Best City Backyard Turkey Breed?

[4CrazyEggs]

I currently have 7 egg laying hens and am planning on getting 3 or 4 poults in the spring. What breed in you opinion would be the best? I have a 6' fenced large backyard. I would be planning to give the Turkeys the run of the backyard and allow the chickens out of the run with them in the evening. I am looking for a non flying, decent breasted bird with a good temperament. Is there a specific breed like this? Thanks!

 

[aoxa]

I'll bump you up on this.

Just don't go with Royal Palms - they fly remarkably well. As well as my wild turkeys. Maybe something that has more meat at an earlier age wouldn't fly so well.. My poults could fly over a 10ft fence at 3 weeks of age.

 

[aoxa]

Oh and my turkeys and chickens range the backyard together. Raise some chicks with your poults to help get them started with eating. My turkeys get along great with all my female chickens, and some of my roosters.. However, my turkey hens dislike my standard roosters, and often chase them around the yard on a daily basis.

Tom with silkies. The silkies get along the best with the turkeys out of all of the breeds I keep. Barred rocks get along with the turkeys the worst.

The turkeys also get along really well with my red sex links.

My tom likes everyone.. Even the roosters. The hens are more rambunctious than he is.

 

[CityChick15]

Turkeys are great in the city, better than chickens I think, they have a size advantage when it comes to surviving city predators.

I started out with Chickens and on a whim purchased two Chocolate turkeys and now I just cant wait to add more turkeys to my flock. Like you I live in the City so not all breeds are suitable. Chocolate turkeys are beautiful with great temperaments, but they are hard to find. I had three lovely royal palm turkeys (another great breed to keep in the city) I purchased last spring and took great care to keep them safe. I live in the heart of the city but we get foxes, neighborhood dogs, cats, and the occasional owl in our area so keeping them safe while they are young is really important. So after 5 months of carefully monitoring their free-range zone I let them free range all day with the chickens and one month later a fox got into my yard at night and killed my largest juvenile turkey

It was a sad day!

From that experience I learned the following about keeping turkeys in the city:
1) choose a medium sized breed (Not Midget Whites) if they are too small they can be supper for anything wondering your neighborhood.
2) only clip onside of their wings, so that they can fly enough to get out of harms way (look on youtube for great videos on the proper way to trim turkey flight feathers)
3)Must be committed to putting them up safe in the coop every night, turkeys are smarter than chickens they are also more willful and stubborn and sometimes resist the bedtime regime, so just wait until it gets dark and them haul them into the coop.
I fell asleep on the sofa leaving them out ONE night and lost three members of my flock/family (two banty hens and one 15lbs turkey) Only feathers where left of the chickens but the fox just killed the turkey and left it completely intact for me to Find the next morning.
In summary, turkeys are so great in the city, check craigslist for turkey breeders in your area, and if all else fails you buy fertilized eggs online and try hatching them out yourself, just be sure you buy an incubator that will accommodate the usually larger turkey eggs.
Have fun and be sure to post pics!!

 

[4CrazyEggs]

Thanks so much! We bought two from craigslist that we are going to have for Thanksgiving. They are already full size. They are doing great back there with the chickens. I was just wanting the great info you guys provided me with. I did clip one wing like I did with the chickens and it is working great. They are great to watch. We are looking forward to starting with poults this spring. The kids have been loving our little city farm adventure.

 

[the-bird-man]

i have a question, do you worry about noise with the turkeys? i live in the city and would not want to have anything very loud that will make the neighbors upset.

 

[wickedlees]

I too would like to add a couple of Turkey's for Thanksgiving next year. One for me, and one for the person who is a hunter and is willing to process for me if I raise it, cause I won't be able to! I am in the city 6 ft fences, I have 4 Black Austrolopes now, and plan on adding 4 more maybe around January. I had let them have run of the entire yard this year, but they were wee little things and didn't eat everything not nailed down in the garden until it was fall and I didn't care anyway, so next year they are going into a "dog run" type area that's all dirt with a large coop for them to roost in at night, double doors, one on the run and one in the coop. Which I'm very good about keeping bedtime. I don't know what I need for a Turkey to eat, is it a hen or not? I'm totally at a loss, which is how I start all my little crazy adventures anyway! Will they be loud? I just need some info, and I'm too lazy to the library today but I'm for sure ordering for next year pretty soon. THanks!

 

[Celie]

Turkeys toms are very loud, much louder than roosters and all turkeys, except BB (after they get close to harvest size at around 5 months) fly very high. A 6 foot fence is nothing, they will perch on the roof, in a 50 foot tree top, or on the neighbor's cars, loeaving nice long deep scratches. Make sure you check with your local zoning board to see if they are allowed as backyard pets. You might consider a top net over their run to keep them in, Because Heritage Turkeys do not do well in confinement.

 

[the-bird-man]

sounds like turkeys are not for me then. thanks for the info!

 

[Oregon Blues]

For in the city, but only of they are being raised to eat, the Broad Breasted White would be perfect. They grow fast, have huge breast meat, have lovely calm temperaments, and the noises they make are pleasant, so very unlikely to cause any noise complaints. They don' fly once they are past the poult stage and they will follow you around and come when they are called, so they are easy to put up for the night.