Couple of Turkey Questions

[stockedkitchen]

I have a one tom in with 2 hens and they are breeding. The tom has become aggressive. He was never a sweet bird. I realize, he is protecting his hens but what is a good way to deal with getting in and out of the pen, that is safe for all. Also, what is the best thing to be feeding them, now that they are breeding. Their eggs have changed color, texture and have become thin in the last couple of weeks. I tried chicken layer feed but it doesn't seem to have helped. If anything it's made things worse. Help, I want to have little poults hatching either in the incubator or by the hens.

 

[farmtotable]

We had two previously good-natured Toms that turned incredibly aggressive when mating season started. They never went after me (lucky for them), but attacked our goats repeatedly. I ended up letting them free-range and obtained four "ladies" for them. That completely solved the problem. Maybe give yours more space, if that's possible?

Regarding the thin egg shells, what about oyster shell? We give that free choice to our chickens and quails....

 

[TurkenItUp209]

I have one tom and two girls, and hes been actively breeding them, he's more concerned with the wild birds that show up all the time, I think he knows I am the boss though.

 

[stockedkitchen]

I have to put them into a smaller pen. We put them in to the garden in the winter and now it's time to put them into their pen. We have limited space. It will be about half the size, from 800 sq ft to 400 sq ft. We are looking into getting acreage, but until then that is what we have. I have heard to turn a hose on an aggressive tom but that seems a bit much. Than again I dont know that much about turkeys. He will attack the fence when my husband gets to close to it. The tom doesnt do that to me. I have a "joust" to keep him back when he charges me in the pen. I also will chase him around and puff up if he does.

I had heard of oyster shells but had never had issues with shells before. But the shells colors have changed also and they have large calcium deposits on them as well as thin shells. They were nice speckled colors and are now white. It took about a week for this to happen. They have been mating for about 2-3 weeks. What is the best feed in general for Turkeys I have been just feed them the same things I feed the ducks and chickens with some dog food as a treat.

 

[ivan3]

If you can get a hold of the Purina Gamebird Layena, you could try that. Our hens have pretty much got by with the Gamebird Flight Conditioner & plenty of black oil sunflower seeds. Never have had an issue with weak/discolored shells.

The hens get the Gamebird Starter, along with their poults. Has never hurt them, they tend to lose considerable wt. while brooding, anyway, and the additional protein seems to help them recover.

 

[stockedkitchen]

I think, my big issue is that as soon as they started breeding, I stopped the "treats". Sunflower seeds, corn, and dog food for more of the chicken layer feed thinking that is what they needed more of. I was leaning more toward the seeds and less toward the feed. I'll go back and see if that helps and get some oyster shell too. I always felt they would eat what they needed for their systems over what a bag would tell me. So seeds, grains and oysters while I hunt down game feed. I'm sure it's at the feed store tho right by the oyster shells. I'll make sure they get all of tomorrows eggs shells instead of the chickens getting half. I just wish my turkeys weren't so picky of eaters. I put greens out they wont eat them. I got them at about 5 month old and they were feed raised, I believe. I have a hard time getting them to eat "real" food. I have to nuke apples and pumpkins, even then they are out there for awhile. I did get the hens to eat watermelon the other day.

 

[ivan3]

Here is a good reference manual on turks (though it focuses on pastured turkeys it covers most of the bases - check chapter 4 on feeding): http://albc-usa.org/EducationalResources/turkeys.html The poults, in particular, are nuts for live protein. In 2011, we experienced a flush of Cicadas. We used considerably less Game Starter that year as, even after the adults had gotten sick of them, the poults just kept right on scarfing down as many as were provided or as they could find while out foraging with their mamas.

 

[stockedkitchen]

Thanks, good to know! I will keep that in mind when they hatch. I'll read through the PDF and get as much as I can out of it. Knowledge is a good thing to have.