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Turkeys in Wayne Co
- Thread starter volsrock
- Start date
Chicken houses :stir:
im afraid u are correct... we did have turkeys before the chicken house explosion!! Also wonder why the chicken house contractors wont let the owners or their workers hunt or have any contact with wild turkeys!!! cant figure that one out??? :roll:timberjack86":3epnzan3 said:
seems like they dont want the wild turkey to exist!!
volsrock":yncqiafn said:Touchy Subject ?????op:
Apparently. When you mention the decline and chicken barns people don't want to hear about it. Too much money involved.
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ZachMarkus":105nfab7 said:volsrock":105nfab7 said:Touchy Subject ?????
Apparently. When you mention the decline and chicken barns people don't want to hear about it. Too much money involved.
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Yep
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
I think people want an answer that can be fixed with a regulation but TWRA can't really do anything about chicken houses.
Uncle Jesse
Well-Known Member
volsrock":2ov54lcv said:
It's because of bird flu. I raised chickens for 22 years and quit in 2012. I had separate boots for working and hunting. I didn't wear my hunting clothes around the chickens either
We also used litter on our land up till around 2015. We went from completely no turkeys back in the 90's to seeing a few around 2000. Since 2000 the turkeys here have steadily increased. You'll have a hard time convincing me that chickens are bad for the turkeys
Uncle Jesse
Well-Known Member
The sparrows decided they liked roosting in my chicken houses. Tyson said I had to get rid of them because of the bird flu risk. I tried filling the holes they had made but they just made new holes
So I bought a smooth bore 22 and would grab a pocket full of shells and kill sparrows every night. First few nights I'd kill 60 to 80. It took longer than I thought but they finally took the hint to sleep elsewhere
So I bought a smooth bore 22 and would grab a pocket full of shells and kill sparrows every night. First few nights I'd kill 60 to 80. It took longer than I thought but they finally took the hint to sleep elsewhere
The chicken house "theory" gets knocked in the head when you try to explain major declines in turkey populations that are hundreds of miles from any chicken houses or where farmers are using chicken litter.
It could be A factor down there, but certainly isn't the only one.
It could be A factor down there, but certainly isn't the only one.
Uncle Jesse
Well-Known Member
Btw, if a single chicken tests positive for the bird flu, every chicken on the whole farm is destroyed. They take it very serious
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
There's places in the middle of no where and no chicken houses that are declining with turkeys. There's also places with 20 times the amount of chicken houses as Wayne county Tennessee that still have thriving turkeys.
If anything, bird flu would probably be transmitted by the wild birds to the domestic birds, not the other way around. Most of those farms have weekly monitoring systems in place to check for disease, not just bird flu either.
Blackhead would be the only concern I'd have with spreading litter into the fields. But if it goes through a heat cycle, blackhead is killed. Also most of not all of the chicken houses in Wayne county are on concrete floors. Blackhead is transmitted through the soil by earthworms, and earthworms cannot go through concrete. Some of the older farms in South Georgia and Alabama and Mississippi with dirt floors or more likely to get or spread blackhead.
If you want to blame ag for turkey decline, blame farmers that cut down every fence row and hedge row for minimal gains in crop production. Overgrown fields are now being converted to row crops. CRP is starting to lose ground and take a back seat. Im-proper timber management, clear cutting too much at one time on a given tract of land instead of checker-boarding. Controlled burns aren't done like they used to be.
I still believe it's many things compiled together that has caused the decline, with chicken houses being extremely low on that list.
It's habit loss, habitat management, rise of hogs and armidillos, unlucky consecutive years of wet April and May, and likely over harvest of mature gobblers too early in the breeding season.
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If anything, bird flu would probably be transmitted by the wild birds to the domestic birds, not the other way around. Most of those farms have weekly monitoring systems in place to check for disease, not just bird flu either.
Blackhead would be the only concern I'd have with spreading litter into the fields. But if it goes through a heat cycle, blackhead is killed. Also most of not all of the chicken houses in Wayne county are on concrete floors. Blackhead is transmitted through the soil by earthworms, and earthworms cannot go through concrete. Some of the older farms in South Georgia and Alabama and Mississippi with dirt floors or more likely to get or spread blackhead.
If you want to blame ag for turkey decline, blame farmers that cut down every fence row and hedge row for minimal gains in crop production. Overgrown fields are now being converted to row crops. CRP is starting to lose ground and take a back seat. Im-proper timber management, clear cutting too much at one time on a given tract of land instead of checker-boarding. Controlled burns aren't done like they used to be.
I still believe it's many things compiled together that has caused the decline, with chicken houses being extremely low on that list.
It's habit loss, habitat management, rise of hogs and armidillos, unlucky consecutive years of wet April and May, and likely over harvest of mature gobblers too early in the breeding season.
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TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Am in general agreement with everything woodsman04 just posted, particularly these two sentences.woodsman04":2r300we1 said:
However, there is also, not only more to add to the list,
but I believe there is at least some factor(s) we've yet to identify as well.
As to adding the the list, I would add a steady increase in predation from the usual suspects, but in particular from a variety of raptors.
Then add the loss of insects which are so necessary to early poult survival.
Plus, don't overlooked the increase in hunter success & efficiency afforded by today's turkey guns & loads,
along with all the gadgets like decoys, pop-up blinds, and tactics being used more for facebook kill bragging, etc.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I'm in agreement with woodsman and LBL. To elaborate further, insect loss goes back to poor habitat management. Fires should happen more frequently, but most people are afraid of it.....like I used to be. Researching all the benefits of prescribed fire changed my mind - I should be certified by the end of the week for the state of TN for prescribed burning. Turkeys LOVE newly burned areas - fresh growth and a whole array of insect species for turkeys....and of course, great nesting habitatTheLBLman":32lh5b2t said:
Uncle Jesse
Well-Known Member
I have a 21 acre hay field that I cut last every year just because the turkeys nest in it. I try to do what I can but we still kill a hen on the nest every now and then. They won't move.woodsman04":4uyswom2 said:
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
Uncle Jesse":2epk3mhm said:
One farmer I know actually scouts for the hens that always best in his hay. Usually by the time hatyis cut the hens are already setting eggs and have been for a while. The ones he finds he puts a flag of some sort near the nest so that he can go around them. There is a few that they don't find, but it's good to know that there are farmers that care about that.
Another thing on hayfields: In my experience if turkeys are nesting in hayfields of fescue or Bermuda or other types of thick grass, it is because quality nesting habitat availability is low or there are an excess of birds that have no where to nest, could be either or.
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TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Agree,JCDEERMAN":1uggieuu said:
but believe the insect loss statewide may be more from pesticide & herbicide use in modern ag practices (than from a lack of prescribed fire).
This thread could be titled "Turkeys in Tennessee"
as what has happened in Wayne County has also happened in other counties and parts of other counties.
If it hasn't happened yet where you hunt in your county, just wait, it will.
Yes they do, love hunting recently burned woods.JCDEERMAN":16lszf8p said:
Ding ding ding........we have a winner!TheLBLman":46x933qd said:
