Broad Breasted Whites All sorts of questions....

[dandkadams]

Well we finally got the farm, and somehow I am the proud owner of nearly 50 BBW turkeys.
*Sigh....
I helped raise and slaughter them on a friends farm, but have never had the pleasure of owning my own.
We had them in a nice 40 x 40 electric fence when they were small and they realized the could plow it down.
We built them a 50x50 wire pen (4' tall) they escaped.
We put them in a 4 plex of connected 50 x 50 pens with our ducks, they still leave.
For god sake they will not stay put!
Any suggestions.

Also at 18 weeks they range from 11 - 15 lbs, no one seems to have an answer for how much to feed, perhaps I should feed them more.
I would like to butcher half for "smaller" turkeys the end of the month and the other half to be Bigger for next month.
How much does everyone else feed? We are using Turkey Grower from the feed store (Feed is expensive here, $19.99 for a 50lb bag, and there's not much variety)

Well here's to diving in head 1st like a fool lol

 

[Kessel23]

Clip one wing on each bird so they can't fly out. My Broad breasted bronze are 26 weeks old and the tom's live weight was just under 25 pounds the last time a checked. I let mine be free range and they do go very far, you would think they would not be very mobile because they are meat birds but they get around well and fill their crops up with seeds and bugs that they find out there. I feed mine scratch and high protein chicken feed. They also free range all day so they get whatever they can find out there. BB turkeys eat a ton, I think I heard some guy talking about how he raised 13 BBW and it took more than 3000 pounds of feed to get them to butcher date. Maybe you could look around and try to find a feed mill that will supply feed at better prices.

 

[dandkadams]

Good idea on the wings!
I'll give that a go.
I did find this chart, wonder how accurate it is?

Oh and there's no mills here, we kind of moved near the very edge of the country lol

 

[R2elk]

Well we finally got the farm, and somehow I am the proud owner of nearly 50 BBW turkeys.
*Sigh....
I helped raise and slaughter them on a friends farm, but have never had the pleasure of owning my own.
We had them in a nice 40 x 40 electric fence when they were small and they realized the could plow it down.
We built them a 50x50 wire pen (4' tall) they escaped.
We put them in a 4 plex of connected 50 x 50 pens with our ducks, they still leave.
For god sake they will not stay put!
Any suggestions.

Also at 18 weeks they range from 11 - 15 lbs, no one seems to have an answer for how much to feed, perhaps I should feed them more.
I would like to butcher half for "smaller" turkeys the end of the month and the other half to be Bigger for next month.
How much does everyone else feed? We are using Turkey Grower from the feed store (Feed is expensive here, $19.99 for a 50lb bag, and there's not much variety)

Well here's to diving in head 1st like a fool lol

At 18 weeks old, you can switch them to an adult feed. A good all flock feed wo0uld be fine and certainly less expensive than turkey grower. You can also supplement their diet with cracked corn that will help fatten them up and produce a good yellow fat on them. Even a meat bird grower would be fine.

The reason they are escaping is they are confined in too small of spaces and possibly not getting enough feed. I keep feed and water available to my turkeys all the time. I did that even back when I raised BBWs. Giving them free range time daily can help alleviate their boredom which may also be part of the reason they are escaping.

Good luck.

 

[dandkadams]

How many sq ft would you recommend for BBW's?
I figured when I opened them up to the 3 pens at 10,000sq ft they would feel like it might be enough?
The area has loads of pickings, vegetation, and bugs.
Only 1 section is more like a grass lot.
Waters are topped up twice a day, never out.
I can free feed them, they will literally eat untill overfull and keep going. I've never had this problem before now, but these guys are nuts

 

[R2elk]

How many sq ft would you recommend for BBW's?
I figured when I opened them up to the 3 pens at 10,000sq ft they would feel like it might be enough?
The area has loads of pickings, vegetation, and bugs.
Only 1 section is more like a grass lot.
Waters are topped up twice a day, never out.
I can free feed them, they will literally eat until overfull and keep going. I've never had this problem before now, but these guys are nuts

Ten thousand sq. ft. may sound like a lot but with 50 turkeys that is only 200 Sq. ft. per bird. My adult turkeys average 600 to 700 Sq. ft. per adult in their run which they are normally only confined to for the night. I let my group free range daily in an approximate 2 acre area.

My guess is that your turkeys think that you have been starving them. Free feed them and once they realize the feed will always be available they should slow down and stop over eating. It is not normal for the BBs to over eat like the CornishX do but if they feel like they are starving it will take awhile to get them back to normal.

Good luck.