Turkey Housing

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That wouldn't work around here. There is not protection from coons,dogs or getting them to stay in the hut. They be in the trees or any place they see fit to roost.

Well, mine are doing fine with less protection than that, and we have coons and such all around here. My dogs protect them fine. The only difference between this setup and what they use now is the shelter. That, and it is movable.

But I won't be using sails like they use. Either wood or tin for a roof.

ETA
I should add that when I use such a system next spring, I will be also protecting them with movable electric poultry netting. Not like they are going to be exposed to the environment entirely. I would mostly use something like this to keep them out of the sun in the heat of the day and out of the rain, and someplace to sleep at night. With that and the dogs they should be fine from predators.
 
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I use a Great Pyrenees.... but they roam... and mine is going on day 2 of not coming back putting everything here at the farm at risk.

Even if you have dogs.... still have good building and good fences. I really like the Antolians and I'm leaning on getting some in the spring. If you can it's best to fence in the whole perimeter and let the dogs just do their job... they are very good at it and take way beyond what they have too.
 
I have three Anatolian Shepherd/Great Pyr mix and a black Lab. The Lab is the best guardian I have at the moment due to age of the others, but all of them are doing a good job. The lab is sometimes too friendly with strange dogs. The GPs are not.

I have a small 8 acre place so it was a little easier for me to put electric all the way around the property, which helps keeping the GPs in. The hope is they will be well trained by that fence to stay on the property by the time they are full adults and the wanderlust kicks in. Plus I am hoping the Anatolian in them tempers it a bit. So far they do a great job staying on the place.

The dogs don't join the layers in the hen house, but other than that they are with my birds all day every day. I will never try to own livestock of any kind again without good dogs to protect them.

ETA
The perimeter of the property is also protect by field fence or 6 foot chain link, depending on the part of the property. The fencing is for the animals and predators. The electric is for the dogs.
 
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We have 2 English Mastiffs. We have a 5ft wall around our 3 acres and they have free run of it. The turkeys have a pen but we let them out every couple of days but the chickens won't stay in the yard so they stay in the coop. My poor dogs had a complete melt down when the chickens flew over the wall. You'd have though someone stole their puppies..... Our dogs love "their" birds. They have killed 3 cats a skunk and a hawk. All were caught trying to get in the chicken coop. I guess the skunk was after water, not sure how he got in the yard.
 
Can someone tell me how many turkeys one of these will hold? I am looking at making one for pasture. I have 125 turkeys on order already for next year. Will this work for that many or would I need 2?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for range feeders or photos of feeders that they have made that will hold a couple hundred pounds with covers built on for bad weather (rain, sleet, etc.)?
 
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I ended up raising some turkeys in my chicken tractor's unintentionally last year. They were free ranging for their first few months, then they started going in the street while I wasn't home and the only thing I had to contain them was the chicken tractors. They are 4 x 8, and a little over 2 feet tall, covered in chicken wire, with the back half covered in tarp. By the end I had 4 full grown midget white toms in one of them. They were okay in there although I would've rather had them free-ranging. This is kind of dumb but for the whole time I had them, I didn't realize you could clip one wing to keep them from flying so that is maybe all I needed to do to have them free-ranging without them getting into trouble as I kept a pair of Narragansett, clipped their wings and they don't go on any adventures like they used to.
 

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