Adding some turkeys and have some questions about what breed...

[fastrnrik]

Hello. We have decided we want to add some turkeys. We would like to have a male & female in the yard. They will just be pets, we will not be eating them or anything, and I'm a long time turkey hunter and never get sick of hearing the gobble LOL. Anyway, I have been looking locally and have found Royal Palms and Bourbon Reds for sale. I have really been holding out for a more "wild" looking turkey, but I will take a more domestic looking turkey if that's what's available. I'm really more concerned about their personality anyway. So my question is- Is either one of these turkeys ,royal palms or bourbon reds, better than the other for yard birds? Or is there another breed I should search out? Thanks for any info!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I love Bourbon Reds.

 

[Oregon Blues]

There are wild appearing turkeys available. I'd be surprised if any breed of turkey was not sociable and charming.

If you can wait until spring, you can get a box of poults from Porters. If nothing else, go to his web site and check out all the pictures of all the breeds he sells.

 

[fastrnrik]

I found a set of Bronze turkeys on craigslist a few towns away. They look more like a "wild" turkey like what I was wanting. A young male & female. If they were wild turkeys they are the age we'd call them a Jake & a Jenny. Not sure if those terms apply to domestic turkeys LOL. If they are still available this weekend I'm going to grab them. If not, I'll keep looking or grab one of the local breeds.

Also, how do the domestic turkeys tolerate other birds? Meaning will my Tom jump on our roosters or other breeds of male bird? We have some large geese who can be "grouchy", and we plan on getting a pair of peacocks and maybe some guenias. The geese stay pretty far away from where the turkeys will be but both will free range during the day, so they may run across each other. We have a lot of land and hopefully everyone can get along, but we all know boys will be boys haha. Just wondering.

 

[Lagerdogger]

The standard bronze are the most "wild looking" and arguably the most docile. If you want a bird that looks more like a wild turkey, make sure you get STANDARD BRONZE the heritage breed, not BROAD-BREASTED BRONZE, the fat commercial lookng heavy turkey. All the heritage turkeys will be slimmer and more active than the broad-breasteds. The broad-breasteds get very heavy, have extremely large legs and feet, and really miss the boat when it comes to looking like wild birds.

I also like the more wild look. My preferred colors for looking wild include red bronze, standard bronze, and Narragansett. The standard bronze looks the most like a wild turkey (western), the red bronze looks more like an eastern wild around the tail, but has unbarred secondary feathers, and the Narragansetts are grey, so they don't look like wild turkeys, but they look more natural than Royal Palms or Bourbon Reds. If you get a standard bronze and a bourbon red, you can breed them to produce red bronze.

Be Careful, I started with a handful of turkeys myself. RIght now I have about 35. I have had as many as 60 at a time. They are addictive! Take heed!

 

[fastrnrik]

Thank you for the info. Very helpful. Your comments regarding crossing of the breeds to get a red bronze leads me to another question.... Let's say I get this M/F pair of bronze turkeys, and later on come up with a M/F pair of bourbons. I assume the toms will fight like crazy, but will it be just until they figure out who is boss, or will it be an ongoing thing? I know while hunting wild turkeys, I have shot the dominant gobbler and the other gobblers will jump on him and beat up on him while he's flapping around & dying. Payback!!! LOL. Anyway, I know they could kept seperated in seperate pens, but we will be keeping them mostly as yard birds and they will free range during the day, so I don't want to have drama within the turkey ranks haha