[Rosalie]

Hi this is my first visit to your site, found you whilst looking for anything on rearing turkey's

I have lived in Southern Spain since June 2007 with my husband james, we have just driven to England to visit our family for a week. This has ment us leaving 34 chucks a cockeral and two pups, a friend has taken on the job of looking after them for us. We finished picking the olives last week and when we get back we are hoping to sort out a new poject. Turkeys are high on the agenda hence looking for information and advice. Rearing them for christmas my first qustion is should we buy in March or later?

We have eight acres of land olives, almond plus an assortment of other trees most of it is fenced in though one part is not and we have a wild bore that likes to visit, we will be fenceing that part soon. Electricity will be with us by the summer 2008 !!! still we have a great generator we are in the campo and have a track telephone which only goes when we have the generator on and we have the internet sometimes. Would not move back to the UK for anything been back in the UK one day and already planning trip back.

I hope to learn from the experience of others in what looks like a very helpful forum

Rosalie

[pigsatlesrues]

Please tell us that you are having perfect weather in Spain! It would cheer us all up I am sure if you are enjoying the lovely sunshine.

Love the sound of your venture - adour olives, how lucky you are. Not an expert on Turkeys I am afraid but I am sure someone on here will be able to help you.

Welcome to the forum and really looking forward to hearing all about your life and what is coming next!

Kate

[Hilarysmum]

Sounds fascinating, more please.  HM

[Rosemary]

Hi, and welcome to the TAS forums.

I look forward to hearing about life in Spain.

Rosemary

[carl]

sounds lovely, wouldn't mind a bit of iberian warmth just now. re the turkeys. it depends how intensively you rear them. i would suggest no earlier than june for xmas birds as you don't want them so big that you cannot catch and process them, or more importantly , they don't fit in any normal oven.ours this time reached a processed weight of @ 20 lbs and just went in. we shared a small flock of turkeys with a neighbour, and it worked out well, as sometimes you need an extra pair of hands.
best of liuck.
carl.

[Rosalie]

Hi everybody

Starting our journey back to Spain at 6am tomorrow, we finished visiting our last relation at 4pm today and now cannot wait to get back to the chucks and dogs hope they have not missed us to much.

Just looked at the weather in Spain 19 degrees so it will be shorts and tee shirts when we get back, we will take three or maybe four days to drive back as we like to look at a new area each time, this time we are going to take a look at the coast around Dieppe.  We may get snow when crossing the mountains so the car is packed with enough warm gear just in case.

Just looked at your web site Kate, we hoped to keep pigs when we first went to Spain as it as always been my dream to have them, however we would need stronger fencing so that could well be a future project.

Thanks Carl for the advice on time of year to buy our Turkeys, going to get 100 I think maybe more next year.  We have a good friend who will help out anytime we have arranged to share the baby sitting when either of us go away he comes from Sicily and also keeps chucks. 

We hope to have a good mix of animals, do not want to be an intensive farmer thought of having goats but when the local goat herder stops to talk his goats like to eat our olive trees so maybe we will not get any, shame though as they are lovely animals.

Will visit this site as soon as we get back home to Spain

Rosalie

[pigsatlesrues]

Be very welcome Rosalie, and thank you so much for your kind comments.

By the way, you may have noticed when you looked in on our website that one of our Saddleback cross sows is called Rosalie and she is just georgeous. You will have to meet her one day soon!

Kate

[Rosalie]

Hi Kate I will have another look at your site tomorrow, to have a look at your Saddleback called Rosalie

Got back safe and sound and the weather as been great, our journey through France was great we got back to no Internet. We had not paid our bill, it is difficult to pay bills that do not arrive but that is the way telephonica works in Spain you get your bills after you have contacted them to find out how much the bill is and then you pay it at the post office or bank and pay a reconnection charge.

Thought BT was bad but now think they are not to bad.

We have been busy fencing some land of for the Turkeys and we are going to buy some Guinea Fowl tomorrow.

Rosalie

[Hilarysmum]

"that is the way telephonica works in Spain you get your bills after you have contacted them to find out how much the bill is and then you pay it at the post office or bank and pay a reconnection charge."


Dont you just love the quaint customs of these countries

[Pebbles]

Sounds like quite an adventure. Look forward to hearing lots more.

19 degrees and shorts and tees - not something I'll be experiencing for quite a while 

Welcome.

Pebbles

[Francis Bacon]

Hi Rosalie,

Absolute heaven... all those olives Mmmm  Look forward to hearing all your news.

Donna

[Rosalie]

Hi everyone we have had gales for the last 4 days, still no rain, but catching up on work indoors and hubby as got his long johns out of storage. The puppies are into everything I suppose they think that they are helping, chucks are laying well and we have just got more chicken wire to start next lot of fencing. 

Did not get Guinea fowl however going to Seville on Friday so we may will get them then, we have been told they are great for eating all known bugs without eating the veg as anyone any experience of this bird. If you have any advice you an give me would be appreciated.

Rosalie

[nellie]

hi  Roselie  we live in sunny Normandy ( well it has been glorious here for he last 5 days)

Guinea Fowl  must hold the record for the dimmest fowl.  That small head has a very tiny brain.

They make an unusual call especially when they get split from their  little group which can make them unpopular with the neighbours.

We have found them to be somewhat suicidel- religiously  roosting with the chickens for weeks then hiding in the long grass to take their chances with the foxes.

On the plus side their meat is delcious

Ours reached 2 kilo weight with no additional fattening ( just natural grazing & a little wheat)

They are also a  doddle to pluck too!

[Rosalie]

Thanks for the info Nellie do they lay eggs like chucks and if they do what are they like to eat, luckily we have no neighbours the people in our valley are mostly weekenders who live and work in Malaga.

Going to get Turkey's in June, my husband read an article in the local mag that turkeys fall asleep as soon as it gets dark no matter where they are and a local farmer wrote in to say that he keeps turkey's and he arrived home late one night to find them all asleep and that he and his wife carried them all into their pen so the foxes could not get them. We will have a 100, we will have to make sure we get home before dark, because if they fall asleep they will have to stay where ever they are

Rosalie

[Hilarysmum]

I had not realised how high turkeys can get when they roost.  A friend has a very high roofed barn, and was horrified to find hers all perched on top of that one evening when she went to shut them in.