Advice on starting with Turkey

[CSKA]

Hello,

First context: I have 1 acre of land, fully fenced (min 5 feet). Lots of diverse fruit trees and grass. Mild winters with no snow.

I have chicken and ducks, which I use mostly for grass and vegetation control (especially in the winter).

I was thinking about start with Turkey as well:

My initial plan was to buy the eggs, incubate them, free range them when possible and harvest the birds still young for grill (or let them grow as much as possible).

Questions and concerns:

- With clipped wings would I be able to contain them in a 5 feet fence?
- How noisy are them while young? I don't want to disturb the neighbors. Is there an age from which they get noisier?

 

[R2elk]

Hello,

First context: I have 1 acre of land, fully fenced (min 5 feet). Lots of diverse fruit trees and grass. Mild winters with no snow.

I have chicken and ducks, which I use mostly for grass and vegetation control (especially in the winter).

I was thinking about start with Turkey as well:

My initial plan was to buy the eggs, incubate them, free range them when possible and harvest the birds still young for grill (or let them grow as much as possible).

Questions and concerns:

- With clipped wings would I be able to contain them in a 5 feet fence?
- How noisy are them while young? I don't want to disturb the neighbors. Is there an age from which they get noisier?

1. Check to see if Blackhead is a problem in your area. If it is a problem, keeping turkeys with chickens or on ground that chickens have been using within the past five years can be a death sentence to the turkeys.

2. One acre really isn't that big of an area when you have a lot of poultry.

3. Adult turkeys with clipped wings can easily jump 6' high onto a rail. If your fence has a top bar or rail, that will act as an attractive perching site. If they use it for a perch, they will invariably get down on the wrong side of the fence.

4. If you imprint the poults, they will cry unmercifully for attention any time you try to leave them.

If you are thinking about using them as a source of food, buy broad breasted poults at your local feed store. Do not imprint them and spend as little time as possible with them. They are professionals at getting people attached to them. Far too many people have not been able to process the turkeys they raised for food.

Turkeys need a lot more space than your chickens or ducks need. They do need shade on sunny days and handle cold better than they handle heat.

 

[Huntmaster]

 

[CSKA]

3. Adult turkeys with clipped wings can easily jump 6' high onto a rail. If your fence has a top bar or rail, that will act as an attractive perching site. If they use it for a perch, they will invariably get down on the wrong side of the fence.

Thank you for your advice. Jumping 6 feet with clipped wings is not good news! But let's say if they are harvested before a certain age (I would just buy eggs, incubate them and harvest) for example at 12 or 20 weeks. Are they still able to jump at this age with clipped wings?

What about the noise levels in young? (adults doesn't matter, I wouldn't have them).

For context, I find several people offering turkey eggs in my area even at walking distance, and they seem to be dirt cheap (I can get them from 60 cents per unit). I got 2 incubators and solar panels... plenty of food from free range and from fruit trees.

I just need to understand until what age I can keep them from being able to jump and from what age the noise might disturb the neighbors.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for your advice. Jumping 6 feet with clipped wings is not good news! But let's say if they are harvested before a certain age (I would just buy eggs, incubate them and harvest) for example at 12 or 20 weeks. Are they still able to jump at this age with clipped wings?

What about the noise levels in young? (adults doesn't matter, I wouldn't have them).

For context, I find several people offering turkey eggs in my area even at walking distance, and they seem to be dirt cheap (I can get them from 60 cents per unit). I got 2 incubators and solar panels... plenty of food from free range and from fruit trees.

I just need to understand until what age I can keep them from being able to jump and from what age the noise might disturb the neighbors.

Mine start flying out of the brooder at 2 weeks old. It is useless to clip wings on young turkeys since they grow so fast.

Raising heritage turkeys for meat is not the same as raising broad breasted turkeys for meat. The heritage turkeys may take a year to get to adult sizes vs 4 months for the broad breasted turkeys.

If not raised around a mature tom, young toms may start gobbling at 3 months old and even younger in rare cases.

Unlike roosters, most people like hearing turkey sounds.

It doesn't matter how much food you have from free range, you still have to provide feed for them especially if you are trying to get them to size quickly. The poults need a good high protein turkey or game bird starter for the first 6 to 8 weeks to give them a good start in life.

Speaking of economical, you cannot raise turkeys to processing size for what you can buy "loss leader" turkeys in the grocery stores around the holidays. The grocery stores sell those turkeys at a loss in order to get sales on the accompanying foods that are bought for the holidays.