Turkey Question

Tuhmu

Crowing
11 Years
May 22, 2012
1,466
197
262
North Dakota
So I have one lone Red Bourbon turkey. I had purchased two but one unfortunately didn't make it shortly after coming home, they supposedly had a rough ride (came from TSC type store). Any who, they are my very first turkeys. I've had almost every other type of fowl but was always told how ugly and mean they are (wrong, so far). She's turned into a little sweet heart....that's decided she's a goose, and gets very jealous when the goslings snuggle in my lap.

I'm pretty sure she's a she, which brings me to a quick question. She seems to be rather small? Like I had always assumed turkeys got kind of large rather quickly, though like I said I don't have much experience with them. She's about 5 ish weeks old now, the same age as they chicks I'm raising her and the goslings with...and she's the same size if not smaller.

So I was thinking that she may be female since she's seems petite, and honestly kind of feminine in behavior. For somewhat of a comparison, the goslings are only two weeks and the chickens behind her in the third photo are the same age. Opinions?



 
I have a Bourbon Red also that is on the small side, compared to my Holland White and Blue Slate, though I suspect it may be nutritional as I did not get the red until a month old and don't know what the breeder was feeding them (the white and slate I hatched myself).

What are you feeding her? Low protein will slow the growth.
 
I would feed just the meatbird crumble. The label says it's for hatch to finish. It's only 22% protein, so whatever starter you're using might be diluting that.

Can you weigh her? It's hard to tell her size from the pics. I'll weigh my three for comparison and post back a little later.
 
I'll have to when I get home from work. It's not a whole lot though....like maybe 1.5# as a complete guess. (it could be way off)
 
I'll have to post pics when I get on the computer.

Trex, my slate, probably male : 1# 6 3/8 oz

Moose, Holland white: 1# 1 7/8 oz

Other, Bourbon red: 10 7/8 oz

Moose and Trex hatched May 14. I got Other June 8 advertised as a month old which would mean approximately the same age give or take a few days. The size difference is huge, but I don't know if mine are just big or what. Trex's father was a very large Spanish black. I don't know Moose's parents. He was much smaller than Trex for the first three weeks or so and has slowly been catching up. I'd be interested to know what yours weighs.
 

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