Best, easiest breed for newbie?

[Frosty]

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Personally, I never clip wings on free range birds. If they are lose, they need to be able to escape predators.

 

[StevenSRitchie]

I'm not saying that all Bourbons are always less healthy. All I'm saying is that is what I have experienced on my particular environment seems to show that Standard Bronze are doing better than Bourbons. My farm is in Northern Maine. I believe that Bourbons were bred somewhere down in Kentucky so they may do better down there than in the colder northern climates. I also raise chickens right next to my turkeys so the Bourbons may be more susceptible from disease from chickens than the Standards. These are just my observations from my particular environment but this may not be true in another environment.
In their natural environment Turkeys do not just eat bugs and seeds. They also thrive off of many different types of grasses, weeds, plants, berries, fruits, nuts, and even small amphibians (frogs, toads) and reptiles (snakes). You are narrowing down a turkeys diet to just grasshoppers and seeds. Just as humans normally eat a wide range of vegetable matter and proteins, so do turkeys. So my comparison between turkey diets and human diets does have some merit.
I have a six foot fence with cedar posts dug into the ground. Our dog has never gotten out of our fenced in areas because she is huge and cannot fit through the bottom of the fence. We are not using electrical fence for the turkeys but I heard that there is a poultry netted electrical fence that is designed for poultry. We plan on trying some of that in the future.

 

[Kekko]

If you want Turkeys for the eggs and hatching young you need to go “Heritage”! As for the health issue I don’t believe there to be any difference in the different varieties. AS for size and fast growing most are about the same. There are a few that tend to be a little smaller or larger. For instance my Royal Palms are a little smaller and take longer to be a nice butcher bird however my RPs are the best egg layers and highest fertility/Hatch rate. It all depends on what you are looking for in a bird. Check out Porter’s Turkeys and see what catches your fancy! But be very careful as it’s easy to end up with 70 or 80 Turkeys in a couple of years and still wanting more!

 

[Debbi]

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Oh yes, been there! Lovely birds, I could get one of each, but I'll have to restain myself.

I like the looks of the RP and really liked the Blue Palms. Jersey Buffs were nice too. The Bronze don't impress me too much, not that they are not good birds, but I love to watch the birds here, and need some eye candy too. We have a huge wild turkey population here, so I'm used to looking at bronze. Not to mention the bozo poachers out here. I would really be ticked if I found someone taking pot shots at my birds! Heck, I run them off if they are looking to shoot the wild ones out of season too for that matter. I may have to reconsider the free ranging with them. I would hate for one of the wild Toms to come and seduce my hens! How are the RPs when it comes to flying? My neighbors are about 1/8th of a mile down the road, and they did have a RP Tom. Haven't seen it in awhile, don't know if they ate him or if he ran off. He never did show up in my yard though, so he may have become dinner. More looking and researching to do. This project won't even get underway until spring, so I have time to think..which may, or may not be a good thing!

 

[Frosty]

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I do appreciate you humoring an old lady and clarifying that it's what you have experienced.

From Kevin Porters site:

This popular turkey is believed to have been developed from the Tuscarora Red turkey. The Tuscarora, or Tuscawara, was developed in Pennsylvania by selecting Buffs for darker color. The Tuscarora Reds were taken to Kentucky where their development was continued until the deep reddish-brown color of the Bourbon Red was finalized.

So the BR turkeys possibly started in a more northern state but the color was further developed in Kentucky. I can tell you for sure that I have raised them and never had problems here in North Dakota. But as I said, where your stock came from can make a huge difference. A lot of times breeders that supply hatcheries are breeding for quantity, not quality. Not knowing their breeding and cull practices, you could very well end up with weaker stock.

As far as diet goes, that shows how well they adapt. In North Dakota, we aren't exactly known for fruits, nuts, and berries. Certainly some farmers have planted apple trees in the shelter belts, but the turkeys have pretty stiff competition from the deer. We are a northern plains state, so it's mostly prairie and various crops such as small grains, sunflowers, and canola. Since it's normally very dry, frogs, toads, and salamanders aren't extremely common. There is usually about three months where the grass is actually green. So up here, a large part of their diet is indeed things like ticks, grasshoppers, and seeds (including grain spilled from trucks along the roads).

The poultry netting that most folks use is from Premier1. I have some, and in all honesty I think it's more for keeping predators out. I have tested the fence and the tester shows that it has about 6,000 volts on it. And the turkeys stomp on the bottom parts like there isn't anything. DH was out there one day and actually heard the fence arcing while the turkeys were walking on it. My chickens don't seem to care about it either. They are for the most part staying in, but I honestly don't know if birds can feel it?

 

[Frosty]

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Any of the heritage fly quite well. My experience with free range turkeys vs wild turkeys was actually the opposite. I had a hen hatch out poults, a wild hen with poults joined her, and next thing I knew I had a wild hen with half grown poults follow me into the barn every evening and wait for me to put the feed out

 

[ColbyNTX]

I raise 8 diferent breeds of turkeys and some new ones I hatched this year are the Beltsville Small Whites. I have been impressed with their weight gain. I hatched them with some Auburn turkeys and the BSW's are much meatier than the Auburns. They also get around the 25lb weight range you are looking for. I hear they are very good layers also.

 

[Debbi]

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Thanks Colby. I'll have to look into them. I see you raise Sweetgrass, how are they? I also see you raise everything that all the articles I've read on turkeys, so far, say to avoid! Guineas, chickens, pheasants...

Evidently, your turkeys didn't read these articles!

 

[Debbi]

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Any of the heritage fly quite well. My experience with free range turkeys vs wild turkeys was actually the opposite. I had a hen hatch out poults, a wild hen with poults joined her, and next thing I knew I had a wild hen with half grown poults follow me into the barn every evening and wait for me to put the feed out

Oh how funny! Better to gain than to lose, eh? She was a smart wild girl, she knew the cushy life when she saw it!

 

[ColbyNTX]

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Thanks Colby. I'll have to look into them. I see you raise Sweetgrass, how are they? I also see you raise everything that all the articles I've read on turkeys, so far, say to avoid! Guineas, chickens, pheasants...

Evidently, your turkeys didn't read these articles!

Yea, my birds didn't get that memo! I don't have an issue with blackhead and am real careful what I bring in.