Heritage & Exhibition Turkey Thread

[ashandvine]

Here's a few more of my Tom showing off.







It was nice enough today to go out for a while. Birds always look better on grass. He was so funny. I said "hi turkey" this morning. He gobbled loudly. I said it again and he gobbled again. We did this probably 7 times in a row just because it was funny.
So is all this posturing an all year thing or should I be hurrying to get a nesting spot designated?

 

[elizmartin]

Here's a few more of my Tom showing off.







It was nice enough today to go out for a while. Birds always look better on grass. He was so funny. I said "hi turkey" this morning. He gobbled loudly. I said it again and he gobbled again. We did this probably 7 times in a row just because it was funny.
So is all this posturing an all year thing or should I be hurrying to get a nesting spot designated?

Aren't they funny....When my daughter visits she yells out too and they always respond.....regarding nesting,the hen will likely find a place to her liking which may or not work for you.....Mine have a safe place under some salal bushes....

 

[elizmartin]

JIm-- love the name Cassanova-- so fits a male bird ! lol Our main tom is Thomas Edison, in an effort to introduce my youngs kids to notable figures in history. THe hen was Madame Curie.

Love the narrigansetts, for nostalgic reasons more than anything. I live near Narragasett Bay, just over the RI?MA border. I have 2 toms and am praying DH has banded a displaying hen so hoping one is a hen and one a tom.

What is that kind of wire fencing?? That is a new one for me.

Thanks for sharing,,,,,The Narrigansetts are lovely, and beautifully colored. They don't seem that big....how do they compare to the midget white size????? My white tom is THC,( thinks he's cool)........in peace, eliz

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

JIm-- love the name Cassanova-- so fits a male bird ! lol Our main tom is Thomas Edison, in an effort to introduce my youngs kids to notable figures in history. THe hen was Madame Curie.

Love the narrigansetts, for nostalgic reasons more than anything. I live near Narragasett Bay, just over the RI?MA border. I have 2 toms and am praying DH has banded a displaying hen so hoping one is a hen and one a tom.

What is that kind of wire fencing?? That is a new one for me.

He came with the name Casanova. But it does fit him. Struts all the time except when on the roost.

The wire is field fencing that we acquired cheap on sale. It works for this turkey pen, but chickens can escape. thus we have plastic netting (Lowes for $.50 a roll clearance) around the bottom.

Look them over really close. We got the Canadian hen as a tom. The breeder thought she was a he. We did too until we had a hen side by side. We are fairly new with the Narragansett. But will not make that mistake again.

Here's a few more of my Tom showing off.







It was nice enough today to go out for a while. Birds always look better on grass. He was so funny. I said "hi turkey" this morning. He gobbled loudly. I said it again and he gobbled again. We did this probably 7 times in a row just because it was funny.
So is all this posturing an all year thing or should I be hurrying to get a nesting spot designated?

Ours struts ALL the time. We keep a nest available for ours. We use a 50 gallon plastic barrel with 2 holes cut in its side, laying down. We then added a plywood divider. Makes 2 nests. Hoping the use them. We have added fresh straw and otherwise, it would just be on the ground.

Quote:
Midget White toms average 13 lbs., hens average 8 lbs.

Narragansett weights are

Old tom:33 lbs Old hen: 18 lbs

Young tom: 23 lbs Young hen: 14 lbs

The Bronze are 36 lb toms so they are a bit smaller than a bronze but lots bigger than the Midget whites.

 

[wasteaway]

Thats pretty cool! and good to know. I'm going to have to let my hens hatch and rais turkeys too. Did any of them get sick or die while she was caring for them?

None got sick at all. She is still with them though they are twice her size now. A word of caution though. There are a few things to be aware of if you go this route. One is obvious; The bantam is small and her ability to cover and provide body heat is limited so care must be taken to make sure she has some backup in the form of a heat lamp especially in this case of a late fall hatch. Also I have learned from the first time that the chicks seem to have a tough time getting out of the eggs. We lost two or three the first time we put Felix on the job. IDK if having a small chicken on the eggs does not keep the proper humidity or what it is but this time I watched the eggs (dated them first) and as soon as I saw the beak break in the first egg I did a little eggshell trimming. I gave each poult a jump start by chipping away some shell to insure they could break out of their eggs. This time all 6 hatched and sprouted.

Yes, she raises them and as they mature they seem to naturally migrate towards their own and eventually will roost with the turkeys and hang with them full time. Hopefully I end up with a couple of broody hens out of this batch and a good mother who will raise her own poults. But rest assured, Felix will be hatching someone's offspring be it turkeys, layers, bantams or her own. She loves it. Awesome mother instincts.

 

[ashandvine]

Midget White toms average 13 lbs., hens average 8 lbs.

Narragansett weights are

Old tom:33 lbs Old hen: 18 lbs

Young tom: 23 lbs Young hen: 14 lbs

The Bronze are 36 lb toms so they are a bit smaller than a bronze but lots bigger than the Midget whites.

Where did you get this information? I have seen a few different stats. It might be a confusion with the Beltsville or poor breeding (which in this breed's case means they are being bred too big, since they are supposed to be pretty small.) I am totally okay with a MW being the size you listed for a Narragansett when they are for sale, but not for show.
I like the idea of the barrel nest....and boy are you a savvy shopper!

 

[aguilera]

Ours struts ALL the time. We keep a nest available for ours. We use a 50 gallon plastic barrel with 2 holes cut in its side, laying down. We then added a plywood divider. Makes 2 nests. Hoping the use them. We have added fresh straw and otherwise, it would just be on the ground.

Thats pretty cool. I was wondering, since it has a round shape to it does it ever throw the turkeys off balance when they stem inside? Can you show me a picture? I'd like to look into "copying" your idea

. Thanks!

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
The Midget White info came from http://albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html#turkeys

The Narragansett info is from the American Standard of Perfection.

The ALBC have done more research than about anyone on the Midget Whites. Some poultry judges have suggested any white turkey larger than the ALBC suggested listing are actually Beltsville Whites. Also, many breeders/hatcheries have crossed them together so much, a true Midget White flock is rare.

You can see the "nest barrel" better in this photo. We plan on making some that stand up for our geese. They are easy to clean by just dragging them to a water hose or car wash and washing them out. Their feed trough is a smaller barrel, cut in half. The goats have the other half.

We also use a lot of 5 gallon bucket nests for our chickens. I will recycle about anything!

 

[ashandvine]

I thought I was the only mad upcycler! My partner HATES this about me. He thinks everything looks... bad. I would like to ask Mr Jim if you are using 5 gal buckets (and your birds are NOT small so I am amazed they fit in there) how are you attaching them to each other?? A wall of buckets or a row??

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

I thought I was the only mad upcycler! My partner HATES this about me. He thinks everything looks... bad. I would like to ask Mr Jim if you are using 5 gal buckets (and your birds are NOT small so I am amazed they fit in there) how are you attaching them to each other?? A wall of buckets or a row??

We use the 5 gal buckets on the smaller breeds/bantams. The turkeys use the 50 gal barrels. We re-purposed other items like extra large Walmart milkcrates and totes as nests. We also have a few homemade built in nests in our backyard coops.

Found a Narragansett hen checking out a nest today. We quickly added new straw to the nest.