Supervisory Help Makes Things Tough

I really have to be flexible in my planning and yesterday was one of those days, it looked like it was going to rain and he first half of the day.  I after selling eggs to my customer I went and said hello to the geese at my gate...I had a hen outside the fence, she ran right through the cattle panel gate when I chased her.  I decided I needed to get some smaller wire over the cattle panel to keep them from escaping so easily.  I have been meaning to do it, it has just been so hot most of the time the poultry doesn't come over to that section of the yard because there is no shade...today was different.

I debated what type of wire to use on the cattle panel, it is four feet tall so I thought about just using the 2"x4" opening fencing that I fenced the chicken yard with...but it is hard to move 100 foot roll by myself and rabbits can still run through it.  I have some cage wire, but it is a lot more expensive than hardware cloth and I have two hundred foot rolls to ad to the bottom of the garden areas...so I decided to use it.  I used my safety wire pliers and galvanized steel wire to attach the hardware cloth to the cattle panel.

If you don't know anything about turkeys...they are very curious creatures, not afraid of anything either...they have been exploring a lot, I have had to get them off of the solar panels in the backyard, round them up and chase them out of the back yard so the dogs can go out...and catch them and get them back in the fenced area when they fly over.  It seems like they realize were the food is and wait for me to come out with some, it is pretty much what I do to get them out of the yard.  I get a scoop of food, shake it they come running and so do the chickens that fly over the backyard fence.  

They have to check out everything I am doing, no matter what it is...and they peck everything that shines.  Well, today I was work with tools and wire...they had to check it out and they pecked at my hands a lot while I was trying to get the wire through the cattle panel and grabbed with the safety wire pliers for twisting.  I have twelve turkeys and they would reach through the fence and try and grab tools or wire, they pecked at my hand as I reached through the fence and tried to get the wire in the right spot to twist. Then the geese came over after the turkeys showed interest in what I was doing and as I was sitting on the ground they reached through areas and groomed me...which basically means they grabbed my shoes, they grabbed my jeans leg and nibbled on my ankle as I was sitting there working...sometimes they grabbed my sock and pulled on it.  If I got to close to the fence the turkeys would pull my hair.  I am sure anyone that drove by were curious to find out why I had so many critters lined up at the fence, I do sometimes cuss up a storm if they hurt me or pull a tool through the fence to the other side.  I had to make sure they couldn't reach through the fence and pick up the bits of wire that I cut off too, they pretty much test everything to see if it is edible.  It was pretty funny with all of them right there watching me...even some of the babies were curious and came to check out what I was doing.  

I feel sorry for the young chickens, they sometimes get under the geese trying to pick up scratch grains when we throw them out to the mob and get stepped on. The geese honk loudly wanting scratch grains out of the scoop and all five will try and stick their heads into it to get some and the Ducks will stand up and crane their necks trying to get at them too.  My husband has created monsters, it seems their sole purpose is to get to the scoop and eat out of it now.  Yesterday I had a chicken fly to it land on the edge while I was walking with it and start eating scratch grains directly out of it.  I do up a special mix for the turkeys and carry a five gallon bucket out to their house to feed them, it is dry food...they eat the fermented feed if they can get to it, but when they see me with the big bucket most of them come running and follow me to their house.  I throw a few handfuls to the other poultry to keep them occupied while I round up the turkeys.  There are usually a couple of stragglers that have to be picked up and hand carried to the door. If I don't throw enough feed out to the chickens, ducks and geese...they will attempt to go into the turkey house to get their food too.  Many a young chicken have spent the night with the turkeys, they hide in the milk crates I have the food and water sitting on top of.  The milk crates were modified so that the could be used as nest boxes and have an opening on one side.