# ANGEL WING IN EASTERN WILD TURKEY POULTS



## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*A week ago this poult had wing feathers growing out at an angle away from its body; an obvious sign of developing Angel Wing, a wing deformity caused by by diet and/or genetics. In my experience the problem has always been dietary alone. The picture shows the results of a change in diet with less protein.*










*These little guys show a slightly higher degree of intelligence and different vocalizations in comparison to my domestics. I am surprised at how calm they are making them easy to handle.*


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Hand raising makes quite a difference in most game birds. Guineas can be quite tame when hand raised and the human spend time with them.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*Yes, "...most..." but not all. When I hand raised ring neck pheasants, they were wild, never showing any tameness. I once bottle fed a litter of cotton tails. Once weaned, they were nothing but wild. But it certainly makes a difference in the mallards and EWTs. My mallards act no different than the domestic ducks. I'm hoping this will be true of the EWTs when they are grown. How about my doves? It is getting harder and harder to know which are hand fed and which are "wild"! An old male dove, that has always been wild, strutted up to me today and ate from my palm as though he'd always ate that way. His mate was the first of the flock to become trusting towards me-monkey see, monkey do?*


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Being able to trust is the biggest part of it. When genetics get in the way there isn't a lot to be done to get them to change. Just ask PJ, look at how many EWTs he's raised and in the end them go wild.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*How about it PJ, what percentage would you say would go back to nature? With mallards, it would be 0 as long as their needs are met. Ducks are all about the food and how much. Intelligence probably plays a part with accepting the domestic life; more intelligent is also more adaptable. Those that run more on instinct are less likely to stick around because they are unable to change from their wild heritage.*


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

He posted that his hen lost all 20 of her eggs to something. He's wondering now if she's going to go join the wild flocks.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

robin416 said:


> *He posted that his hen lost all 20 of her eggs to something*. He's wondering now if she's going to go join the wild flocks.


 *Dang! What a shame. With the breeding season coming to a close, it's hopeful the hen will stay. PJ had told me that it was usually the hens that left during the breeding season.

Last time I candled the turkey eggs, eight of eighteen had DIS. I took the remaining ten and put them in the incubator and the turkey hen has joined forces with the gray hen to raise the 12 poults the gray had hatched. The ten eggs I took are hatching right now. I had posted that about half of all eggs under the broody birds had DIS; turkeys, bantams, and ducks. Eggs in the incubator have continued to hatch out well. I blame this horrible weather. Betty Muscovy has six eggs developing and just about every time I'm in there by her, she is standing over the eggs panting or off the nest on breaks; which are very long. She started with eight, but two were knocked from the nest somehow. Regardless of the heat, humidity, and not being covered the remaining six eggs keep developing. Chicken eggs would never survive such. *


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mine would leave the nest when temps were in the mid 90's. Guinea hens would leave the nest most of the day. Figure if the temps are in the high 90's the eggs are still incubating. I even found a couple that self incubated during high heat days.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

That is interesting about the protein Dan. I think they self-regulate their diet more in the wild. In my humble humble opinion, the EWTs will go wild sometimes even when raised in the run as domestic. Currently, my Mama EWT will not go back in the run. She is not going far but is patrolling the drive between run and barn. I put her in the run yesterday afternoon but she won't stay there. Dad has not left the run and coop areas since the first batch of babies but those two poults are still with him. As Robin said, I think they will all go wild if given certain circumstances. In fifteen years I haven't had any that have stayed permanently. My gut feeling is this Tom might stay. The hen not so much. But I have the four newly hatched EWT babies and will raise them with the India Blue and Pied peafowl chicks for a while. Hope springs eternal. I have had good luck in the past with peafowl chicks bonding with chickens and I have some very tame peafowl. I'm still working on training, that will be an ongoing work in progress. The only other thing I can't explain is why they bully the neighbor's chickens. I guess they weren't raised with them. Their herding dog Charlie, does an excellent job of rounding them up and sending them home. It is fairly impressive to watch.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've seen that same behavior in my Guineas when the neighboring chickens came to visit. They got the dogs rounded up and they all ran the chickens back to their own property.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*Thanks PJ, I will plan on keeping the EWTs in a covered run or clipped. How are EWTs at jumping? M pea family is clipped, but they are able to JUMP over the five foot fence. Clipping doesn't keep them off the house top or garage; no more clipping peafowl.*

*My turkey, peafowl, and ducks bully anything new or not belonging. But they tend to bully certain members of the flock. Each of the dominants has their own group to bully.*


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

danathome said:


> *Thanks PJ, I will plan on keeping the EWTs in a covered run or clipped. How are EWTs at jumping? M pea family is clipped, but they are able to JUMP over the five foot fence. Clipping doesn't keep them off the house top or garage; no more clipping peafowl.
> 
> My turkey, peafowl, and ducks bully anything new or not belonging. But they tend to bully certain members of the flock. Each of the dominants has their own group to bully.*


The EWTs can jump about six feet and they fly well. They are never on the roof like the peafowl which are on the rooves all the time doing their peafowl nonsense. My Tom EWT doesn't jump more than a couple feet at a time because he's too big and a little heavier than he should be. But he can fly okay when he wants to.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> The EWTs can jump about six feet and they fly well. They are never on the roof like the peafowl which are on the rooves all the time doing their peafowl nonsense. My Tom EWT doesn't jump more than a couple feet at a time because he's too big and a little heavier than he should be. But he can fly okay when he wants to.


*My domestics can't jump like that, so I guess I'd better plan on a run with a top. I'm encouraging the doves to move into the turkey shed where they will be safer. With some remodeling and increasing the size the loft will make a good turkey run.*


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

danathome said:


> *My domestics can't jump like that, so I guess I'd better plan on a run with a top. I'm encouraging the doves to move into the turkey shed where they will be safer. With some remodeling and increasing the size the loft will make a good turkey run.*


My Mama EWT is back in the coop tonight, hopefully a good sign.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> My Mama EWT is back in the coop tonight, hopefully a good sign.


*Yeah!!!!!!*


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wonder if it was the confusion of losing her eggs so far into the hatch.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

robin416 said:


> I wonder if it was the confusion of losing her eggs so far into the hatch.


*Another situation where it would be nice to know what's going on in their minds. I've had seven midget whites hatch in the incubator. I think there will be two more. The tenth egg has either DIS or is late; I'll candle the next time the incubator is opened.*

*I hope your day is a great one, Robin, and everyone else's too.*


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

I would go broke trying to be a bird psychologist. There is a lady in Hiram however, who specializes in working with large birds, parrots etcetera, who develop bad behaviors in peoples' homes.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Poultry Judge said:


> I would go broke trying to be a bird psychologist. There is a lady in Hiram however, who specializes in working with large birds, parrots etcetera, who develop bad behaviors in peoples' homes.


I guess with the mistake people make with those very intelligent birds it's necessary. We see it with other animals so why not?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

danathome said:


> *Another situation where it would be nice to know what's going on in their minds. I've had seven midget whites hatch in the incubator. I think there will be two more. The tenth egg has either DIS or is late; I'll candle the next time the incubator is opened.
> 
> I hope your day is a great one, Robin, and everyone else's too.*


I really want to go spray unwanted vegetation but it's complicated with a furry four legged critter that has to be a part of absolutely everything.

Hopefully, it's a dry day for you to enjoy Dan. We've finally stopped raining everyday.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

A good day to everyone! Hopefully northeast Ohio will dry out some too, I need to mow some grass.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I didn't know you were also drowning like the rest of us. I did get a bit more mowing done yesterday. Weird how we have so much and the West is suffering so.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Yes it is, and here there has been flooding and roads closed. I haven't been able to mow for a week, the runs and horse arena still have standing water.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*With intelligence bad behaviors can be changed and parrots are very intelligence; some even able to use words to communicate on a limited basis and not just mimicry. Of course there are many who argue the point.*



robin416 said:


> I really want to go spray unwanted vegetation but it's complicated with a furry four legged critter that has to be a part of absolutely everything.
> 
> Hopefully, it's a* dry day* for you to enjoy Dan. We've finally stopped raining everyday.


*I sure hope so. The sun is shining so just high humidity to deal with. We hesitate to use sprays and pesticides, but we will have to in the garden as there's large worms eating up the tomatoes. I wouldn't do it on my own as I think it's a lost cause, but Kimmi...

Cleaning the quail cage brought about what I figured; the hen deserted the nest and laid elsewhere. Odd how that works, with the other pair I took all the eggs and removed one hen and the one left has continued using the nest area. Perhaps I'll have better luck with her.*


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> Yes it is, and here there has been flooding and roads closed. I haven't been able to mow for a week, the runs and horse arena still have standing water.


*Yes, the same here. The worst of it is the molds and fungus growing everywhere. One domestic poult, outside, has died and one of the doves appears ill. Time to clean again and disinfect. I have been anyway-disinfect waterers and do it again the next day. When the feed gets damp the stuff turns into a pile of mold overnight. I'm looking forward to dry even though it means watering the garden and plants. This time of year, gardens are hopeless; what doesn't rot is eaten up by the insect life. If it doesn't rot the sun burns it up.*


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Poultry Judge said:


> Yes it is, and here there has been flooding and roads closed. I haven't been able to mow for a week, the runs and horse arena still have standing water.


I remember you dealing with mud and more mud last year. Wasn't that what happened to the manure spreader?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> I remember you dealing with mud and more mud last year. Wasn't that what happened to the manure spreader?


Yes, that's what happens when you drag stuff through the mud!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It wasn't very identifiable as being much of anything in the end.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> It wasn't very identifiable as being much of anything in the end.


Welcome to my world of busted stuff!


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*Time for the EWTs to be outside, so to get a disinfected pen ready as I want them to have as good a chance to mature as possible. PJ- one of the four is a much lighter brown-all have the same makings-three are identical in appearance-might this be a sex thing; female? Three toms and one hen?*


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

I'm not a hundred percent sure. My two poults have been outside with Dad for a long time now and they look very similar to each other. I'm pretty sure one at least is a tom. The second batch of four are in a brooder tub and have some color variation, one is significantly smaller but all are doing well so far.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

*There isn't anything about it online, but I will keep track on it and we'll see in the future. Maybe I will get lucky and have three females and one tom-HA; like that's gonna happen. So far, they are all about the same size.*


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