Narragansett Turkeys

[ChikinInThePines]

Hey Everyone!
My wife and I have established a perfect little flock of 13 chickens. We originally had 21, then lost one..gave away some...gave 2 roosters away. Pure chicken math. But now, we have 13 altogether.
Something that we have been realllllyyy interested in is keeping heritage turkeys to breed/sell. A friend of ours has 6 Narragansett Turkeys available and is giving them to us free. They are 7 weeks old and are in good health. The only problem is that we have no idea where we would put them. We built a giant chicken coop and covered run in our backyard that suits the chickens just fine, but we will need to build something for these. Do they need a covered run? I can build a covered "roost" this weekend as a place for them to perch within the run, but will they roost outside the fence?

My idea (for right now at least), is to have a fenced in area with a place to roost. However, we are getting into colder weather here in South Carolina.

 

[R2elk]

Hey Everyone!
My wife and I have established a perfect little flock of 13 chickens. We originally had 21, then lost one..gave away some...gave 2 roosters away. Pure chicken math. But now, we have 13 altogether.
Something that we have been realllllyyy interested in is keeping heritage turkeys to breed/sell. A friend of ours has 6 Narragansett Turkeys available and is giving them to us free. They are 7 weeks old and are in good health. The only problem is that we have no idea where we would put them. We built a giant chicken coop and covered run in our backyard that suits the chickens just fine, but we will need to build something for these. Do they need a covered run? I can build a covered "roost" this weekend as a place for them to perch within the run, but will they roost outside the fence?

My idea (for right now at least), is to have a fenced in area with a place to roost. However, we are getting into colder weather here in South Carolina.

Turkeys are very cold hardy. My turkeys roost outside in all kinds of weather including the -40°F we had last winter.

The very first thing you need is somewhere to pen them in for at least their first two weeks with you since they need time to understand that it is now "home".

At 7 weeks old they can be on a quality turkey or game bird grower which is usually around 24% protein. It will also have the higher levels of lysine, methionine and niacin that they need for proper growth and development.

Be sure to provide shade for them.

 

[ChikinInThePines]

Thank you for the quick reply!!
We are acquiring 6 of them. 5 females and 1 male (could be 2 males and 4 females). My goal this weekend will be to build a "Pen" area using T-Posts and fencing roughly 5 feet high. Do you guys have any QUICK build ideas for a turkey roost?

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for the quick reply!!
We are acquiring 6 of them. 5 females and 1 male (could be 2 males and 4 females). My goal this weekend will be to build a "Pen" area using T-Posts and fencing roughly 5 feet high. Do you guys have any QUICK build ideas for a turkey roost?

At 7 weeks old it is highly unlikely that you will know what sex they are. If you do end up with 2 toms and 4 hens, youo will only have enough hens for one tom. It will be okay until breeding season next spring.

I "planted" a dead tree and set several posts to which I attached 4" diameter corral poles at heights of 3' and 6' for the actual roosts.

 

[ChikinInThePines]

Thank you R2elk! I have come up with some great ideas. I wanted to ask if you have run into any complications with keeping both Turkeys and Chickens? We are not keeping them "together", but they will be a few hundred feet apart from each other. I have read about "Blackhead" disease among others being a major issue. Is this something is common?

 

[R2elk]

Thank you R2elk! I have come up with some great ideas. I wanted to ask if you have run into any complications with keeping both Turkeys and Chickens? We are not keeping them "together", but they will be a few hundred feet apart from each other. I have read about "Blackhead" disease among others being a major issue. Is this something is common?

Blackhead is not everywhere. Where it is, it is a severe problem. Where it isn't, it is not a problem at all.

However it can be brought into previously unaffected areas by wild birds or poultry brought in from an infected area.

I keep my turkeys and chickens together but I do not brood them together so that the turkeys don't grow up thinking chickens are turkeys too.

I have a 5,000 sq. ft. run with lots of obstacles and hiding places which helps. I do have occasional times when a turkey hen will take exception to a rooster.

The bad thing is turkeys are very single minded and will keep at something until they get it done.