Heritage & Exhibition Turkey Thread

[aguilera]

Quick question... About how many ounces of feed or food does a single turkey eat a day? Or how much do you feed them on a day to day basis per turkey? Thanx!

 

[hobbychicken]

Glad to hear I am not the only one who's turkey wade around in pools. I wondered myself why they do that.

 

[Arielle]

Quick question... About how many ounces of feed or food does a single turkey eat a day? Or how much do you feed them on a day to day basis per turkey? Thanx!

THis is not a simple answer. My crew does a little foraging now, and did much more in the summer, though not nearly what the chickens do. It also depends on how old the birds are. THe bigger they are, the more they eat; when they are growing they eat; mature birds don't eat so much.

Sorry, I know this is not the answer you are looking for. Perhaps someone has lkept a log of the number of pounds of grain they have feed out for the number of birds they have raised. I only know that one of the hatchery sites has estimate grain use for the BBW.

 

[aoxa]

THis is not a simple answer. My crew does a little foraging now, and did much more in the summer, though not nearly what the chickens do. It also depends on how old the birds are. THe bigger they are, the more they eat; when they are growing they eat; mature birds don't eat so much.

Sorry, I know this is not the answer you are looking for. Perhaps someone has lkept a log of the number of pounds of grain they have feed out for the number of birds they have raised. I only know that one of the hatchery sites has estimate grain use for the BBW.

http://albc-usa.org/documents/turkeymanual/ALBCturkey-4.pdf
This is really helpful.



Quote:

Pounds of Feed Per Bird Consumed During

a two week Period (Table adapted from Turkey
Management by Marsden and Martin)
age in weeks Lbs. of Feed
1-2 0.6
3-4 1.75
5-6 1.9
7-8 2.84
9-10 3.54
11-12 4.32
13-14 5.48
15-16 5.68
17-18 6.65
19-20 6.92
22-22 7.93
24-24 8.24
26-26 8.37
28-28 8.71

 

[ashandvine]

Aoxa.... I am sure glad mine prefer the barn for now. I would like to give them a tall aviary because I don't want to deal with birds on the roof (as opposed to a tree) pooping everywhere. Mine range as well -- so far. Mine is doing that watery sounding "gooongooongooong tsick!" in the barn everyday. As these are this years birds I wonder when she will lay and what color the eggs will be. I want to hatch as many as I can. I sure hope he is fertile.

Arielle... what about mulberry?

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa.... I am sure glad mine prefer the barn for now. I would like to give them a tall aviary because I don't want to deal with birds on the roof (as opposed to a tree) pooping everywhere. Mine range as well -- so far. Mine is doing that watery sounding "gooongooongooong tsick!" in the barn everyday. As these are this years birds I wonder when she will lay and what color the eggs will be. I want to hatch as many as I can. I sure hope he is fertile.

Arielle... what about mulberry?

Tom is in the barn right now. They all continue to get in the neighbours yard, even with the girls having their wings clipped. We will be purchasing an electric fence to fence in nearly 2 acres. We need to do this fencing for our sheep and LGD as well, so it was just a matter of time. This weekend we are building them a breeding pen until spring. It will be huge. Half of the barn with a pen going outside if they decide them want to. It will be covered because I can not let them out until the fencing is able to go in the ground. We were thinking of framing the run and not pounding any posts. No worries about predators digging, as we have an LGD on guard duty.




Although do you think they'd go far with all this snow? I left the door open for the geese/ducks/chickens, but the turkeys are in the other half of the barn. They probably have a large area - but I don't know the exact dimensions.





They will get 1/2 of this part of the barn to share with our sheep. I have to put up a barrier. The sheep try to stop them, so they are in the people part of the barn - pooping on EVERYTHING.

 

[Arielle]

Arielle... what about mulberry?

I had forgotten about mulberry. THey grow well in this area but the few that I planted did not thrive. Too much competition from native trees. I think I just needed to have cleared a larger area. Very yummy-- a tree is at the town playground. I think my kids are the only ones that know they are edible.

I'm thinking bush type plants with lots of spring buds to eat.

I look around our woods for clues as we have a large wild population-- they must be eating something!!

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quick question... About how many ounces of feed or food does a single turkey eat a day? Or how much do you feed them on a day to day basis per turkey? Thanx!

The owner of Porter's heritage turkeys gave me this- Toms eat a pound a day, hens eat half a pound a day. This is for heritage turkeys that don't free range.

 

[ashandvine]

AOXA.... tell me, who really keeps their barn that pretty? Geez. lol
Would love more details on how you are building over frozen ground.

I had forgotten about mulberry. THey grow well in this area but the few that I planted did not thrive. Too much competition from native trees. I think I just needed to have cleared a larger area. Very yummy-- a tree is at the town playground. I think my kids are the only ones that know they are edible.

I'm thinking bush type plants with lots of spring buds to eat.

I look around our woods for clues as we have a large wild population-- they must be eating something!!

I was reading the Mass Fish and Game information and a study that looked at a lot of what wild turkeys ate through each season. I will go back and look for it but this is what I recall:
beechnuts/buds
ACORNS
birdseed from feeders
crab apples
dogwood
hawethorne (this may be a good and pretty option after you borrow some goats)

I can't remember the other winter items... off to look for that link...
(and btw I am very into herbal and edible local flora so my kids know 'weird' stuff like that too)

Here it is:http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/facts/birds/turkey/turkey_faqs.htm

LOTS of information but the feeding bit is nearly at the bottom. Very good read.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THank you!!

I had hear they ate acorns but wondered how they broke open that nut. ANd the taninns make it in edible for humans until the acorns are soaked in water to leach out the tannins.. Maybe it is a quantity thing--just eat a few and move on.

I have sheep!! THey really do help to clear the land--just need a sturdy fence to help them stay put and not come back to the house after an hour!! lol

THe rains are here--lots of rain for early winter. I'm concerned we will have a wet winter. Birds sure don't like rain. I prefer snow as it is easier on the animals. BUt at least I won't need to shovel.