New to turkeys..a few questions

[kovet]

What breed is best for meat?
At what age do you slaughter them?
If I let them free-range during the day, will they fly away? (I have a half acre fenced in with 6ft fence)
While free-ranging, will hawks attack them?
How much room in a coop do I need for each turkey?

 

[Vamvakas]

Not big into turkeys cause 70% of them always dies when there young (atleast for me), when 1 is sick chances are most will get sick. Get the white turkeys there good for meat. Hawks will only attack an young turkey but once there like over 10 lbs they wont, hawks are scared of big turkeys.

 

[jasonm11]

What breed is best for meat? for meat only broad breasted white or bronze
At what age do you slaughter them? 4 to 6 months
If I let them free-range during the day, will they fly away? (I have a half acre fenced in with 6ft fence) once they get big enough to free range they wil stay close to the feeder after 4 months they cant fly
While free-ranging, will hawks attack them? possibly but not after about 3 months of age, they get big quick
How much room in a coop do I need for each turkey? 5 ftt or so but they are fine to let stay outside at night if the yard if fenced for predators.

 

[Oregon Blues]

If your only criteria is meat, get the Broad Breasted White. They grow fast and you can butcher young and they have large breast meat.

Hawks are capable of bothering them when they are small. Whether they will or not depends upon a lot of factors. Not so much when they are grown. But just about every other type of predator can kill them.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

What breed is best for meat?
At what age do you slaughter them?
If I let them free-range during the day, will they fly away? (I have a half acre fenced in with 6ft fence)
While free-ranging, will hawks attack them?
How much room in a coop do I need for each turkey?

1. Most turkey breeds are fine for meat. Broad Breasted's (white or bronze) are the biggest and quickest growing. They also don't fly very much. The Midget White is good if you want a bit smaller of a bird.

2. You can slaughter them anytime you feel they will make a good meal. I did my BBB's at about 5 months old.

3. As long as they know "home" ie where the coop is, and are used to it they will not fly away... mine free-range every evening and I've never lost one.

4. Only when young, but other predators like Coyotes will go for them

5. I have a 8' x 8' and that was good for about 4 or 5 full grown BBB's. My new coop will be 8' x 16' for 15 heritage turkeys. (which are a bit smaller, more like wild turkeys, and can fly better)...

Hope that helped!