Birders
Related: About this forumThere's 27 wild turkeys now
Not long ago I saw a couple of big Toms on the other side of town and there were no such birds in the group I was feeding at the time. Then I saw two Toms in my group. I'm pretty sure they are the same two birds.
I've read that in winter, the turkeys will split into three groups. The older males, the hens and the young males. All three make up the group I'm feeding. Lack of forage here in the winter may have necessitated them getting to gather all together.
I first was feeding them about 2 lbs, 12 oz. (I weighed it) of a mixture of oats and whole corn three times day but now feed them twice that amount three times a day and I think they are getting enough now. They don't come running down the hill like in a panic when I go out to feed them nor are they fighting amongst themselves while eating as they did when I was feeding them less.
At this rate, it's going to cost me about $80 a month and I'm okay with that. I was donating $25 a month to the Kamala Harris campaign so I'll use that now towards paying for the feed and I'm babysitting again for $4 an hour, four times a week(two weeks earlier then expected). Almost 3 days of a babysitting plus the money I had budgeted for the Harris campaign will cover the costs. Plus a woman in town has contacted my wife and said she's like to contribute to feeding the turkeys after Christmas. I'm pretty well known in town for the turkeys and people at the post office and store ask me about them most every time I go to there.
Ohiogal
(31,671 posts)Warms my heart.
brewens
(13,400 posts)50,000. I'd heard we had turkeys, but like the raccoons, I figured mostly on the edge of town.
The first little one came around the corner and I thought it was an adult quail which are common to see anywhere here. I was just thinking something wasn't right about the several "quail" when the big hen came around the corner. I froze so I wouldn't spook them and they came a little closer. Pretty cool seeing them up close and when I did start to move, they weren't worried about me at all.
PJMcK
(21,922 posts)We have much wildlife around our house on the upper Delaware River. The flock of wild turkeys is about a dozen strong and they're beautiful birds.
We don't feed any of the animals because our schedule there is erratic and we don't want the wildlife dependent on us since we're not there half of the week. However, the animals are beautiful and we try to provide a safe haven for them. We have deer (of course!), bears, lots of ground-dwellers, bald eagles, lots of hawks and tons of fish in the river.
There are a lot of hunters in northeast Pennsylvania but we keep our property off-limits in hopes of protecting some of the wildlife.
3Hotdogs
(12,210 posts)She would hop into his pouch and be carried for about two blocks. Then she would pop out. Rinse and repeat next day, every day.
This lasted for a couple of months.
Beringia
(4,314 posts)Kaleva
(36,147 posts)A full 50 lb bag and another partial bag.