Give me the dirt on turkeys

So I'm trying to figure out what to do with my 12 babies. They are about three weeks old. They have quickly outgrown my wading pool brooding pen, plus they want to fly so they bang their heads on the chicken wire lid. Usually my chickens are ready to move to a secure pen outside by the time they outgrow my makeshift brooder but I keep reading that turkeys are very sensitive to temperature. We are having a very hot summer for Washington state but the temp can still drop to 50 at night.

Any suggestions for designs for a pen that will carry them through until the babies are ready to join the grownups? I don't really want to devote my garage to turkeys. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

Thanks!
 
So I'm trying to figure out what to do with my 12 babies.  They are about three weeks old.  They have quickly outgrown my wading pool brooding pen, plus they want to fly so they bang their heads on the chicken wire lid.  Usually my chickens are ready to move to a secure pen outside by the time they outgrow my makeshift brooder but I keep reading that turkeys are very sensitive to temperature.  We are having a very hot summer for Washington state but the temp can still drop to 50 at night.  

Any suggestions for designs for a pen that will carry them through until the babies are ready to join the grownups?  I don't really want to devote my garage to turkeys.  Any suggestions would be wonderful.           

Thanks!


Depends on what you have to work with. For daytime use, a couple of folding infant/toddler fences - staked to ground and covered with hardware cloth would do. Only thing you would have to cobble together would be an enclosed night time area within fencing and SECURE lighting source for heat.

If your adults are in a run, you can use one side of the fencing as the 4th side of juvenile pen (build onto - poles through fencing at three feet for roof support/cable tie hardware cloth over poles and work out sides/opening).

Got to think like a turkey & then think like a pred & improvise like a human (check through the coop subforum for pics/ideas that might come close to matching what you have on hand).
 
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Depends on what you have to work with. For daytime use, a couple of folding infant/toddler fences - staked to ground and covered with hardware cloth would do. Only thing you would have to cobble together would be an enclosed night time area within fencing and SECURE lighting source for heat.

If your adults are in a run, you can use one side of the fencing as the 4th side of juvenile pen (build onto - poles through fencing at three feet for roof support/cable tie hardware cloth over poles and work out sides/opening).

Got to think like a turkey & then think like a pred & improvise like a human (check through the coop subforum for pics/ideas that might come close to matching what you have on hand).
Thank you for your advice. I've got lots of materials except I'll have to get some more hardware cloth. I'm not sure how big or tall I should make it for 12 so that they don't outgrow it before they are ready.
 
Depends on what you have to work with. For daytime use, a couple of folding infant/toddler fences - staked to ground and covered with hardware cloth would do. Only thing you would have to cobble together would be an enclosed night time area within fencing and SECURE lighting source for heat. If your adults are in a run, you can use one side of the fencing as the 4th side of juvenile pen (build onto - poles through fencing at three feet for roof support/cable tie hardware cloth over poles and work out sides/opening). Got to think like a turkey
Thank you for your advice. I've got lots of materials except I'll have to get some more hardware cloth. I'm not sure how big or tall I should make it for 12 so that they don't outgrow it before they are ready.
We kept 5 in a 6x8x4 chain link dog run (covered with hardware cloth and tarp, during the night, until we finished getting their shed & run constructed (they would have been about 11 weeks at that point), but one of us was here to let them out every day around two in the afternoon so they could stretch their wings. (L-R: human keeping an eye out for the Slates to come winging out and at him, "dog run", shed under construction, Royal just landing, Royal flying by, chicken coop) Might be of help as to the "scale" you'll need, depending on how long you'll have them "detained".
 
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We kept 5 in a 6x8x4 chain link dog run (covered with hardware cloth and tarp, during the night, until we finished getting their shed & run constructed (they would have been about 11 weeks at that point), but one of us was here to let them out every day around two in the afternoon so they could stretch their wings. (L-R: human keeping an eye out for the Slates to come winging out and at him, "dog run", shed under construction, Royal just landing, Royal flying by, chicken coop)



Might be of help as to the "scale" you'll need, depending on how long you'll have them "detained".
Thanks for the picture and the dimensions. It helps me have a better idea in my head of what I should do.
 
I'm still reading through the thread but I have a question. I have some heritage turkey eggs in the bator now due to hatch at the end of the month. I plan to sell most of them but keep some for Thanksgiving. For the ones that I keep, I plan to put them in my chicken run with 12 chickens. The run is 22' x 40', covered with netting. I have three small coops but will be putting together a 4 'x 6' shed for the turkeys this weekend. With the run space, how many would some of you old timers keep in the run? Thanks.
 

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