A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[PolarBerry]

So I have a question on feeding the breeders. Right now I have them on a 50/50 mix of flock raiser (20% protein) and gamebird layena (also 20% protein). Is there a reason I can’t feed an 18-20% all flock/purpose bird feed and supply oyster shell? I ask because we’ll be getting some broiler chickens soon enough and they have a 20% grower that if I can feed to turkeys and meat chickens that’d be ideal... the gamebird layena is much pricier and rarely in stock.

 

[R2elk]

So I have a question on feeding the breeders. Right now I have them on a 50/50 mix of flock raiser (20% protein) and gamebird layena (also 20% protein). Is there a reason I can’t feed an 18-20% all flock/purpose bird feed and supply oyster shell? I ask because we’ll be getting some broiler chickens soon enough and they have a 20% grower that if I can feed to turkeys and meat chickens that’d be ideal... the gamebird layena is much pricier and rarely in stock.

I just feed my breeding turkey hens 16% protein layer feed with free choice oyster shell.

 

[PolarBerry]

I just feed my breeding turkey hens 16% protein layer feed with free choice oyster shell.

What does the layer food have that an all-flock type of feed doesn’t, other than higher calcium and maybe omega 3’s?

For example, take a 16-18% all-poultry type feed, add flax and/or BOSS (for fatty acids and methionine), and offer free choice calcium and grit. Would that work well?

 

[R2elk]

I absolutely would not feed flax (50% fat) and I do not feed BOSS but if I did, I would make sure that it never amounted to more than 10% of the total diet. BOSS when fed in too high of amounts is another high fat food that can be very harmful to your poultry.

I live in an area that does not have a high concentration of available calcium in the soils so it is beneficial to my hens to get layer feed in addition to free choice oyster shell. A person living in an area where available calcium is plentiful (limestone areas) may do well without layer feed and just supplementing with free choice oyster shell.

At least here, a quality 16% layer feed is much cheaper than what they are charging for the all flock feeds.

 

[PolarBerry]

Eighth egg found today. So assuming each of the 4 hens has laid 2 so far. They keep laying them in the rain outside in the open then go on eating grass. Silly hens.

 

[Finnie]

I live in an area that does not have a high concentration of available calcium in the soils so it is beneficial to my hens to get layer feed in addition to free choice oyster shell. A person living in an area where available calcium is plentiful (limestone areas) may do well without layer feed and just supplementing with free choice oyster shell.

Maybe this is why I find that I get better results too when I use the layer feed in addition to free choice oyster shell. I never knew the soil could be an important source of calcium.

 

[PolarBerry]

I'm feeding them the gamebird layer, so 20% protein and the 3% calcium. Since the toms are with the hens I may just feed a locally milled all purpose feed that's cheaper even than layena and still 20% protein and provide supplemental calcium.

 

[Finnie]

I finally got all caught up on all the posts!

I lost my narri hen to a fox a couple of months ago. I replaced her with some kind of grey-genetics heritage hen and a broad breasted bronze hen. Elderberry mated the BBB within hours of her getting here. (Sorry Ralphie, no quarantine this time cuz the Q pen now serves as a permanent hospital cage. More on that later.)

So now I've had the BBB a month, and she is the first turkey to lay this year!

My other new hen somehow broke her foot. Either Elderberry crushed it backwards while mating her, or it might have already been injured and he took advantage of her "resting" to mount her against her will. In either case, I was alerted by her crying out, and I saw him on her, and with each tread, she cried. Finally she broke free from under him and that's when I noticed her limping on the end of her leg bone with the foot flipped backwards.

I had to leave town the next day, so the only safe place for her was in my hospital/quarantine hoop coop with a Buff Brahma who has been in there since October when she was nearly scalped and attempts to integrate her back into the flock resulted in more scalping. The two injured birds seem to be good friends now.

The turkey's foot might never heal properly, but after two weeks, she now limps on the top of the toes instead of the leg bone. It has the appearance of being less painful. But she basically just stands on one leg all the time. I don't know how this will play out. It's too bad. She's pretty and I really like her.

 

[rjohns39]

@PolarBerry When I have it, I feed my breeders an 18%-20% broiler mix and add a half cup of fertrell nutri-balancer per 5 gallon bucket or a cup to a 50# bag. That get's me very close to the SPN breeder formula.

Here are some example ration formulas if you're interested...

 

[rjohns39]

Finnie so sorry to hear about your birds