A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Goronson Chicks]

The height of the fencing isn't really that important. I put up a 6' tall fence of 2"x4" welded wire because I wanted to keep deer out as well as keeping my turkeys in. A 4' tall fence will most likely be sufficient. The most important thing about building a fence to keep turkeys in is do not put up a top rail. A top rail is extremely inviting to any turkey to hop up on and perch there. Unfortunately it seems like they get down on the wrong side of the fence far more often than not.

Good luck.

Thank you, R2elk. Our feedstore recommended chicken wire in a roll that we could unroll and staple to the trees. Do you have an opinion about that? I'd curve it around to lead Tommy back into our yard. My husband said he'll just go around. But if I use 150 feet of it - without fencing in our whole property I'm not sure of another solution.

 

[mountain mom]

Holm- Your brats are very cute!

Aurora- Dinner processed at 35 pounds. We fed him wild game grower, cracked corn and kept him in an enclosed space so he didn't free range as much. He hardly had any fat on him, he will certainly need to be rubbed down with some butter!
He was a BB variety though, so he was much bigger than our heritage tom who is the same age.

Memphis- Banshee dances around like that every morning! He gets so excited!

Goronson- I agree with R2Elk, don't put anything on the top line of the fence! As far as not being able to fence in the whole property, ours is not either. We have an acre or so that is fenced in as the "back yard". The turkeys can get over the fence, and usually do, but they seem to know to stay home.
Since he was a wanderer in the first place, maybe he is searching out a hen? I bet if you got him a lady friend, he would be less likely to wander as far.



On that note, this is where I found Banshee this morning. I am assuming he wanted a better view of the sunrise.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I picked up some cracked corn and 24% chick starter this morning for them. That's what they'll be eating until processing, then the girls will go back to the 18% that they were on (and probably a diet lol). They were all thrilled with the cracked corn though

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Oh my gosh that is high up! Yes we've located a source for silver blues and plan to get him one lady in the spring. Do you coop train turkeys like we coop train chickens?
Thank you
Maureen

 

[mountain mom]

Oh my gosh that is high up! Yes we've located a source for silver blues and plan to get him one lady in the spring. Do you coop train turkeys like we coop train chickens?
Thank you
Maureen

Ralph is currently trying to coop train his turkeys. I think he is successful sometimes.
Memphis and Feisty have their turkeys in a coop too, I believe. I am sure others do as well.

My turkeys have no interest in a coop or shelter. They were in a coop as babies and as they got bigger, they just stopped going in with the girls at night. I have a feeling they may change their minds when winter hits, but I guess you never know.

Silver blue sounds pretty! Hope he likes his new lady friend!

 

[R2elk]

Thank you, R2elk. Our feed store recommended chicken wire in a roll that we could unroll and staple to the trees. Do you have an opinion about that? I'd curve it around to lead Tommy back into our yard. My husband said he'll just go around. But if I use 150 feet of it - without fencing in our whole property I'm not sure of another solution.

You don't need something as flimsy as chicken wire. Stapling it to the trees is unlikely to do much good since he could easily get up in the trees to land on the other side when getting down. Depending on their mind set, a turkey can go a very long way to get around a fence or they can just pace back and forth in a 10' area.

 

[R2elk]

Oh my gosh that is high up! Yes we've located a source for silver blues and plan to get him one lady in the spring. Do you coop train turkeys like we coop train chickens?
Thank you
Maureen

My recommendation is that you get more than one hen and also the sooner that you get him companions the more likely he is to stay around.

You can coop train turkeys but I don't. The chickens go in at night and the turkeys stay on their outside roosts. I have had the turkeys spend most of the day in the coop during sub zero weather and then spend the night on their outside roosts. They do just fine. Their roosts are in a sheltered area but it is not covered.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Ok. We've built him s 15 x 20 ft run and we have a house coming. The hen is next.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Ok that makes sense. He's got a 150 sq ft pen right now. House coming hen later. We'll keep looking at fencing options.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

I get the impression that despite being a wanderer he's a bit babyish. I carried him into the raised doghouse in his run last night and he slept there all night.