To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] turkeys in the orchard/vinyard
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 16:49:19 -0800 (PST)
I had ducks in my very young orchard, they were hard
on the trees; they'd dig (with their bills) in the
mulch and dirt at the base of the trunks. I had to
fence the trees, then we got rid of the ducks,
smelly things :-)
Chickens can be worse as they scratch; they dug a
hole at the base of a plum tree as a dust bath.
I haven't raised any turkeys yet, so I can't comment,
but I'd be careful and watch/fence the bases of the
trees.
When my trees grow up I'd like to run chickens in
there; they are supposed to be great at pest eating;
I saw a study once, hmm, on chestnut trees, that
pest damage was reduced significantly when chickens
were run under the trees.
I've heard that chickens will eat mice (if provided
one by, say, a cat), why don't turkeys?