backyard turkeys??

[Marengoite]

Just pulled the trigger. Ill have turkeys next week. just got 2 toms and 2 hens. Time to study.
Decided to start off with broad breasted bronze. Raise them up. Sell 2 and eat 2. If I like raising turkeys Ill get some breeding stock like the Bourbon Red or the Narragansett.

Good for you, ButchGood!

We've raised BB whites and BB bronzes the last three years and they are pretty easy. I like to describe them as pigs with feathers. About all they need after they get fledged is food, water, and confinement to keep them from wandering off into trouble. And by confinement, we've kept 4 birds in 16 x 16 pen with a lean-to for shelter to finish them off. As young birds, we pretty much gave them the run of an acre of open ground. During the heat of the summer, they pretty much stayed in the shade of the house but in cloudy weather, they'd wander quite a bit. Heritage birds are a lot worse for wandering with the added "benefit" of the ability to fly. Even with one wing clipped, they'll go over a a 4' fence if they're really determined. BB birds not so much. They can barely walk when they fatten up.

As far as shelter, young birds need to be coddled for the first few weeks until they get their pin feathers and their heads are naked. I keep them indoors in the brooder for 2-3 weeks and then leave the light in the lean-to for another two weeks after setting them out. Keep in mind that we get our turkeys by the middle of April (will be picking up 12 next Thursday) and our last frost-free day here in Ohio is the first week or two of May. After the birds get their pin feathers, they're fine. I provide roosts for them for the first month or two, but take them away after that because once they get some size, it deforms the breast if they sleep on the roost instead of ground nest. Plus, it's too much trouble for the fat birds to fly up 4" to a roost. An alternative to ground nesting is a roosting platform (which I will be building this year since I have some pallets lying around to use). Since I'm adding Bourbon reds to the flock this year and want to winter over a trio, I'm going to be building something a little more substantial for them.

As for the best resource for general turkey information, I'd like to direct everyone to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy resources site. Here is their site for turkeys: http://www.albc-usa.org/EducationalResources/turkeys.html While it is geared toward heritage fowl, it has good useful general information. Probably the best on the web in a single place.

 

[ButchGood]

Ill get my 4 birds April 19 or 20. I'm in central Texas and temps are very nice right now. I put chicks out 3 weeks ago. I'm going to clean out and use that brooder box for the turkeys. I eventually want to put them out with the chickens until they get too big. Then to a movable hoop house to finish up. Do you see any problems with this plan? Thanks for all the info. Gonna go check out your link now.

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Love this thread! I have been thinking about adding a Turkey or two to my small 4 hen flock. I wondered how theyd do together. I dont think a full grown turkey will fit through the door of my chicken coop, so i will have to build an additional shelter it sounds like......wow, hubby is not going to like me when he hears I need a pig house, AND a turkey house in addition to the coop he has built in recent days, LOL

Im keeping a close eye on this thread for sure!

 

[Marengoite]

Ill get my 4 birds April 19 or 20. I'm in central Texas and temps are very nice right now. I put chicks out 3 weeks ago. I'm going to clean out and use that brooder box for the turkeys. I eventually want to put them out with the chickens until they get too big. Then to a movable hoop house to finish up. Do you see any problems with this plan? Thanks for all the info. Gonna go check out your link now.

I've heard lots of people say chickens can give turkeys blackhead disease. However, we have a neighbor that lets his chickens, ducks, turkeys, guineas, and peafowl all roost in the same area and he's never had any problems. I'll probably keep mine separate just due to dietary considerations. Turkeys need a higher protein diet than laying hens. I'm starting my poults and broilers on turkey starter, but will be switching them out as they get some age on them. And definitely keeping the pullets away from the high protein stuff.

 

[Marengoite]

It depends on your goals, KimK. If you want a slower growing turkey that you don't have to put in the freezer in August for Thanksgiving or Christmas, then you can run it with your chickens. However, broad breasted birds are bred to take advantage of high protein feed and convert it quickly to meat. If you wait much past 18 weeks you get into some pretty big birds pretty fast. What we did the last time we put up meat birds was to have them split when they were processed and only cooked half the bird for Thanksgiving and the other half for Christmas. They weighed over 40# when we took our April poults in for processing in September.

This year I'm going with Bourbon reds for our eating turkeys since they grow slower and not as big. That way, we'll have a nice roasting bird that we can eat fresh instead of frozen at Thanksgiving and still have it fit in the oven. I'm going to give brining a try this year and see how that goes. Another experiment I want to do is to try and smoke a turkey (we have apple trees, so I'll have plenty of limbs to fuel the smoker) and see how that goes.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Just pulled the trigger. Ill have turkeys next week. just got 2 toms and 2 hens. Time to study.
Decided to start off with broad breasted bronze. Raise them up. Sell 2 and eat 2. If I like raising turkeys Ill get some breeding stock like the [COLOR=0066CC]Bourbon Red or the [COLOR=0066CC]Narragansett.[/COLOR][/COLOR]

I love my Bourbon Reds.









I allow all of my animals to free range and live together and I have never had any problems either.

 

[cracked egg]

We have a mixed flock of chickens,guineas,peafowl and turkeys. They all roost in the barn together and all free range without a fence. We have sweetgrass and easteparns with one Rio . Seems the only time they really wander is when the hens go off to nest.
Having them fly around the place is the best part of having them,except watching them follow my boy around gobbing their heads off. He sings a little song to them and they gobble at the end of it.
WAY TO FUNNY

 

[FarmTillURdead]

I'm very happy seeing more people get into turkeys!

I really don't understand why more people don't have them. I have never been spurred by a Tom (but have heard of it happening). They seem very docile and easy to care for. If you can do chickens - you can do turkeys. They just require a little more attention as chicks to be sure they are eating and drinking. I have been hatching my own and it seems to have stopped this problem. I think the day or two getting them to their destination makes them a bit confused as they get tired of trying to eat un-edibles in the shipping box for a day. So they need to be shown a few times - the water and food thing.
If you are getting them for table fare you will never eat a store bird again.

And because the Toms strut continuously you get dinner and a show!

 

[KMoran]

Hello I am new to turkeys. My husband just decided last night that he wanted turkeys and we decided to go with heritage breeds. I am gonna get one Bourbon Red and one Narragansett. I do have a few questions if anyone is willing to help me that would be wonderful. First thing how long does it take for them mature. We wanna have them for dinner on thanksgiving and Christmas. I know that heritage breeds grow a little slower so I wasnt sure how long it will take to get to butcher weight. I am getting them May 5th. Also how large of a pen should they have. They will have free range of about 2/3 an acre property during the day but will have to be penned at night because we have coyotes. I wanna build them a small coop to get out of the rain and cold if needed. But I am not sure how big. Any other advice you can give would be great. Thank You .

 

[ButchGood]

Hi K Moran,
Im new at the turkey raising also. We decided to try raising broad breasted breeds first because they need to be harvested at 18 weeks or so. Perfect for raising a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. If we enjoy raising these big pigs, then we will get a breeding pair of Bourbon Reds or Narragansett. Im not positive but I believe they can take up a year to get to butchering size.