BBB Turkey Growth Chart

[rainbowrooster]

We used a Sawzall to cut one in half. That bird was huge but it was just too much for us to eat even with plans for several days of left overs.

 

[Hardemans]

I once heard a fellow say "Turkeys sit around all day figuring out how to die". Unfortunately, we found that out this morning. Our 6 BBBs are growing great then all of a sudden we have a dead one in the coop today. I think he broke his neck. He was still warm when we found him. He was up against a wall and had his head kinda tucked under him.

He was 11 weeks old and weighed 13 lbs. Right on target for that age.

Anyway - still have 5 good ones.

The table saw story is a great one.

The Hardemans

 

[mollybuck]

We used a Sawzall to cut one in half. That bird was huge but it was just too much for us to eat even with plans for several days of left overs.

we had 8 in our family, so a normal sized turkey was 24 lbs anyway! left over didnt last long.

 

[mollybuck]

I once heard a fellow say "Turkeys sit around all day figuring out how to die". Unfortunately, we found that out this morning. Our 6 BBBs are growing great then all of a sudden we have a dead one in the coop today. I think he broke his neck. He was still warm when we found him. He was up against a wall and had his head kinda tucked under him.

He was 11 weeks old and weighed 13 lbs. Right on target for that age.

Anyway - still have 5 good ones.

The table saw story is a great one.

The Hardemans

thats horrible! so sorry. will you process it? i was only going to keep 2, but if I keep hearing this like this.. i may keep all 5!

 

[Hardemans]

We thought about processing the poor thing but i had to go to work and it would have sat too long.

Turkeys are a hoot. The most curious birds? They also get very friendly, too friendly in fact. If you wear shorts and have even a scratch on your leg they will all stare at it then start pecking.

Crazy....

 

[Amossy Itozya]

Hi all
I tried with no success to incubate Turkey eggs by using incubator machine every time I found nothing, but when I leave the eggs with their mother they do hatch without problem, for chicken and quail I get chicks with no problem with the same machine. They also affected by diseases with big wounding, tried to treat them with no success now started to die one by one. Anyone with experience pleases.
please help

 

[IceAngel]

This is my first year incubating Turkeys, too, but I have been pretty successful. I started out with one hen and one tom which I bought last year. The breeder said they would start laying at six months old but truly the hen didn't started laying until this spring. We are in Canada so our winters are cold, so it's understandable. So far this year I have 12 chicks from them with another 15 in the incubator.

My biggest problem is thermometers. You need to make sure that they are calibrated. To do that fill a glass with ice cubes and add water. Let the ice melt so that the water is slushy. You want the water at a temperature just as it is about to freeze. Stick in your thermometer. It should read "0" for Centigrade or 32 degrees for Fahrenheit. If the thermometer doesn't read right on "0" you will have to take the difference into consideration when you take the temperature in your incubator.

The next problem I have encountered is "fertility". I have never observed my Turkeys mating but I have cracked open an egg to look for the "bulls eye" so that you know the egg has been fertilized. Apparently fertility in males decreases with age and it is recommended to switch to new males after 2 years. I am not sure if that has to do with increased size in the Toms and they have trouble mounting, or if fertility just goes down with age. If someone knows, I would love to know the answer. I also read somewhere that you want a ratio of 1 Tom to 3 Hens.

When I first started "candling" the eggs, I noticed that about 20% had no development at all and about 20% stopped developing part way through. I don't know the reason for this either but it could be because I store the eggs for about two weeks so that I have enough to incubate or maybe, the young age of my hen and tom have something to do with it. However I still get about 60% hatching in my Turkeys compared to 75% in my chickens. A couple of the hatchlings have had splayed legs, which I fixed with rubber bands but I have not observed any diseases. I clean my incubator with bleach and I put copper pennies in the water wells. I don't open the incubator upon lock down until there are too many hatchlings to be manageable. I don't take the lid all the way off, I just lift one corner and scoop out the chicks. I also put warm wet paper towels in just before I close the lid. This helps in getting the humidity up quickly.

Hope this was helpful.

BTW I don't wash my eggs or scrape off muck. Apparently there is a protective layer around the egg that will be compromised if you wash it.

Also, I would invest in an egg turner. It's the best $99 (dollars Canadian) that I ever spent.

 

[turksinmaine]

this is my first year, if anyone interested i can post sometime or as i go along weights of my turks, they are 44 days old. I have weighed them weekly. If that helps? but mine are not broad breasted. is bbb broad breasted bourbons?

 

[R2elk]

this is my first year, if anyone interested i can post sometime or as i go along weights of my turks, they are 44 days old. I have weighed them weekly. If that helps? but mine are not broad breasted. is bbb broad breasted bourbons?

BBB = Broad Breasted Bronze
BBW = Broad Breasted White

 

[turksinmaine]

thanks