Narragansett turkeys NEED TURKEY EXPERT!!

[ConnerClucks]

Ok we are new to turkeys. We purchased three seemingly healthy 14 month old Narragansetts about 2 weeks ago.

They are not friendly in the least so we have had to leave them in their coop.
The coop has ample space as well as a roosting bar and a large elevated nest box the coop has straw in it as bedding.
The problem comes with food. The first three days they ate nothing....it was then that we determined that they had only been eating cracked corn (obviously we should have asked more questions when we purchased them)
So now we are giving them cracked corn mixed in with their turkey crumbles. They pretty much only pick the corn out and leave the crumbles. I have also tried giving them hard boiled eggs that I have chopped up with no luck.
I would prefer to just let them free range in our pasture with the rest of our chickens, I am concerned that we would never see them again if we did that.

Do turkeys go back to their coop at night like chickens do??
I am at a loss they just don't seem to be eating well at all they are drinking water. I don't see any obvious signs of sickness until today when I noticed the tom has feathers missing in the breast area.
HELP I need turkey expert advise!!!!
Who knew turkeys were so much harder to deal with than any other animal we have here.
Also our two hens are not laying, shouldn't they be?

 

[EEBLACKCOPPERMARAN]

I free ranged my Narragansetts for a while and they did great. But they probably need to get used to where they live and know that they need to go into the coop at night. Good luck!

 

[Lagerdogger]

The stress of relocation may explain some of your issues, especially the hens not laying. You say they are not friendly. That is characteristic of birds that have been raised by their parents instead of by humans hand, and also characteristic of birds that didn't receive much attention.
If they are used to living outside and are now in a coop, that might also cause problems, especially the loss of breast feathers. They just sound really unhappy.

If you feed them corn in teh feeder with their crumbles, and then quit on the corn, they ought to figure that out.

I wouldn't let them free range without a fence. I think they will just depart. But they aren't happ in a coop. Can you make a small enclosure, something like 50 ft on a side so they get the feel of being free but can't run away. If you do this, clip a wing on each bird.

Turkeys are great fun and friendly pets if you start with day old poults and handle them a lot. Don't get discouraged form this first experience of buying someone else's adult birds.

You may just want to eat these two and start all over again.

Good Luck and stick with it

 

[ivan3]

Try some canned corn (is moist) spread on their feed (what kind of feed?), the crumbles will stick to the kernels of corn and they'll at least start getting some regular rations.

Just to reemphasize what Lagerdogger said. These guys arrived from owners who either didn't care or didn't know better than to feed only cracked corn (what else didn't they do?).

Keep these turks quarantined from your other birds for at least thirty days. I'd worm `em as well (Safeguard wormer is a good all-around option).

Just pull up a chair and sit in run with a bottle full of live moths (collect them the night before). Just hold the fluttering things out, between your fingers and, eventually, you'll get some bites. These guys get set in their ways early and it takes a while to adjust.

 

[ConnerClucks]

Thanks for the help we will just keep working with them! I guess live and learn we have always said we would never buy full grown chickens, and I feel like we should have followed the same rule for turkeys. Here is hoping these three will cooperate long enough to lay some fertile eggs!