[pepsi100]

I bought them in from someone fairly local.  It is the first time I have had turkeys so a bit of a learning curve.

Did you hatch them in an incubator or under a hen ?

Lucky to get a tom and a hen ?

I might consider them later in the year

One other qustion, do geese have to have free range to grass ? do they eat anything else ?

Could they be housed with hens ?

I am only thinking of 1, (maybe a pair)

Just a thought 

[ANHBUC]

I have a tiny bantam and she managed to hatch 4 out of 5 eggs.

Do you mean turkeys or geese?  Turkeys are better freeranging but it is not necessary.  They eat turkey chick crumb, turkey growers and then turkey finishers pellets. 

They can contract blackhead from chickens so if kept together they have to be wormed really regularly.  They would need a shed rather than a coop.   

[pepsi100]

Both, but the turkeys wouldnt be long term, unless the grand kids saw them

But if they have to be in a shed, that wouldnt be viable

If geese could be kept with hens and eat the same or nearly the same food, I'd consider keeping a pair

They would spend the nights in the same hen house, just at different ends

I used to have a goose before, but it ate all the grass, it was just a desert after

A video or photos of them being culled would be good and informative, if a bit morbid, along with plucking and gutting

Also advice on what can go wrong

.

[splash101]

Craig, if you search "dressing a chicken" in Google, there are lots of videos and info on there.

here is a link with a step by step guide (goes from butchering to dressing - see right hand side of picture for each step and click on each step)

There are many more to search through if you have the time.

please note that some people may find the images unpleasant

http://butcherachicken.blogspot.co.uk/

[pepsi100]

Craig ? Who is Craig ? I'm Derrick (pepsi100)

But thanks for the links, its appreciated (I didnt mean for the videos or photos to be posted on the forum) I daresay, kids look in here, sometimes


.

[Craigx]

pepsi.. im Craig lol

Craig

[pepsi100]

pepsi.. im Craig lol

Craig

Hello Craig mate, sorry must have missed you in the posting, no offence 

[Craigx]

Thanks i feel invisible now lol!

What do you want the geese for? if i may ask

Craig

[splash101]

lol pepsi, there was an earlier post from craigx who was asking about gutting etc. I thought there used to be a link on here but maybe i'm mistaken.
Anyway, plenty of info on google if you have time to sit and search.

I agree about children looking on here so perhaps if the moderators deem it unacceptable they can remove it and shall consider my wrists slapped.

[pepsi100]

Thanks i feel invisible now lol!

What do you want the geese for? if i may ask

Craig

No real reason, I like geese, I like the eggs, when I hatched one from an egg, it waas my best mate, AND it keeps the cats/kids out of the garden

[GrannieAnnie]

geese can attack chickens, and being bigger, would also need a bigger coop/small shed to live in.  We always kept our geese and chickens apart, and their main food is grass, and yes they really need to be able to 'graze'

[pepsi100]

The goose I did have was happy living with my hens, but she would 'graze' they would peck about in tje garden, the goose never bothered about the hens or vice versa, she used to eat the layers mash quite happily, but had a fear of water, she never used the pond, but was happy in a puddle  but did eat the whole of the lawn (I like to call it a lawn, but its a patch of grass the grand kids play on

But IF their main diet is grass, I dont have enough, cant rewally take her oputr on the green could I ?

So thats another one I cant have, no turkey's (no room) no geese, (not enough grass) oh, well we sticjk with the hens then 

[GrannieAnnie]

But IF their main diet is grass, I dont have enough, cant rewally take her oputr on the green could I ?

You could buy them a lead and take them out on the green??

[Spana]

Wouldn't  geesemake a terrible mess in the hen house.  

Have a look on YouTube, i'm sure ive seen stuff there about culling and dressing poultry.

I always think turkeys are much easier to cull then some of the big cockerels, ours went very quietly with no struggle or noise. Try culling a big Cornish Game cockerel first, turkeys are a piece of cake after that.

ANHBUC, we use a wall mounted dispatcher too.

[pepsi100]

But IF their main diet is grass, I dont have enough, cant rewally take her oputr on the green could I ?

You could buy them a lead and take them out on the green??

When we had a goose first, we lived in Ealing, the kids used to take her to the park, they used to walk through Ealing High Street, it looked quite funny, even dogs on leads stopped to look, When we moved to Northolt, she came with us, we had a bigger garden, she still ate every scrap of grass, we had to lock her away when there were foxes around, but she seemed happy enough, she always went to bed with no fuss, BUT me taking her out on a lead, that just wouldnt happen, and IF she was left on her own on the green the neighbours would make short work of her (and we got some nasty kids round here)
The Poles have fished out the carp pond, no fish left, they used nets rather than a rod  
So unless I could have her in my garden, its not going to happen, it just wouldnt be right