Help: Turkey Basics

[RRMSG]

Recently we went to murdoch's to get three chickens and when we got there we chose out what we believed to be three chickens and they gave us two more for free and we got home and later realized that three of them were actually turkeys... Help.

We have raised them together since then and they get along very well, we are also aware of the diseases chickens can spread to turkeys, but we're going to have to take that risk. We just got a nice new coop and have a decent area where they can run around, is there anything we should know about raising turkeys? Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

Recently we went to murdoch's to get three chickens and when we got there we chose out what we believed to be three chickens and they gave us two more for free and we got home and later realized that three of them were actually turkeys... Help.

We have raised them together since then and they get along very well, we are also aware of the diseases chickens can spread to turkeys, but we're going to have to take that risk. We just got a nice new coop and have a decent area where they can run around, is there anything we should know about raising turkeys? Thanks!

Get a good turkey or gamebird starter for the turkeys. You can feed it to the chicks also. It won't hurt them but chick starter can be harmful to turkey poults. Chick starter does not have the proper levels of protein, lysine, methionine or niacin for turkeys. Without the proper levels of niacin, turkey poults can be prone to leg problems especially if they are broad breasted turkeys.

The local Murdoch's here refuses to sell a proper turkey or gamebird starter and do not even carry a decent chick starter which is what they feed the turkey poults while they are in their possession..

Good luck.