Are turkeys hard to keep?

[PQ]

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yes, quirky is exactly the proper term for them. they aren't dumb, but have weird ways about them.

mine fly out of the pens then want to get back in. they sit and cry for me to let them in. um, turn around and fly back over just isn't an option apparently!

That sounds like our guineas. Have you ever noticed they are always on the wrong side of the fence - no matter which side they are on

Steve

Oh oooh, we have some due to hatch on the 22... not more trouble on Craig Mountain! LOL
Thanks for the breed Miss Jayne, I'm hoping ours is a hen for our little Turkey Tom as he poofs and this one just hangs out.

 

[candyfloss]

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i have a (human) kid just like this.

-rebecca-

 

[tn chick]

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i see they like your home how stinking cute is that
i too have been thinking of getting a turkey but have wondered how hard they are feed etc and do you need to get them as babies to have that special bond with them?
my dh says they would fly away since there are wild turkeys in country althou i have seen none or herd none.

 

[chickenannie]

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That is so true!! I love your pic -- you caught them all red-handed, and turkey tom with his giant foot right on the threshhold!

I used to feed one group of my poults hard-boiled eggs every morning and once I let them free-range they would all fly over to me in the morning. IT was a wild, once-in a lifetime scene to have a whole group of babies flying through the air to land around my feet, chirp chirp chirping with excitement. Now they're all grown up (and some went for thanksgiving

) but the hens are right there on my front porch every morning wanting to know when I'm getting up!

 

[chickenannie]

Here's some pics of my Bourbon Reds.

Here they are roosting on the fence where I can see them from my back porch light (this was before the reign of the foxes came and I had to coop them up at night).

Here are my tiny little ones free-ranging with momma hen

Here is momma's nest in the mint patch (yes she only had one chick hatch in that nest):

Here is bad daddy tom (a sweetheart who liked his head to be scratched. He was killed by a fox attack in January, RIP.

 

[KrisRose]

Annie, your turkeys are beautiful. Sorry to see that your tom got killed.
I hope to have a small flock of turks someday. RP's and BR's I think. Dog/coyote problems here, have to have a coop for them and a secure run for when I'm not at home.

 

[Guitartists]

Gorgeous pics! Sorry to hear about your tom

Darned foxes

Bourbon Reds are what I hope to get next year!

SO pretty!

I adore the noises my turkeys make

Too cute

Mine, before I moved them outside, would always fly out of the HUGE brooder and lay in the small brooder with the bantam chicks

One day I walked in to find the bantams sleeping under it's wing! Where's a camera when you need it?

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

After reading all of this, I think I must have a turkey...or 5.....

 

[Heather J]

I keep vacillating, should I get turkeys? They sound like fun! The guy I bought my chicks from last year had some adorable little poults for sale, maybe I could go bang on his door. I'm already going to have 4 coops (four, seriously? Didn't I start this whole thing thinking I just wanted four or five chickens for eggs? And that doesn't count the three pens in one coop, or the pen with my geese and ducks). Do I really want to spend MORE time each day taking care of birds?

The answer, of course, is YES, I do. Well, maybe not more time, but how can it be wasted time when it's BIRDS?

*sigh* I guess I'll have to go pound on that guy's door and see if he's selling poults again this year.

You all are such terrible enablers!

 

[miss_jayne]

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they are relatively easy to care for.

if by 'special bond' you mean that they trail behind you everywhere, probably. besides, poults are beautiful!

they wont 'fly away'. wild turkeys like to come and stare at ours and then they run away. they can fly up and over things, but they wont start soaring around. (although i have seen wild turkeys fly pretty well.)
they will fly up and onto things, going higher and higher to roost, but just taking off most likely wont happen. they are pretty lazy and like to walk about.