New pet turkey... I hope?

[johnsonfarm]

Hi, completely new to turkeys here, wondering if anyone has experiences of keeping a white "meat" type turkey as a pet instead of dinner?

Quick background, neighbors gave us two chicks and a poult yesterday (moving and cant keep them). They are 5 weeks old, kept together in a rubbermaid brooder with a heat lamp. 22% starter crumble, which I realize is a little low for a turkey. They were purchased from Tractor Supply so I believe the turkey is a white farm breed. We don't plan to eat it, just keep it around as a pet. But I have heard they dont live as long due to their size? Will feeding a lower protein help with that?
Also, I started reading about blackhead, so I'll check if it's in our area (northern Wisconsin). But it gets lonely without its chick buddies, so for now, indoors, I'd like to keep them together.

Has anyone else kept one for any length of time? Experiences?

 

[R2elk]

Hi, completely new to turkeys here, wondering if anyone has experiences of keeping a white "meat" type turkey as a pet instead of dinner?

Quick background, neighbors gave us two chicks and a poult yesterday (moving and cant keep them). They are 5 weeks old, kept together in a rubbermaid brooder with a heat lamp. 22% starter crumble, which I realize is a little low for a turkey. They were purchased from Tractor Supply so I believe the turkey is a white farm breed. We don't plan to eat it, just keep it around as a pet. But I have heard they dont live as long due to their size? Will feeding a lower protein help with that?
Also, I started reading about blackhead, so I'll check if it's in our area (northern Wisconsin). But it gets lonely without its chick buddies, so for now, indoors, I'd like to keep them together.

Has anyone else kept one for any length of time? Experiences?

It isn't a good idea to keep a bird designed for market by 6 months old.

It isn't helping that you are not feeding it appropriate turkey starter feed. The problem is that the not turkey or game bird feed does not have the appropriate levels of lysine, methionine and niacin that turkey poults need. This is in addition to not having enough protein also. The high growth rates of poults need the nutrients and protein in a proper turkey or game bird starter.

In particular feeding a poult improperly can cause the development of leg issues specifically related to insufficient amounts of niacin and thiamine.

It is also a very bad idea to raise a lone poult with chicks. The impriinting causes the poult to not be able to understand that there is a difference between turkeys and chickens. The size difference of an adult turkey can cause harm to you chickens once the turkey is an adult.