You're right, your birds don't have to be with the turkeys to pick something up, but it sure increases the chances. Sun light, drying and time all kill certain pathogens, although not all, and so reduce the chances that your birds will pick something up after the turkeys have passed through. Airborne transmission is another factor, and is more likely to infect your birds when they're right next to a sneezing turkey as opposed to passing through the same airspace a day or week later. You need to worry about any number of poultry diseases that can be passed between chickens abd turkeys, salmonella, AI, not H5N1, the big bad media scare AI, but there are strains in this country, and have been for years, which still occur and have been shown to be passed from wild birds. They'll cause intrastate movement of birds to be stopped, and complete depopulation of your entire flock if it's found to be infected. Roundworms, whipworms, mites and lice are easily transmitted, and are very common.

We supposedly have Cedar Waxwings year round here but I've only seen one once in my life. It was one my mother found dead in her yard. : ( They eat lots of different kinds of berries so I'm sure I have some kind of food for them. Maybe they just haven't found it yet. I planted some deciduous hollies several years ago but I don't know if any of them are still there. My hackberry trees have lots of berries on them this year. That might be what the turkeys were going after if the berries are falling to the ground. There's still a lot on the trees right now. There's practically no pulp on those things or they would be great to snack on. They're sweet. Razorback - What kind of oak trees do you have? This article has a good explanation (close to the bottom of the page). The late freeze we had in '07 would affect even this year's acorns if they're some type of red oaks. But I've also read that oak trees will produce more acorns if they're stressed so good weather can make them produce less. Here is a link that might be useful: When there are no acorns

Well the eagles and bobcats do not seem to phaze them.I live next to the lake and have had 4 eagles flying around even circling and they do not run.Every thing else does feral cats, squirrels, and little birds disappear instantly. Bobcats live down here and a mountain lion as well but I think they are pretty much nocturnal here and the goofy birds are up roosting in the trees at night.. Cars seem to be their best predator here so far,at least when they get up onto the highway. If the huney was not allergic to dogs I would barrow one to chase them around for a week.Hmm maybe the fake predator could be an option if I moved it around on the roadside in front of the house. We have been hoping that they move back up into the mountains with the snowmelt, Please please please...Before the vege garden gets put in. LOl, after reading the trapping suggestion, called the game warden, no go on that since we are in their natural range and their population is just reaching a healthy level. bah David,, I do not have much of a grasshopper problem, do you think anyone would notice if I shipped a few down there to be spoiled,lol, not to mention for some reason my other half has decided we need to go back to raising chickens so we have a hundred of them coming in a week or so. Thanks for the help, any suggestions are worth checking into. Mary

Now this is an interesting discussion. I had a very funny wild turkey experience. My neighbours have a pair of domesticated wild turkeys - though when Tom struts, puffs and gobbles, he looks pretty wild. I was sitting on my front porch when the pair came visiting a few days ago. They gobbled around for quite some time, and eventually Tom seemed to become curious. He approached the porch, jumped up onto it, looked me in the eye, gobbled, and jumped right onto my lap! Boy, was I startled. I flung him off and went inside the house. The pair stuck around all afternoon, hanging out by my bonfire pit. The female spent the afternoon rolling around in the ashes, while Tom stood by gobbling. It was a bit startling to have a wild turkey jump on your lap, but it sure was funny.