New to turkeys

[okiemama]

Hi all,
I have 2 Bourbon Red Hens and 1 Tom. They are in a portable tractor that I move a few times a day. I also have water in there, and feed them grain everyday plus, bread and veggie scraps from the local market. How does this sound so far?

I want so bad to raise up babies but am not sure what to do. Should I incubate the eggs or should I just leave them in the nestbox and hope the hens get broody? I tried incubating one round of eggs but none of them hatched. I am thinking it was because the trio was young and maybe the eggs weren't fertile yet (?). I was also told by someone else to just leave the eggs in the nesting area and one of the hens should get broody and sit on them. Any ideas or suggestions for this new turkey breeder would be great!

Thanks,
Kim
http://okieranchlife.blogspot.com/

 

[Komaki]

I'm sorry I can't help with turkey, I just the other day put 6 in the incubator. BUT! Chickens I know. I may be wrong but I'm not sure they are all that much different. Some real smart/intellegent people will help shortly. But I wanted to say hi.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Adult turkeys should be on about a 20% protien layer diet. They require more protien than chickens. They are a gamebird. The gamebird or turkey layer will also have enough Ca so the eggs will be strong enough for a turkey to sit on without cracking. I would let one of them sit the eggs but you can't move her everyday.