Hello turkey-goers! I am new to turkey keeping and I have some questions.

[Moochie]

First question - Will my turkeys eat anything green in sight like my chickens do? I have some grass seed that supposed to start growing in 5 days (once you plant them) and I wanna have the turkeys in the front yard once they're all grown up. I think turkeys look gorgeous in the yard, the ranch where I got my poults from had a hen with chicks and a tom out in their very green yard and they looked beautiful. Our front yard is filled with garden plants and I wanna plant grass to make it look prettier. If my chickens were in the front yard they would eat EVERYTHING!

Second question - Are turkeys seasonal layers?

Third question - Are turkeys escape artists? Should we clip their wings when they get bigger?

Fourth question - What age can we sex them? And how exactly..?

Fifth question - Do turkey hens get broody?

Sixth question - Can turkeys mix with other breeds of turkeys? Because today we bought a blue slate, bourbon red, and some wild eastern thing I forgot what it's called.

Currently we have a slightly older black spanish turkey. I don't mean breed either, just mingle and flock together.

Seventh question - IF I can keep the turkeys with the garden/front yard, what kind of coop do they need? Will a shed work? Shed with a roost inside? How high?

Eighth question - The toms, if I have them in the front yard, they won't attack people coming in our front yard right? The tom at the ranch squabbled at my mom but he didn't lunge at her. Just puffed up and went "gobble gobble".

Ninth question (and last) - It seems the age of our older black spanish is wrong. Or the age of the ones we got today is wrong. The ones we got today are (according to the rancher) are 5 weeks old but our black spanish is supposed to be 4 weeks old but it's way bigger than the younger poults. We got the black spanish from a feed store, the workers said the poult was a week old. I'm gonna pictures in a sec here so you guys can tell me how old my turkeys are.

Black spanish (does it look like a hen?)


With 4 week old barred rocks for size comparison.

One of the poults we got today. Next to a 2 day old cornish meat chick.

 

[chicken pickin]

Your Bourbon Red looks accurate to the age they told you, mine are about 4 weeks old and look very similar(even beside a 2 day old cornish chick, I have those also). Not to sure about the black it looks a lot older, how long have you had it?

 

[kangababy]

1. alot of people free range them but they still need something like a laying pellets for the protien.
2. they are seasonal layers. Typical March/April-Sept/Oct
3. Once they fully grown you should be okay. Our are caged so we don;t worry about that but they are also easy targets for dogs
4. when the toms start showing out you can vent sex them but it is not easy for beginners
5. they can go broody if you dont pull their eggs
6. you can put them together but all the birds need to grow up together so that the toms can get used to each other. they may still fight and they will cross breed.
7. our pens are 15x15 or bigger with a tin roof. They have roosting post and we have or had 7 hens and 2 roosters in one.
8. they probably won;t attack but you never know.

 

[Flock Runner]

First question - Will my turkeys eat anything green in sight like my chickens do? I have some grass seed that supposed to start growing in 5 days (once you plant them) and I wanna have the turkeys in the front yard once they're all grown up. I think turkeys look gorgeous in the yard, the ranch where I got my poults from had a hen with chicks and a tom out in their very green yard and they looked beautiful. Our front yard is filled with garden plants and I wanna plant grass to make it look prettier. If my chickens were in the front yard they would eat EVERYTHING!
it depends on the number of turkeys you have. they do love eating greens but i never have any problems with them turney the groung brown. then again, i only have tree. i'd be more worried about the poop everywhere.

Second question - Are turkeys seasonal layers?
yes but there are always wild cards to every rule.

Third question - Are turkeys escape artists? Should we clip their wings when they get bigger?
i havn't had problems woth this with my birds but i give them an incredible large yard to rome in so they never really need to. i still clip their wings because they like roosting in the rafters of the barn and i don't want them up there.

Fourth question - What age can we sex them? And how exactly..?
you can sex them once you get them if you have a good eye. females will have more of a smooth sloped head and are a little smaller han the males. males have sort of box shaped heads. i know someone who's really good at sexing them young but i'm not too great at it yet. when they get older, you can always tell a male if they puff up their feathers and strut around. also, they have much more exagerated necks. also, males will ahve bristles on their chests which they use for mounting females. you'll know what i mean if you see one. females are much more bland and basic than the males. once they get older you'll know.

Fifth question - Do turkey hens get broody?
yes, most girls do, but there are always exceptions.

Sixth question - Can turkeys mix with other breeds of turkeys? Because today we bought a blue slate, bourbon red, and some wild eastern thing I forgot what it's called.

Currently we have a slightly older black spanish turkey. I don't mean breed either, just mingle and flock together.
absolutely. my turkeys used to run around with the ducks and chickens and i never had an issue. just be carefull of size differences becaus if a male turkey is in with a young and very small female turkey he might hurt her trying to mount her.

Seventh question - IF I can keep the turkeys with the garden/front yard, what kind of coop do they need? Will a shed work? Shed with a roost inside? How high?
any type of coop works fine for turkeys just as long as you consider their size diference from chickens. turkeys like high roots so they will sit on the highest thing in the coop. make sure to take that into consideration. they need at least 2 feet of roost space per bird. i use a ladder roost made of 2x4's with rounded egdes.

Eighth question - The toms, if I have them in the front yard, they won't attack people coming in our front yard right? The tom at the ranch squabbled at my mom but he didn't lunge at her. Just puffed up and went "gobble gobble".
my tom does that too!

i've never had problems with it but it all depends on how they were raised. i always socialized and handled my turkeys as chicks so that they wouldn't be agresive, but the first tom i had was an A-hole because i was new to turkeys and didn't socialize with him much. he did attack people so we pened him up. he died of old age a long time ago though. just make sure they get love and socialization as babies.

Ninth question (and last) - It seems the age of our older black spanish is wrong. Or the age of the ones we got today is wrong. The ones we got today are (according to the rancher) are 5 weeks old but our black spanish is supposed to be 4 weeks old but it's way bigger than the younger poults. We got the black spanish from a feed store, the workers said the poult was a week old. I'm gonna pictures in a sec here so you guys can tell me how old my turkeys are.
the black spanish is a hen, but i've never been good at age geussing. i can certainly say that she's older than the other one though. i'd have to guess 5 weeks but don't hold it against me. the other one looks as if its maybe 2 or 3 weeks.

Black spanish (does it look like a hen?)


With 4 week old barred rocks for size comparison.

One of the poults we got today. Next to a 2 day old cornish meat chick.

 

[Moochie]

Woo thanks guys! I've had the black spanish for 4 weeks now, when it was sold to us the worker said it was 1 week old.
Anyone know that thing about that terrible disease blackhead? I've read about it... The rancher said he's raised turkeys with chickens and he's never had any sickness but he has heard of the blackhead thing aswell. One of the workers at the feed store said the same, he has turkeys and chickens and he's never had any problems. Yet alot of guides I read on turkey raising turn down raising turkeys with chickens.. Is it one of those things that could happen?

 

[frank53061]

There was some great information passed on here and I agree with what I see.
Turkeys from what I can tell are Farley Intelligent birds and do recognize people and notice strangers and will alarm you to strangers at least to them being strangers.
I also noticed that the more time you spend with them these are the people that they get most excited about when seeing them.
My daughter is out of school now and tends to the Turkeys while I am at work and they have grown more attached to her than me now this was the reverse just a few weeks ago.

 

[lynn1961]

First question - Will my turkeys eat anything green in sight like my chickens do? I have some grass seed that supposed to start growing in 5 days (once you plant them) and I wanna have the turkeys in the front yard once they're all grown up. I think turkeys look gorgeous in the yard, the ranch where I got my poults from had a hen with chicks and a tom out in their very green yard and they looked beautiful. Our front yard is filled with garden plants and I wanna plant grass to make it look prettier. If my chickens were in the front yard they would eat EVERYTHING!

Second question - Are turkeys seasonal layers?
They will lay from about Feb/March until late fall, depends on your location, daylight hours, access to food and water

Third question - Are turkeys escape artists? Should we clip their wings when they get bigger?
Turkeys can fly at a very young age, clip their wing feathers unless they are in an enclosure with a top on it, by 3 months of age they will be flying across the yard, roosting in trees, on top of the house, you name it and they can get there if they want, mine at 3 1/2 months are flying and roosting where they want

Fourth question - What age can we sex them? And how exactly..?
Yesterday I was able to definately tell which ones are toms out of my group of young ones, they are gobbling and displaying something fierce, the young hens are chirping and trilling

Fifth question - Do turkey hens get broody?
My hens started laying late February and tring to brood 2 weeks later, they are still at it

Sixth question - Can turkeys mix with other breeds of turkeys? Because today we bought a blue slate, bourbon red, and some wild eastern thing I forgot what it's called.

Currently we have a slightly older black spanish turkey. I don't mean breed either, just mingle and flock together.
They will definately cross breed

Seventh question - IF I can keep the turkeys with the garden/front yard, what kind of coop do they need? Will a shed work? Shed with a roost inside? How high?
Mine have a coop and roost bars, they won;t use it no matter what I have tried, they seem to prefer high places, the adult tom and hens roosted outside all last winter

Eighth question - The toms, if I have them in the front yard, they won't attack people coming in our front yard right? The tom at the ranch squabbled at my mom but he didn't lunge at her. Just puffed up and went "gobble gobble".
You never know if they will attack or not, they are very territorail, and don't seem to like strangers or changes

Ninth question (and last) - It seems the age of our older black spanish is wrong. Or the age of the ones we got today is wrong. The ones we got today are (according to the rancher) are 5 weeks old but our black spanish is supposed to be 4 weeks old but it's way bigger than the younger poults. We got the black spanish from a feed store, the workers said the poult was a week old. I'm gonna pictures in a sec here so you guys can tell me how old my turkeys are.
Different breeds grow at different rates, your smaller poults look younger than 5 weeks, and your black one looks older than 4 weeks, to me the black one looks a bit older, the feed store employees are not always real close on their ages
Black spanish (does it look like a hen?)
Does its snood look fairly large, or is it a tiny nub ? Toms snoods are larger


With 4 week old barred rocks for size comparison.

One of the poults we got today. Next to a 2 day old cornish meat chick.

 

[Moochie]

The snood is a nub. My dad thinks we got all girls because they have narrow heads. My mom did pick the smallest from each batch of turkeys, I think if you have a trained eye the bigger ones are boys? Kind of sucks.. I hope he's wrong with atleast one, I want a tom >.>

 

[Moochie]

How much room do 4 fully grown turkeys need (their run)? I don't want to give them too much room but I don't want to give them too little. Something that's just right and comfortable for them. How high should the fence be for them? We will be clipping their wings and we will cover their run. In our backyard there's an old wooden shed that I think would be perfect to keep turkeys in. It was built by the previous owner of this house, it's pretty large, sturdy, kind of looks like a coop, and already has stuff in it that we could turn into nest boxes or roosts. Currently it's being used for storage but I'm sure we can turn it into a turkey coop.
When hens lay do they use nest boxes? Should/could we plant anything in the run that would make it look nicer but the turkeys won't eat?

 

[Moochie]

I should of also asked about the feed since one of my friends brought it up. My friend says turkeys need something different than what chickens eat. All my chickens eat lay mash and chicks eat starter mash. The poults are eating starter mash mixed with turkey/gamebird starter (because they have chickies with them). When they become adults can they eat the lay mash or do they need some food made for turkeys?
The feedstore guy said his eat what his chickens eat.