Just brought home baby turkeys(now what?)

[chicken pickin]

My Family and I have been talking about getting turkeys to raise for thanksgiving and christmas dinner this year. Ive read a little on it and kept pushing learning aside til later cause I figured I had time to read up. Well Today I was at the local feed store and they had 4 turkeys left 5 week old(is what they told me) Broad Breasted white turkeys. They said those were the last and not ordering more so I jumped on it and I bought all 4(2 for friends of ours and 2 for us) Problem is now Im scared to death. I dont know anything about turkeys. Should they be on medicated feed, how much to feed them, what should the turkey house consist of being as simple as possible how much space do they need do they need an outside pen, to range or not? If anyone can give me a little turkey 101 id love some advise. I know I sound awful buying animals and not being knowledgable before hand

I dont know what I was thinking but I figured it was as good as time as any to jump into it.

I do have knowledge with chickens
the turkeys are in a 4x4 brooder
with a heat lamp(red bulb)
they have a gallon sized waterer with sav a chick electrolytes in it ( i hope thats ok)
they are on a turkey/gamebird grower finisher(as that is what the store recommended)
Should they be on something different maybe medicated

If anyone has any pics of there brooder set up and turkey houses id love to see them
Hubby and I are building a turkey house over the weekend
We need a simple consrtuction plan, we are going to use pallets and scrap wood and wire

Any other advise is very appreciated
Thanks

 

[ivan3]

We use a folding dog cage for brooding both chickens and turkeys. Probably main concern is keeping Broad Breasted poults on a non-slippery surface (prone to leg injuries) The Gamebird feed is fine. We don't eat our turks so housing is a shed. You might want to take a look through the ALBC Turkey Manual (focus on pastured heritage varieties but, other than a shorter timeline from hatch to oven, all the info is relevant : http://albc-usa.org/downloads.html#turkey (chapter on housing). Like using the folding wire cage as it is easy to set-up, modify and store. Don't bother with roosts in brooder for BB's

 

[chicken pickin]

Thank you very much for your response. I will take a look at that link.

The turkeys are in our chicken brooder so roosts already happen to be in there they try to get on them but cant seem to get the hang of it though they did spend the first 5 weeks of life in the feed store bin. We have them on about 4-5inches of pine shavings for bedding. Is pine shaving good for the entire time or should we switch to something else? And Should they be on medicaded feed. The man at the feed store said they were never vaccinated nor been on any type of medicated feed. Should I start them on one now or skip that step?

 

[SIMZ]

Hi there! Mind if I jump in, too? We just brought home two 4-week old poults as well. I thought I had a plan, but they're so much smaller than I was expecting! I think I'm going to keep them in a brooder with a light for now until I figure out what to do.

 

[chicken pickin]

Im glad you jumped in thanks. I feel so alone lol I feel like not many people are talking about turkeys. I learned so much on backyardchickens about my chickens i feel like i found everything i need to know and what I couldnt find people were quick to answer questions and offer helpful advice. I think I have the turkey thing down enough but I would love some advice from pros. We started building the turkey house today I just winged it lol Ill take pics tomorrow and post them up with the progress. Feel free to do the same and ask questions or give info youve learned and post pics if you get a house or shelter going id love to see it

 

[SIMZ]

Mine are little Midget Whites - I only have two. They won't have their own house, but a little coop and run attached to the chicken coop. Once our meaties are done we might move them into the cattle panel shelter with the electric fence.......we'll see. This is our experiment year. If turkeys work for us (or should I say if we can make it work?) we'll get even more next year.

 

[ivan3]

chicken pickin wrote: . I feel so alone lol I feel like not many people are talking about turkeys.

Oh, but many of us have. However, keeping up with flocks that can take-off, from a standing start, and a moment later be staring down at one from 60ft. up in a White Oak, or fly away at 50 mph, well... Or, some members might be so stuffed on the bird that they've passed out.in front of the keyboard... Housing/runs for Broad Breasted `table' birds can differ considerably from housing for `pets' (see the turkey manual linked to in my previous post). What works in a heavily wooded landscape (big trees in runs) for long term residence, might be totally inappropriate for uncluttered acreage and a 5-6 month lifespan. Over the years there have many threads on turkey housing (most pics appended to those threads are still there). Using the advanced search function: https://www.backyardchickens.com/se...sort=relevance&order=descending&Search=SEARCH There is also a long and involved thread (sticky) in the Other Fowl Index: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/92240/give-me-the-dirt-on-turkeys (general info). Have fun!

 

[chicken pickin]

Thank you again for posting. I didnt even notice the housing portion one that first link you gave me( I feel silly sorry). And thank you for the other links you gave me also they will be very helpful. I did find the thread on give me the dirt on turkeys 2 days ago and I posted on it so I can have it in my saved posts that Ive posted on and I have a lot to read through. Again thank you so much for all the links.

 

[frank53061]

My Family and I have been talking about getting turkeys to raise for thanksgiving and christmas dinner this year. Ive read a little on it and kept pushing learning aside til later cause I figured I had time to read up. Well Today I was at the local feed store and they had 4 turkeys left 5 week old(is what they told me) Broad Breasted white turkeys. They said those were the last and not ordering more so I jumped on it and I bought all 4(2 for friends of ours and 2 for us) Problem is now Im scared to death. I dont know anything about turkeys. Should they be on medicated feed, how much to feed them, what should the turkey house consist of being as simple as possible how much space do they need do they need an outside pen, to range or not? If anyone can give me a little turkey 101 id love some advise. I know I sound awful buying animals and not being knowledgable before hand

I dont know what I was thinking but I figured it was as good as time as any to jump into it.

I do have knowledge with chickens
the turkeys are in a 4x4 brooder
with a heat lamp(red bulb)
they have a gallon sized waterier with sav a chick electrolytes in it ( i hope thats ok)
they are on a turkey/gamebird grower finisher(as that is what the store recommended)
Should they be on something different maybe medicated

If anyone has any pics of there brooder set up and turkey houses id love to see them
Hubby and I are building a turkey house over the weekend
We need a simple consrtuction plan, we are going to use pallets and scrap wood and wire

Any other advise is very appreciated
Thanks

Sounds like the same thing I did for my Turkey coop did not spend much money on lumber and used pallets for the base for nesting box.
4 sheets of 1/2 inch plywood 4x8 for the top box size 4x4x8 and the base nesting pallets used 4x4 I made 3 doors on top box 2x2 and bottom 2x2 door.
Some scrap lumber 18 2x4 8 feet long and 4 cheep brass house door hinges around $80.00 plus $40.00 for chicken wire nails Staples screws and tarp to cover flat wood roof.
The paint for the sign left over My daughters idea LOL Turkey Drop INN.
I also built 2 different doors on the left side one solid wood for the cold and then a expanded aluminum screen door for the warmer month's.
one folds down the solid one and the screen door swings to the right.
The bottom door scrap plywood swings up with a hinged plank of wood attached to the door to be used to prop or to hold it open.
I have 17 Red Bourbon turkeys but not planning on keeping all just some for breeding.
I use the top level for a brooder til old enough to let out and also placed roost in side the top level 2 feet high.
5 gallon bucket with plastic oil pan as base holes in bucket used as a feeder you can see it in the door way.
1 gallon waterer inside and 2 5 gallon waterers out side its not in the picture but I have added a 5 gallon feeder out side as well.
You can see the electrical cord I ran to the top to use the heat lamp when they were still in the brooder before letting them out.
they are over 11 weeks old and still enough room in the top box as well as 8 Chics that was raised up with them so 25 birds.
I will move the chickens out at some point with the older birds and reduce my Turkey flock.

 

[chicken pickin]

So here is my progress with our turkey house so far. I worked on it yesterday and today and ive gotta say im very proud of it. I did it mainly on my own and hubby gave a helping hand when I needed a quick hand. All I have left is making the door on the front and im done. Total cost ZERO YAY!!!!!!!!!! Built all from pallets and scrape wood ive been collecting off the side of the road here and there. Now hubby apologizes for making fun of my trash collecting LOL.