Housing turkeys

[Sally8]

What do you use as a coop for your adult turkeys? Mine roost like my chickens, although I see them eyeing the trees. Mornings when I let them out, they fly off the roost and some crash land. I'm worried about broken wings and legs. How much room do they need? Mine are 5 months old and seem to be quite large.

 

[frank53061]

What kind of Turkeys do you have it makes a difference.
My Red Bourbons are over 7 months now and the Toms are getting so big I see them attempt to fly from the top of the coop 8ft up and they are not very good at it becouse of there weight.
The Hens are not near as heavy as the Toms and are better at it but stay out of the trees because I kept there wings clipped till they were 6 months old I thing they have tried while there wings were clipped and now they don't think they can and the Toms are just to fat LOL.
My Guess would be coop space sleeping time only 2 to 3 sq ft per Turkey more room if they are to be kept in for longer amounts of time with roost 2ft off the floor because there wight will be a problem for them to get up any higher as they get bigger.

 

[chicken pickin]

I would suggest more space than 2-3sqft per turkey(chickens need 4 sqft and bantams 2-3sqft) I have 5 turkeys in a 9.5x5.5 house 6' tall in the front 5'tall in the back. They sleep in there hangout in there when there weather is bad they spend their entire day and night in there willingly. Mine do not like rain lol. During the day they are in flight pen roughly14x40ish made out of a chainlink fence then pvc piping arched over the top to make the height of the pen about 10ft then we have aviary netting over the top to have it fully enclosed. When they are in the pen they put themselves in their house to roost at dark. When they are out to free range the stay close by and the only other place they try to roost for bedtime is the railing of my front deck and they stair into our kitchen

I guess they like us lol.

 

[Sally8]

My hen is a royal Palm and the 2 toms are a cross between a Royal Palm and a Bronze. Not sure exactly what they weight. But they are heavy.

 

[chicken pickin]

My hen is a royal Palm and the 2 toms are a cross between a Royal Palm and a Bronze. Not sure exactly what they weight. But they are heavy.

Very pretty turkeys. I love the first pic

 

[Celie]

Sally, the 2 to 3 feet is as much roost space as you will need for your turkeys, regardless of age. I would suggest, as adults, they will need about 9 sf of floor space. Outside space depends on you, the more they have, the more exercise they can get. I free range mine on 5 acres, but pen them up, about 5 to a 10x10 pen, if I want to fatten them up, more than the rest of the flock, a little prior to slaughtering. I have 6 in a pen right now and the last 2 Holland White and BBW Toms, weight over 50 pounds, I guarantee you and are as fat as sumo wrestlers.LOL I don't think they will make it to Thanksgiving, before they are too fat to stand. The pure Holland White Toms in the same pen, on the other hand, are about 35 to 40 pounds at 7 to 8 months. They have also bulked up a lot , now that I have restricted their running,(my birds are too lazy to fly, unless they have to), which they do a lot, with wings flopping, every time they hear anything that may be a feed bag opening.
I have been feeding FF and BOSS, mixed with whole corn, for the last week or so, to finish them up, and they are really coming along nicely. I expect them all to reach somewhere between 40 to 50 pounds at slaughter, around 9 to 10 months old .I will weigh them, after slaughter and let you know, if I can get DH to stand on the scale and hold them in his arms, because I can't lift them, anymore.LOL

 

[Goronson Chicks]