. They venture deep into the orchard everyday to find nuts the tractor has run over. And whenever a human goes into the orchard they are followed by at least 20 birds waiting for the nuts to be crushed underfoot. They have even found the huller with its store of cracked nuts that fell out of the equipment. They just LOVE the nuts and can eat and eat and eat.

With the change in weather we are finding the turkeys eat more nuts and grains and have less of an appetite for their natural turkey crumbles. It might be because they are finished growing and are now putting on fat. Or it could be that nuts just taste better! But where I used to go through about 50lbs of turkey crumbles a day I am now just going through about 10 lbs.

Los tres pollo

Lisa — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 06:03:00 GMT

We are down to three plus Carin - Carin continues to do very well with her "hen" Moms. She is too heavy to fly but she does engage in all other normal chicken activities including rooting, digging, dust baths, and re-organizing all the equipment on my shelves.

The other three cornish cross were ousted from their flight pen by the other chickens. They were so slow and so docile that the other chicks their same age could eat their feathers (and a little flesh) without so much as a movement. I was afraid I was going to lose them like Mongo so they are now in the front yard. They run loose during the day with the puppies and turkeys and are in a secure pen at night.

At about 14 weeks these birds are VERY large and have outgrown their genetic capabilities. They cannot fly or get any lift at all. One of them can only hobble to food or water with a kind of stilted gait that reminds you of a pirate with a wooden leg. But despite their physical limitations they enjoy things like dust baths and are having a good time in the front yard. They are getting very tame though. Jimmy has to watch out to make sure they don't become pets.

Mongo died

Lisa — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 05:57:00 GMT

It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that Mongo died. She was in the flight pen with the other chickens but not taking advantage of her space and not getting much exercise. Her "insides" kept growing and growing and stretching her skin. This made it appealing to the other chicks to pick off her feathers and peck at her skin. They succeeded in creating a few small holes in Mongo's abdominal cavity and she died within 24 hours.

The size Mongo was at her death was very abnormal for a chicken. Her innards protruded off her back end like a middle aged man's beer belly. She probably would have been considered the ideal commercial meat bird - fast weight gainer. I feel sad that we breed birds to grow up like Mongo for fast weight gain and an early death.

Mongo compared with Carin

Lisa — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 04:47:00 GMT

Mongo and Carin are the same age but they are living vastly different lives. Carin lives with her "mom" hens and siblings and spends a lot of time searching for worms and grain. Despite having free choice high protein food available at all times she eats a wide variety of things and prefers to scratch and peck for a worm than sitting down by the feeder and chowing down. As a result she is pretty fit for a Cornish Cross chick and looks almost "normal".

The picture above is Carin and the one to the right is Carin with her "Mom" Mavis the Turkey. They are looking for bugs and worms.

And then there is Mongo - who so fits her name! She is huge and lumbering. She is in a very large flight pen now so has plenty of exercise, sunlight, and time to scratch and peck. She tends to eat a lot from the free choice feeder and I think that is what is making her grow so large. But I also realized that Carin eats more corn than Mongo so am trying to transition Mongo's diet to include more corn to see if that will keep her more slim.

As you can see from the picture above Mongo is larger and less balanced than Carin. When you pick her up its like picking up a ball rather than a chicken. But even though she is large and out of proportion she is still in pretty good shape compared to one of the other Cornish chicks. The chick below lacks any muscle tone and is very sparse in her feathering. She has trouble getting around and just eats all day. I guess this is good for commercial poultry operations but I can't help but feel sorry for her as the other chicks fly and run and play around her.

This experiment is interesting and depressing at the same time. It appears that genetics, environment, and food all factor into the health of these chicks. But seeing how these factors can be manipulated to optimize weight production is really depressing to me. I prefer to see chicks living happy chicken lives.

Mongo and a normal size chick

Lisa — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 20:53:00 GMT

This is a picture of Mongo in the chick day pen. She is twice the size of other chicks her age - the chick next to her is a leghorn. Mongo seems pretty happy and can walk almost normally. Unfortunately not all of the Cornish Cross can.

Life in the barn for a Cornish Cross

Lisa — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 16:26:00 GMT

Two of the cornish cross chicks were placed under a trio of hens raising their own chicks. This group included a banty cross hen, a white jersey giant, and a spanish black turkey hen. They accepted the cornish cross chicks (and a couple of maran and buff orpingtons I also slid under there) very nicely and treated them as their own. I guess with so many different types of chicks they had no idea which were their own and just decided to raise whatever peeped at them. They were a nice family for a while and the Cornish Cross were keeping up just fine - and were slimmer than my bunch in the brooder box which I think is much healthier. Then one one of the CC started having leg trouble - I could not tell whether it was a genetic thing or she was stepped on by a horse so she had to return to the house.

Shortly thereafter the chick in the barn got a name - Carin. She is doing great - keeping up with the other chicks, eating all sorts of things including chick food, grass, bugs, worms, etc. She stays slim and fit. Although she is not quite slim enough to fly! The chick in the house got a name too - one reflective of all the extra food she started eating due to lack of activity - Mongo. I take Mongo out everyday into a small chick run that has grass and sunshine. She and the other chicks (the other Cornish Cross, some leghorns, and some turkey poults) have a great time scratching and taking mini-dust baths. It has always amazed me that even without the example set by a mother, little chicks immediately take a dust bath when presented with dirt or grass. Of all the CC chicks in this pen Mongo is the most active - I think because she had some experience being free range. She is the biggest of the CC chicks but the most healthy and robust. Two of the others are moderately active but the third just scoots her blob like body around on the ground and eats and poops. She does not seemed phased by it but I feel so sad for her. She can't run or fly or act like a chick. I hope she does not miss it.

Cornish Cross Chicks

Lisa — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 03:38:00 GMT

Is it genetics or the way Cornish Cross chicks are raised that cause them to have so many health problems? That's the question I set out to answer when I bought five Cornish Cross chicks at the local feed store. Cornish Cross chickens are the most common commercially raised chicken providing a quick growth time, excellent feed conversion, and ample breast meat. But the downside is that these chickens are freaks of nature - they have difficulty walking, can't fly, get sick too easily, and often drop dead of heart attacks for no reason.

So why did I bring them home? I wondered if such a bird raised in a free range environment would do better? Its my little science experiment. So I brought the five chicks home and placed two under a trio of hens that just hatched out their chicks - one bantum hen, one Jersey giant, and one Spanish Black turkey. I figured they had so many different chicks of different species that they would be likely to accept these Cornish Cross chicks. And they did!

The other three chicks were kept indoors to be raised by hand but still in a natural environment.

In the posts that follow I will keep everyone posted on my experiment.

Welcome to my Blog!

Lisa — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 02:21:00 GMT

Welcome to the Wind Dancer Ranch blog! Here you will find the latest activities going on at Wind Dancer Ranch including information about our horses, heritage livestock and poultry, farm improvements, orchards, and simple country living. By way of introduction....Wind Dancer Ranch is a small family farm with diverse interests including Arabian, Appaloosa, and Friesian horses, walnut and almond orchards, Navajo-Churro sheep, and heritage breeds of turkeys and chickens. We do eat meat and believe the animals that provide our family with nourishment should be raised eating natural things and allowed freedom to live a natural life expressing natural behaviors. Our poultry are really free-range - not the commercial definition of that word. Rather they can go where they want and often travel acres into our orchards to seek out bugs and other interesting things to eat. We respect and appreciate our animals and believe its our duty to provide them the best life possible. And when they are intended for food, a quick, stress free and painless death. You can see more of our animals at our web site www.winddancerranch.us