Keep or eat?

[Lenadr]

I've had my very first group of three turkeys (2 female, 1 male) for about 7 months now and I've been building up to the eventuality of culling them. But one of the females has started laying and now I'm not so sure I want to get rid of all of them.

The thing is, my turkeys STINK. Is this a normal deal with turkeys? I used to let them free range with my chickens all around my backyard, but the poop from the turkeys got so bad I had to pen the birds in their own area. Their poop isn't solid like a chicken's; all three of them have large, watery poops that really smell and seem to splash everywhere.

If I were to keep only one of the females, would she get lonely, even with all the chickens around? I know birds are social creatures and wouldn't want her to be upset.

Thanks for the help!

 

[red horse ranch]

I agree with you about the poop! I got my first 3 turkeys this year and I was a little surprised with the liquid poop. I've had to close off my deck to keep them off of it.

I had intentions of making a meal of my extra turkey but decided to sell it instead. The $15 I got will buy a nice store bought turkey. After raising them from babies I just can't do that to them.

If you keep just one it will be upset for a while. But they make friends with chickens and do okay without other turkeys. I would advise to keep a female if you only keep one. A male might try to mate with your chickens come spring if he has no female turkey. They get really big and they could hurt a chicken. And a female will give you big beautiful eggs!

 

[ivan3]

Do they have access to small gravels (grit)? What is the protein content of their feed, and what kind? Our 7 month old's get Purina Gamebird Flight Conditioner. The only liquid poop? Too much watermelon, cecal poop (once a day), very hot days when they drink more water than they eat food. Otherwise? Just pretty much odorless, well formed "chicken" poop (if the chicken weighed 17-28 lb.).

 

[Lenadr]

Ivan3, I feed them a mix of Purina Gamebird Growth and Plumage, and Layena. They also free range on an acre, so they should be eating grit, but I can't be positive. They've never had solid poop, even from the very beginning. I just figured it was a turkey thing.

 

[LovedMyAlydar]

That's weird about the poop. Ours is pretty solid. They get a mixture of stuff, Layena, Starter, Grower/Finisher, cracked corn and scratch grains. Pretty solid stuff comes out, like a chickens. Plus they wander where they want.