Potentially Getting Some Turkeys - Questions?

[jullom]

We have some laying chickens and have had for a while. I have a neighbor that has 7 midget white turkeys and she is nearing retirement and wants to get rid of all of them before a spring vacation. 3 of them are 3 years old and hatched out 4 babies last October. I assume the standard butcher time is 22 weeks give or take a few?? What about the older birds, I, again, assume turkeys are like chickens and that old will only be good for soup if butchered?? She is willing to get rid of all 7 for $100, seems like a great deal. Also, do i need to cover the top of the run for turkeys? Can i clip their wings? I don't cover our chickens run...Your thoughts?

 

[houndit]

Quote:
We have butchered toms that are a couple years old. They are still excellent. You can clip their wings. It might be easier to cover the run though. Sometimes even if their wings are clipped they still get out. How high is your run fence?

 

[jullom]

I don't have a run yet for the turkeys - our chicken run is only 3' - if i cover the turkeys i'd obvioulsy go with something higher and try to cover it...so, you are saying try the 3 yr old tom, eh!! I don't have room in our current chicken coop for these turkeys so i'll probably make a makeshift coop for the turkeys for the time being...

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

Yea, I clipped my RP hens wings because she kept flying out and the tom wouldn't. i have a 5 foot fence enclosure connected to their coop. I clipped her wings the first time and she still got out so I caught ther again and clipped them real close this time and she can't fly out but she can get on their 3ft-4ft roost pole with no problem. I think she kinda jumps. So yest they would get out of a 3 ft pen. I would build a higher one and still clip their wings! Hope this helps!