gonna be turkey owner soon!!! need lots of info...

[Majd]

Hi backyarchickeners.....
We bought 4 turkey eggs from a local neighbor...... and we gave them to a friend who has a mini hatchery and has experience with them.... only one hatched... and now he's about 2 months old and still with our friend as he needed to give him meds special for baby turkeys and stuff... and now we're ready to get him home..... but I'm worried about a thing. .. our friends got a pair of mature turkeys..... and they kept them in the coop for a good time.... and then they let them free range and the turkeys went walking around a bit then walked away they found them miles away from home.... and they tried again after a while but the same thing happened..... and our neighbors got an adult pair too... the very same thing happened with them..... first the hen was lost and then a week a go the male ran away and we couldn't cath him as he was fast and running from feild to another then we gave up and lost trace of him.... so do turkeys unlike chickens need an very closed area to range in it... because unlike chicken they don't go to their home and coop at night??? Or do they but they try to find their original home if rehomed?? so we don't want to loose our baby when we get him.... can he be adjusted to his coop at young age and roam around like chickens during the day and go to the coop at night?? Any help would be appreciated.....

 

[Majd]

Any help from anyone turkey experienced is greatly appreciated....

 

[ivan3]

Couple of references to peruse:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/92240/give-me-the-dirt-on-turkeys

http://www.albc-usa.org/downloads.html

A covered run would be good for a two month old (or pretty extensive wing clipping). Only let it range when you are there. I'd suggest taming it down until it will take moths/grasshoppers/grapes from your hands When you let it out of run (for the first few times) do so about an hour before sunset and keep a couple of 6-8 foot bamboo plant stakes handy. When it starts turning up its head to eyeball trees/roof of house, etc. - slowly guide the turk back to the run/coop/shed using your extended reach (poles) as your `wings' (back in the day a couple of farm boys using this method were a sufficient enough crew to guide up to 300 turkeys, to market, over ten miles).

I'd think a couple of months of training will do. We've always had hatchlings or day-olds and they imprint and won't leave.

Good luck!

 

[Majd]

Thanks a lot for the help.. we'll try that... can domestic turkeys fly that good.... I heard they CAN fly but that much?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Here is a link that you can refer to.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/787208/turkeys-101-new-to-turkeys-what-do-i-need-to-know

 

[kuntrygirl]

Thanks a lot for the help.. we'll try that... can domestic turkeys fly that good.... I heard they CAN fly but that much?

Mine are excellent flyers. :/

 

[hessclan6]

They can be excellent flyers- even from an early age. We have always had ours in a covered run but my Father raised turkeys for many years while I was growing up and attempted several times to let them free range. They never stayed..either ended up wandering away over time or going to live at a neighboring farm that had more birds than my Father did. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Majd]

Thanks kuntrygirl.... thanks hessclan6.... yeah that's what I was thinking of.... mmmm so keeping him in an enclosure isvthe best option. .

 

[kuntrygirl]

Thanks kuntrygirl.... thanks hessclan6.... yeah that's what I was thinking of.... mmmm so keeping him in an enclosure isvthe best option. .

Yep. Best Option.

 

[Pine Roost]

I know that bigger is always better, but what would be a comfortable enclosure for 20-25 turkeys? 20'x20' or bigger than that??