Burbon Red Turkeys

[tmrschessie]

I am going to start raising Burbon Red Turkeys. Any help on raising poults, natural breeding by this breed, and incubating or letting the hen sit the eggs would be greatly appreciated. Thank You. Tom

 

[R2elk]

I am going to start raising Burbon Red Turkeys. Any help on raising poults, natural breeding by this breed, and incubating or letting the hen sit the eggs would be greatly appreciated. Thank You. Tom

You can learn a lot about the different varieties of heritage turkeys by going to Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys.

Bourbon Red turkeys are a heritage variety of the breed Turkey. They can breed naturally and the hens will go broody.

 

[mandelyn]

Whether to incubate or hen hatch depends on how many babies you want to have over the season. They may lay upwards of 90 eggs a year. If they start setting early in the season, they'll stop laying in order to set. I incubate at the beginning of the season so that they keep laying, towards the end of the season I may let them have a go.

Toms may stomp the nest, other hens may trample eggs... separating them when broody will curb that.

Heritage varieties will breed naturally, it's only the double breasted toms who need... help. A Heritage type Tom will breed double breasted hens.

I brood them the same as chickens, only difference is feed. 26%-28% Game Bird/Turkey starter. I spend enough time with them to get them eating and drinking well on their own that first week, then switch to a more hands off approach. If they come into maturity too friendly, some of the boys may become problematic during breeding season.

I keep 1 tom to 4 hens, each flock separate to avoid tom drama. Once a tom fixates on an "enemy" he won't come off of it.

Since we have a set minimum number of babies we need each year, incubating them gets us there consistently. The hen hatched babies are like a end of season bonus.

We also keep ours penned, to keep the hens from disappearing. Large pens that stay grassy. Covered with netting, since a 6ft fence isn't high enough to stop them from flying out. It seems like once they figure out you're an egg thief, they'll start trying different ways to hide those eggs.

 

[tmrschessie]

Thank you very much for your reply Mandelyn that will sure help. Tom