A words of caution to those who may want to raise turkey's.
1. They are much easier to get attached to the chickens and they can bond to you more the chickens.
2. Most turkey's, at about an hour before sunset, will want to find a roosting place. Once they settle in they usually won't want to move. So start young and make them go in early, they may eventually figure out where you want them to roost.
3. Don't get just one turkey, They need a small flock to be happy. Two is good three is better. One is a lost puppy who follows you around everywhere.
4. The Male thing is to be the dominate bird. The can and will fight to some degree. Either just huffing and puffing or fight to the death. SO be prepared. We almost lost two Great Whites because they got fired from being at the top of the pecking order. Once one of the BB Bronze took over and things quited down. He would just chest butt the other turkey's and knock then to the ground a guick way to and any squables.
5. Generally it is not a good idea to completely free range your turkeys. Once you get them and they grow up, you will see the size of there poop.
other questions and anwers:
Q: Can you mix turkeys with chickens for the hatchery minimum?
Usually not, since they are usually started on different days. and many hatcheries use outside hatcheries for turkey's.
Q: Do turkeys head in to the coop at night on their own like chickens do?
A: If you train them to yes they will. But you might get the one that never wants to do what you want it to.
Q: How would I go about finding a place to process them??
A: most states have turkey coop's, although most of these do large quantities they may do small ones. Not all poultry processing plants will do turkey's. In our case we do our own.
Q: does anyone raise turkeys exclusively as pets/farm decorations? I wouldn't want to eat them, but they'd have 80 acres on which to make themselves at home.
a: We finally decided to keep amating pair this year becasue we got attached to them.
But a turkey is a turkey, if there is a wild flock nearby it may join them. If they don't have human contact they will turn somewhat wild and not allow you near them.
Q: I was wondering if I need to "herd" the Turkey's into one of the barn stalls since the chicken coop door isn't big enough for them to get in....
A: turkey go where they want to, if you let them, which seems to be usually where you don't want them. So yes I would heard them to where you want them. In some case they won't move like a herd to you have to pick them up and carry them.
There is a right way and wrong way to pickup and carry a turkey. I usually wrap one arm around the turkey and grab both of it's feet with one hand. I let it kind of rest on my hip. With my free hand I gently hold it's neck. I make sure it has the freedom to move it' s hand and neck around.
Q:I was wondering if anyone knows? Can you mix turkeys with chickens for the hatchery minimum? Or do ya have to have 25 peeps and 15 turkeys? Can I do 20 peeps and 5 turkeys?
A: I have never seen a hatchery that allows mixing like that. Since most place they ard scheduled to be hatched on different days.
Q: What is a nice sized run for a turkey? Like how much sq ft per bird.
A: I am sure they would prefer about 2 acres per bird. but that is not practical.
I would guess that 2 or 3 would suffice.
Tom
