Raising Heritage turkeys & heritage chickens. 3 months old

[@goldengryphon]

I raise Dorking chickens, and am trying to get small flocks of a few varieties. I've never had a problem with any Dorking roo, but I have had trouble with most other breeds of chickens. So far, only the Cuckoo Maran roo I have in the flock hasn't turned into an aggressive jerk with time. I've been raising the Dorkings, off and on, for about 25 years. Just gotten more serious about it witin the last 5 or so. I added African Geese about 6 years ago, after a wild cat attack, followed by feral dogs, took out my flock of Dorkings. The geese raise a lot of noise and serve to help the chickens against our local hawks and eagles. I haven't had an owl problem since I added them, either. Geese nibble at your to groom you if you're a liked person. It tickles me, mostly. They can bite and wing buffet if they're unhappy. I've had bruises from my flock with wing buffets (they didn;t want to do what I needed them to do), but they've never bitten me. I work at handling them daily to make sure we stay friends. I've thought about adding Royal Palm Turkeys. I prefer the color patterns of the Naragansett, but the Roayl Palms are a reasonable size for my oven. It's good to hear about them, and raising turkeys in general. It helps me to decide if I'm going to jump on that this coming year or not. Probably not, but things change and I might change my mind. What hatchery do you work with? Do you have preferences, other than the Sumatra, and what impact do your preferences have on your poultry raising?

[@GO_NATIVE_FARMS]

My Cuckoo Maran is nice to me. Royal Palms are great. My chicks originally came from cackle hatchery, and I also got some from Meyer hatchery. Both hatcheries are pretty good. My favorite are the Ayam Cemani. Mine are very tame and interactive. See little mama: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n53JfKyYhZtqeas

[@goldengryphon]

@@GO_NATIVE_FARMS I'm glad to hear the Cuckoo Maran roo I have isn't a random event! That's great. It means I will probably keep him a little longer - maybe get into Cuckoo Marans too. The eggs are wonderful. I've recently started ordering from Meyer. Nice people. The customer service is top notch. I haven't looked much at Cackle Hatchery. I'll have to see what they're up to. Most of my "general laying flock" birds come from Murray McMurray, and the birds are great - for what they are (Their Dorkings aren't very "Dorking-y"). I still have a few hens from the order I placed with them after the flock clearning - 5 Dorkings, a Lavendar Splash Orpington, and an Easter Egger that's all white. Those hens are 6 years old and still going! Ayam Ceymani are pretty. I enjoy seeing them in other people's flocks. Just not ready for that. I try to keep my "fancy birds" limited to the Dorkings. I have a Black hen that's amazing, sweet, and opinionated. She'll go broody just because and I love her for it. Hope you have a great week!