ours are right on target then by this.
. Makes me happy! We keep lookin at them thinkin they seemed small... but it may be that we are newbies and also lookin at three grown birds too. The meaties have been happily eatin bugs and grasses a d whatever they find in their pen since we got them plus pellet. And watermelon must not forget THAT lol! These characters are not at all like the meatie cluckers we have done that snarf all the food in a few minutes. They are forragin daily.
You have been eating or raising the wrong meaties then. Mine forage all day long...
I have no idea about the sex of those turkeys.
The best way I have found when they are young to sex them is to chase them a little. If they run like a girl, they are a girl..
Running like a girl means they fan their tail out when the run. When you watch them run it will only take a few minutes to see the difference in the way the boys and girls run.
As far as the feed to weight ratio and what is normal gain, I really don't care. I free range when possible, which is most the time. They gain what they gain. Makes no difference to me.
I feed all my birds Game bird starter and grower to start with for the protein so I don't end up with wimpy birds that can't breed. When they are old enough to free range I feed them in the evening so they pick bugs and eat grass all day. Turkeys are almost as good as cheep for trimming grass and keeping it neat looking.
Free ranging for my turkeys includes sneaking into the show bird barn and eating the feed the show birds waste or they can find on the floor, in the storage tanks or in the feeders.
Here is a foraging Turkey.
He/she is on top of a show bird cage eating the feed out of the top of the PVC feeder for the show bird...
Excuse the mess in the barn, it happens a lot this summer.
