I'm planning to raise heritage breed turkeys this year...

[onthespot]

I hatched Midget Whites froms sandspoultry April 3rd and the were VERY ready to eat by thanksgiving, even without free ranging. I had four hatch, two boys, two girls. I need all of them for my breeding program in '10 and I was REALLY fighting off the urge to eat one of the males... I would pick them up and just get hungry when I felt their meaty parts... Well, we have made it past the holidays and they are both alive still. Anyhow, not sure if that is the info you were looking for. I had some bourbon reds and they got the fowl pox and were run down by it and it slowed their growth quite a bit. They probably took a couple months more to mature. Again, probably not the info you were asking for, but it is relevant, because you could be planning on six months of growth but they could get sick and that will cause a delay in when they reach optimal weight.

 

[Buster52]

We have over the past year raised BB Whites, Narragansets, Royal Palms, and Bourbon Reds. We have butchered all of the first three breeds and one of the BR toms. We have settled on our Reds for our meat program. I currently have six hens and two toms for my parent flock. One or two of the hens will likely go to the oven soon, as I think that is too many for our needs.

Turkeys are excellent foragers, so if you can free range them, that would be best for them, their taste, and your pocketbook. Even the BBWs did extremely well in this regard. Heritage breeds are even better. They range the entire front four acres of my property. It improves their taste and their health.

I think toms are a lot like roosters in one respect... you get good ones, and you get bad ones. We have had both good and bad, although I have had none nearly as bad as a previous post. The two we have now haven't harmed each other or anything else in the yard. The hens will pick on a new arrival, but only until they get used to it. The toms mostly puff up and intimidate it, fighting a bit at first until dominance is established. Now one tom is so accepted that he is the only one who ever displays or tries to mate. They will push the roosters around, but only until everyone is finished feeding. The roos are smart enough to back off.

Because of blackhead, we worked very hard to keep them separate from the chickens at first, but when they accidentally mixed and we saw no problems, we stopped worrying about it.

Turkeys, once they have made it past their very vulnerable youth (about 8 weeks in good weather), are tough as nails. They handle the cold and the heat much better than our chickens. They like to roost outside even in the coldest weather, so on really cold night I have to force them into the barn, carrying them one by one into the barn after they roost at night.

When we have butchered our turkeys, we have found it wise to do it as close to 28 weeks as we can. BBWs can and should go earlier because they are so dang big, but I think heritage breeds fill out about right in that time.

Careful, though. They will steal your heart. Sweetest animals on the place.

 

[Pampered Hen]

This is my first venture into raising turkeys and also the first time raising animals for meat. I have laying hens and am totally and utterly in love with my girls. They pretty much have become my pets. I get attached very easily and will have to watch myself with those turkeys. Thats why I'm going into this with a good friend who has raised chickens, sheep, pigs and cows for eating before. I will raise them the first 3 or so months and she will finish them. My husband will take part in the processing. It would be nice to have a bird ready for Thanksgiving, because I would love to show my in-laws what a real turkey tastes like.
I'm aware of blackhead as a potential disease my hens could pass on to the turks, but will have to take the risk. The winter coop will become the turkey brooder while the hens will be moved into the summer coop. I will clean and disinfect the coop thoroughly, but ultimately, they will get access to the same ground the hens have been on. Once the poults are feathered out, they will go out to pasture in a "turkey tractor". I would love to allow them free range, but we have bobcats, coyotes and foxes around so the time on the loose will be restricted to an hour or so in the evenings when I will be around.
Is raising baby turkeys any different from raising baby chicks as far as feed and temperature requirements?

 

[ccrawf]

This sounds a lot like I was a few years ago. And for the most part, I agree with every thing in the other posts, so let me see what I can say that is new.
Blackhead. Some one in your flock has to already have it in order to pass it on to the turkeys. I live in SW Missouri, and (thankfully) it is rather rare around here, so I have never had a problem. I’ve been doing this for several years. The first year, we got day old chicks of turkeys and chickens and that was how we started out flock. All of them together in the brooder and all the way out into the coop. The turkeys got bigger, but none of them were mean. The first year we only had BBB and the free ranged with the chickens and came in every night. They didn’t try to fly up in the trees to roost. Getting over the fence was all they could do early and when they go bigger, walking was a chore, lol! Good birds.
When we introduced more the second year, there were very few problems. Again, we got chickens and turkeys. The chicks help teach the turkeys how to eat and stuff, or so they say. Guess it worked for me. Had the typical new bird issues, but once the pecking order was established, there were not fights.
This (last) year we got both BBB and heritage breeds. Again, no problems. Well, I did put 2 geese in the mix and that changed everything. Don’t put geese in there! They starved most of my turkeys to death before they were 2 weeks old.
We got our turkeys in early June, and the Reds dressed at about 12 pounds for thanksgiving. Guess that is a good sized bird, but the BBB were 22-24 pounds and the year before, thanksgiving dinner bird was 32 pounds. So there is a difference. Not in taste or quality of the meat though.
I got the heritage breeds because I want to try breeding and raising my own this year. I now have 3 hens and 2 toms. I culled the ornery ones and keep the biggest, not the prettiest. I think I’ll do ok. I imagine I’ll have turkey poults running out my ears!!
I’m planning to build breeding cages so I can determine the parentage of the poults. Three cages. And I would definitely separate the broody hens from the flock. The tom and the chicks is a perfect example. Mom doesn’t need dad after they hatch.
Good luck to you, have fun, keep notes or a diary so you can go back and check things, You will never remember it all, and it has been really nice when I can go back and find some thing out, and a bummer when I didn’t write it down. Simple things. Experience is the best teacher.

 

[ccrawf]

Almost forgot to say, you have to go into this knowing the birds are going to end up on the table. They can be pets and be fun and you can enjoy them so much, but never forget they are dinner on the table. You can get more next year and they will be almost the same. People ask me how I can do it, and the answer has to be that I never loose sight of what they are. They are like the corn in the garden or the eggs I get from my chickens. Food. I enjoy watching them grow as much as playing in the garden. Ok, more. But you get the idea. I think we all love our animals, and appreciate what they give us, company, laughs fun and food. Some of the chickens have become pets, but that is another story….

 

[vtfarma]

We have a breeding pair of turkeys right now that are interesting to say the least. The male will stalk up behind our male australian cattle dog. Uno turns to look at the turkey and the turkey backs off, then uno starts walking again and the turkey runs up on him. they go back and forth a few times until the turkey gets up his nerve to grab uno on the butt at which time uno proceeds to flatten the turkey. Uno never bites him he just flattens him out and then chases him down.

Our turkeys free range with no problems.

Laurie

 

[Pampered Hen]

Laurie,
that is a nice story with the tom and the dog. I have chickens and cats sharing the garden, but they rarely interact with each other. My chickens free ranged a lot last summer and fall. I lost 2 hens to terrestrial predators and had a near miss with a roaming neighbor dog. I also have a cooper's hawk that has attacked multiple times resulting in the death of one and pretty severe injury of another girl. The run is now completely covered with bird netting to keep the hawk at bay. I'm afraid the free ranging days are over - at least for a while until that hawk starts hunting for its natural prey...
Where in Vermont are you? I live about ten miles south east from Middlebury.

 

[vtfarma]

I am about 5 miles south of Saint Albans Bay. We have peacocks and turkeys, 1 guinea hen and a ton of chickens maybe 50 or 60 now - I have lost count. The predators were owls and hawks for awhile but for some reason with the dogs out they seem intimidated by that. Our bigger ACD chases them. Also we had problems with the neighbors dogs but since our ACD's stay out so much they have become pretty much a thing of the past. The best thing to do with them is to shoot, shovel and shut up (SSS). The thing we have now is coyotes. They are actually a wolf cross apparently. Big buggers. They have packs around here. I dealt with the fox last year and shot the mom. The rest left us alone. The neighbor got a female coydog/coyote that was about 60 pounds. They have no fear.

Our turkeys were so brilliant last fall that when the coydogs were all howling all around us the turkeys would answer. The pair are smarter they shut up. I can shoot and will. Dad and Mom raised me to do it well so I have no problem taking care of it but its catching them before they catch the girls.

You can try the fishline ceiling too to interfere with the hawk. It will frustrate them and they will leave. Put fishline over head so that they will get caught or knocked off cue coming in.

 

[briana1975]

Quote:
What kind of feed did you have them on? It sounds like that maybe there wasn't enough protein? Turkeys do need a higher protein feed than chickens. Your tom may have been eating eggs and chicks to increase his protein intake? Just a thought? We feed a game feed that is 22% protein.