A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[KF0002]

Or Red Sweetgrass.

Oh ok I didn't even think of her being red sweetgrass. That would be better than her not being useful at all breeding wise.

 

[KF0002]

This is the blue jenny. I want to say she looks blue sweetgrass. Because if I zoom into the picture I can see some beige coloring but maybe it's wishful thinking.

 

[KF0002]

Is this semi penciling in these two Fall Fire jakes? Or just spotting?

FF #1

FF #2

 

[R2elk]

@OneMountainAcres should be able to tell if that is semi-penciled.

 

[KF0002]

@OneMountainAcres should be able to tell if that is semi-penciled.

Hopefully @OneMountainAcres can tell me if the little penciled palm looking bird is penciled or semi penciled also. There isn't a lot of info and almost no pictures of semi-penciled birds online so I struggle to understand how to discern the difference. I'm thinking she is semi-penciled since she isn't as dark as the fully penciled palms I've seen online and her penciling doesn't go all the way from the base of the tail feather to the tail bar.

 

[Bonkerelli]

Hello all! I've been raising chickens for awhile now and considering next year raising turkeys. I DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT RAISING TURKEYS.

My plan is to raise about 6, butcher 4 and keep at least one Tom and hen for next year to get eggs from them.

I would not keep them with my chickens but a separate coop. I know the eat a lot but that is my extent of turkey knowledge.

So if anyone has any and all advice to share, I would appreciate it very much.

 

[KF0002]

Hello all! I've been raising chickens for awhile now and considering next year raising turkeys. I DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT RAISING TURKEYS.

My plan is to raise about 6, butcher 4 and keep at least one Tom and hen for next year to get eggs from them.

I would not keep them with my chickens but a separate coop. I know the eat a lot but that is my extent of turkey knowledge.

So if anyone has any and all advice to share, I would appreciate it very much.

Hello!

Before I would bring in any turkeys, call your local extension office and see if blackhead has been reported in your area. If blackhead has been reported simply proceed with caution in raising turkeys on your property and do a lot of research. It can be done, but it just makes things more difficult. I wouldn't raise turkeys on ground that chickens have had access to in the past 3-4 years as blackhead can live in the ground for that long and chickens can be an asymptomatic carrier of blackhead.

If blackhead isn't an issue in your area you can breathe a little easier and relax a little more than I've been able to lately. Consider yourself lucky if you don't ever have to deal with blackhead.

There is a multitude of resources here on BYC's turkey forums. I have researched extensively and am still learning. The members here are super helpful in answering questions.

Turkeys get BIG FAST, especially the broad breasted varieties bred for the commercial turkey industry. Plan to have adequate brooding and housing space for growing them out and keeping them. @R2elk can correct me if I'm misquoting him, but I think he has said that turkeys need a minimum of 50 square feet of pen/run space per bird. 10ft x 5ft = 50 square feet. So for 2 birds you would need approximately 10x10 ft of pen space, or 100 square feet.

Turkey poults need to be started on a 28-30% game bird starter feed for adequate growth and development. From my experience, they are rather tender in the early days. Do not use wood shavings as bedding. I've been told to use sand as an alternative, but I haven't tried it yet. I transition my poults over to a wire bottomed brooder at around 2-3 weeks of age because around that time they figure out they can fly out of the big stock tanks we use as brooders. If you keep brooders sanitized in between uses and clean and dry, you likely won't have to worry about coccidiosis or blackhead until your poults encounter the ground outside.

No cold water for poults to drink as it can chill them and cause their demise.

Others can fill in or correct me where I am wrong.

Turkeys are a lot of fun, but can be a lot of work. I have found them to be enjoyable to own.

 

[KF0002]

For roosting space I think he has said 4 square feet of space per bird as they like to be spread out and not right against each other.

 

[Bonkerelli]

Hello!

Before I would bring in any turkeys, call your local extension office and see if blackhead has been reported in your area. If blackhead has been reported simply proceed with caution in raising turkeys on your property and do a lot of research. It can be done, but it just makes things more difficult. I wouldn't raise turkeys on ground that chickens have had access to in the past 3-4 years as blackhead can live in the ground for that long and chickens can be an asymptomatic carrier of blackhead.

If blackhead isn't an issue in your area you can breathe a little easier and relax a little more than I've been able to lately. Consider yourself lucky if you don't ever have to deal with blackhead.

There is a multitude of resources here on BYC's turkey forums. I have researched extensively and am still learning. The members here are super helpful in answering questions.

Turkeys get BIG FAST, especially the broad breasted varieties bred for the commercial turkey industry. Plan to have adequate brooding and housing space for growing them out and keeping them. @R2elk can correct me if I'm misquoting him, but I think he has said that turkeys need a minimum of 50 square feet of pen/run space per bird. 10ft x 5ft = 50 square feet. So for 2 birds you would need approximately 10x10 ft of pen space, or 100 square feet.

Turkey poults need to be started on a 28-30% game bird starter feed for adequate growth and development. From my experience, they are rather tender in the early days. Do not use wood shavings as bedding. I've been told to use sand as an alternative, but I haven't tried it yet. I transition my poults over to a wire bottomed brooder at around 2-3 weeks of age because around that time they figure out they can fly out of the big stock tanks we use as brooders. If you keep a brooders sanitized in between uses and clean and dry, you likely won't have to worry about coccidiosis or blackhead until your poults encounter the ground outside.

No cold water for poults to drink as it can chill them and cause their demise.

Others can fill in or correct me where I am wrong.

Turkeys are a lot of fun, but can be a lot of work. I have found them to be enjoyable to own.

For roosting space I think he has said 4 square feet of space per bird as they like to be spread out and not right against each other.

Great info to start! I have an acre which I plan to free range but it's good to have the math. I'll certainly do some research and even on the breeds.

 

[KF0002]

Great info to start! I have an acre which I plan to free range but it's good to have the math. I'll certainly do some research and even on the breeds.

You will find a multitude of different varieties and it is hard to choose one. I wanted a variety of turkey that would suit our needs for meat and Sweetgrass seemed to be a nice choice since they descended originally from broad breasted birds and were bred down to heritage size for natural reproductive ability. They are beautiful also. Varieties like the Midget White and Royal Palm are smaller than other heritage birds. It is good you plan to free range as that produces healthier birds, as long as you don't have any predator issues or you have an LGD to protect them... or a really good fence and structures to keep predators out.

Best of luck to you! And post pictures when you receive your poults. I am a sucker for newborn poults.