I need turkey info and advice compared to chickens.

[flocksalot]

I have had chickens for a few years now and have decided to get turkeys also. I plan on 6 Narragansette (3 to butcher, 3 to keep as breeders) and I will also have a few new chicks they will have to shack up with (Ill get the chicks in late Feb and turkeys in Mid April) as my laying flock is aging. I love to look at the turkeys and I love what you all have to say about them. Surprisingly though not one person here has said they are agressive or mean! All the locals here who have had them say they will attack you and all this other stuff...dont let them out in the yard they will get your kids etc. What gives with these very different reports? Also will I have to clip wings if they are let out to range or????? How do you get them back in at night if they decide to roost in a tree?

Welcome to the wonderful world of turkeys!

Although I've never raised Naragansettes they are very pretty. I think that people that raise them and don't really socialize their birds or spend any time learning their ways might not know that much about turkeys. I've never had an aggressive tom. At least with me or my family. They like to surround strangers and strut about gobbling at every noise. They also LOVE my son. He gives them treats and to them he is the TREAT GOD. We raise quite a few turkeys (like 55 last year and probably 100 this year), but spend time with our turkeys so they are socialized. I think that the people you are talking to are ones that don't interact with their birds. I don't keep mine in a pen after they are old enough to fend for themselves. Really once they keep flying over the fence and raiding the garden there is no point. Strawberry season they all have very pretty strawberry lipstick. Even while they are penned they get out when we take them for walks. It's that type of socialization that helps them know where home is and also not be fight or flight immediatley when they experience something new. Our midgets must go and investigate everything. Of course Midgets are like that.

As for flying up into trees, mine only do it when they see the hated squirrels. Some day they are going to catch that last one and then what will they do? They also come down when I call because they really like me. I'm Momma, but I do eat them too.