Is it a good idea to keep turkeys around fruit trees or growing pumpkin?

[R2elk]

Actually, a thought occurred: can the tom be in the coop at night if the openings to the nest boxes are too small for him? The boxes will be outside the coop, on an interior wall of my shed with cutouts to enter from the coop. I had intended to build a small coop nearby for him for nighttime caging because I thought I read that toms shouldn't be near poults - if I am fortunate enough to have one broody hen. This is all very new to me and there is conflicting information out there. I am relying on the long-time breeders to help me navigate this new experience.
Thank you for all your help!

As long as the tom cannot get at the hens while they are on the nests, there is no reason to keep him away from the hens.

As for once the poults have hatched, I take them from the hens for several reasons. The first couple of weeks they are super vulnerable while in the general population. General population means the other hens too.

My other reason is that it is a whole lot easier to sell poults from a brooder than under a hen.

Hens with very young poults in the general population can become very vicious attacking any turkey that comes near their poults. In the process poults can get stepped on among other things. Some hens will even try to steal poults from other hens.

I have had hens that would kill any poults that are not their own.

Some toms are great with poults but even those can change how they treat poults very quickly.

As for broody turkey hens, I have only had one hen that never went broody. That is also the only turkey hen that I have had that never laid an egg. Some first year hens aren't the best broodies and may abandon a nest before the eggs hatch. Those usually get over this their second year.

 

[PetMomKathy]

I better get the nest boxes built asap! Thank you for all your help!

 

[PetMomKathy]

As long as the tom cannot get at the hens while they are on the nests, there no reason to keep him away from the hens.

As for once the poults have hatched, I take them from the hens for several reasons. The first couple of weeks they are super vulnerable while in the general population. General population means the other hens too.

My other reason is that it is a whole lot easier to sell poults from a brooder than under a hen.

Hens with very young poults in the general population can become very vicious attacking any turkey that comes near their poults. In the process poults can get stepped on among other things. Some hens will even try to steal poults from other hens.

I have had hens that would kill any poults that are not their own.

Some toms are great with poults but even those can change how they treat poults very quickly.

As for broody turkey hens, I have only had one hen that never went broody. That is also the only turkey hen that I have had that never laid an egg. Some first year hens aren't the best broodies and may abandon a nest before the eggs hatch. Those usually get over this their second year.

oooh! I was planning on expanding my flock a bit, though i don't want 20 turkeys. I know I can sell some, but I want to keep hens and get rid of toms. I know that some of you can tell at hatching which are toms and which are hens, but right now, I am too much of a novice. Is there a video or book with pictures that I can learn from? I confess to not have shopped for a book yet, relying on internet information - I know, if it is on the internet it is NOT necessarily true or helpful, but you can pretty much tell the Sh... from shinola if you read enough. But if you know of a good print source for really good info, let me know and I will buy it!

 

[R2elk]

I better get the nest boxes built asap! Thank you for all your help!

Turkeys won't necessarily take to "nest boxes". Their instinctive behavior is to make isolated hidden nests. If you keep taking all eggs from a turkey nest, the hen will do her best to make a better hidden nest.

 

[Molpet]

Co broodies tend to break eggs

She thinks if she can't see me I can't see her LOL

3 hens in one dog house, 2 off dust bathing...not a good hatch rate. And the ones that did hatch none of the 3 took care of them. I kept finding hungry poults wandering around.

My first hen. Between nest box and wall was her favorite spot for a couple years.

 

[R2elk]

Co broodies tend to break eggs

They also tend to step on newly hatched poults. Too many big feet in too small of a space.

 

[NatJ]

I see that this thread has recently gone in another direction, but I have a thought for the original poster:

The orchard was an idea for making it a fun place to go with your family and help fund the expansion of the sanctuary. I worry about young children purposely harassing the animals so id probablly set an age limit for the upick area or make it a guided tour

Depending on how the property is laid out, you could put the turkeys in a different area during upick season. That way people could pick the fruit, maybe see the turkeys through a fence, but not be in the same space with them. This could be safe for both the people and the turkeys.

It can work very well to move animals to different parts of the property at different seasons of the year. For example, the turkeys might be in the pumpkin field during the winter months (no pumpkins to damage, but turkeys can help with removing weeds and bugs.) Then the turkeys might spend part of the spring and summer in the orchard (pick up fallen fruit under the trees, eat pests, no visitors present at that time of year.) There could be a third area where the turkeys spend time in the fall when the pumpkins and apples are ready for harvesting, maybe a crop that is harvested in mid-summer, so the turkeys can remove weeds and bugs from that area during the late summer and fall. You might even divide the orchard in two and grow an early variety of apples and a late one, so the turkeys can just go back and forth to leave one at a time available for picking.

 

[Molpet]

I pick up used pumpkins for the flock. I got a couple pale yellow they love

 

[PetMomKathy]

Co broodies tend to break eggs
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She thinks if she can't see me I can't see her LOL
View attachment 3686594

3 hens in one dog house, 2 off dust bathing...not a good hatch rate. And the ones that did hatch none of the 3 took care of them. I kept finding hungry poults wandering around.
View attachment 3686595

My first hen. Between nest box and wall was her favorite spot for a couple years.
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They are silly creatures! I guess all I can do is prepare, and prepare to be surprised.
bty, my little flock was "helping" the neighbor paint his fence this morning as I left for church. No amount of cajoling, pushing, chasing could get them to go back home (they are sooo much better at "come" then GO!). My neighbor was very accomidating: he took a break, they got bored and left.

 

[PetMomKathy]

Turkeys won't necessarily take to "nest boxes". Their instinctive behavior is to make isolated hidden nests. If you keep taking all eggs from a turkey nest, the hen will do her best to make a better hidden nest.

Looks like I am in for a year of new experiences/LARGE learning curve, LOL
Thank you for the pointers!