Questions about turkeys

[pkw]

I am wanting to get a few turkeys if I can get my husband talked into letting me get some. I wanted to ask some questions.

Question 1 . How is turkeys personalities compared to geese? Do the toms get mean like ganders?

Question 2. I am not sure if I want to get royal palms, blue slate or White Broad Breasted. I would like to let my turkeys be with my chickens and not have them flying off out of our yard. We have a problem with stray dogs, coyotes and neighbors that likes using their guns. I can get the breeds I listed from an acquaintance of mine. Those are the breeds they have.

Question 3. Help me with something I can try to get my husband talked into concerning turkeys.

He used to let me have pygmy goats, ducks, geese and of course chickens. We bought a house and moved to an area that wasn't zoned for all of those. Unfortuately we had to move and now are back to the original property. He told me to get some more chickens. I gladly did but he wouldn't let me get ducks because according to him there is nothing productive about ducks. I had many things good to say about ducks but no go.

Now I am wanting to get a few turkeys but he thinks they will cost us too much more in feed.

 

[mbnewby]

the question is do you want them for meat or pets or want to be able breed and raise for for renewable meat

if just meat go with broad breasted white

for pets and renewable meat go heritage turkey royal palms, blue slate or any other heritage bread some toms can get mean

 

[Jake Levi]

Most Toms are very amenable, some downright personable, the rare one mean, they go in the freezer, you can tell them easily as they grow, its just a matter of growing them out and into the freezer, generally they are much better then ganders.

I have had some Toms that would follow me all over and talking away, giving them treats helps, and correcting bad behavior works , as with any animal. Even ganders. Biggest problem I have had with my Toms was turning around and tripping over one.

Temperament is highly heritable, in all animals and birds, it has one of the highest breeding coefficients of all traits. Bad temperament breeds bad temperament, mellow temperament produces nice to be around livestock, all kinds.

Hens are much the same, some are touchy and protective on nests or with poults, but get over it.

Jake

 

[ColbyNTX]

The broad brested are just for meat and would need to be butchered by the end of this year. All of the heritage breeds would make great pets but will roam and you can't keep them in the yard unless you have a 10' fence or a top. Turkeys for the most part are very personible and follow me around like dogs and eat out of my hand. Toms can be mean but those get eaten. All of my toms are very friendly even with my 3 year old son. He will like the turkeys better than geese as pets and the eggs and poults are easy to sell and the adults are great to eat. You won't make money off of them but they will produce enough to pay for some food.

 

[ccrawf]

I'd have to agree with every one. I've only had one mean Tom and I sold him.
All my birds follow me around, and will eat out of my hand. Go out the door and holler and they all come running. The love leftovers.

I keep my turkeys and chickens together, but some people don't. And mine tend to stay in the pens better than my chickens.
When they get older you can clip the feathers on one wing to keep them from flying, but then they also loose the ability to fly away from predators, so you have to protect them more.

Any heritage breed should be good, the difference is mostly in the color. I'd recommend poults and raise them yourself. They'll get to know you better that way. And as long as you have a pair, they should breed next year.

Good luck.

 

[Hillsvale]

My blue slate toms follow me everywhere... love the tom turkeys. When they were younger they would be on the wrong side of the fence... even across the road on occassion but always came back, the eastern wild when to a neighbour past our site line and needed to be retrieved... they could care less as long as someone feeds them!

BB White like commercial chickens are obscene and grow at a hideous rate but taste great! They are not just for eating as some people I know have several hens laying eggs so they purchased a royal tom from me to breed to them... can't wait to see what they come up with!

One of my two african grey ganders is booked for slaughter in May... he's a hateful what not and their bites hurt like no other bite!

 

[Shifty Joe]

I've got a suggestion for getting your DH onboard, being that I am one myself.

First, turkeys are a really really good meat bird, there is a reason they are used as a center piece for large family meals. Besides the traditional oven cooked turkey, you also have the option of making which includes making turkey sausage.. which can be as tasty as pork and much better for you. Finding out recipies on how to make turkey sausage gave me a good push... you have to have something to go with those eggs you get from the chickens after all.

Second... turkey and turkey eggs sell much better than chickens. Chances are you can sell fertile eggs for $4-$5 each, poults for $8-10, and a holiday turkey for $7+ an pound. If played right you could have the turkeys actually pay for themselves...ish, which is more than my chickens pull off. Even if it's doesn't play out, the idea of it make a DH much more accepting.

And you can always fall back on the old "wow, your right... that is a big chicken egg. Let's hatch it"...

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
Or even... wow that is a big funny looking chicken isn't it!

Or... geez who dropped that off, people should be ashamed...

But SJ's right ... appeal to the belly, works on my Simon every time (not that I consult him on these things very often.. thereby the two pregnant sheep, ram lamb and 4 goats purchased within the last 2 months

... oh and the doeling this weekend... and the 2 coming end of May...)!

Sneak them in... he'll never notice.

 

[pkw]

Quote:
I agree with you there. I had some ganders and geese back in 2002 and I got bit by the ganders and indeed they hurt bad. My geese (I think that is what the females are called) were so nice unless they were broody. My ganders were mean to me and my family, our chickens and our ducks. The only creatures we had that they were afraid of was our pygmy goats and the pygmy goats were really quite friendly

 

[pkw]

Quote:
Or even... wow that is a big funny looking chicken isn't it!

Or... geez who dropped that off, people should be ashamed...

But SJ's right ... appeal to the belly, works on my Simon every time (not that I consult him on these things very often.. thereby the two pregnant sheep, ram lamb and 4 goats purchased within the last 2 months

... oh and the doeling this weekend... and the 2 coming end of May...)!

Sneak them in... he'll never notice.

I told my husband yesterday I knew someone who has some giant sized turkens and he was okay with that. I guess I could get them and say well I guess they must have said turkeys

I even told him we could sell off half of the chickens and have our own fresh turkeys for thanksgiving. I have an acquaintance that I can get some from in 2 weeks. They have royal palms, blue slates and bbw. This acquaintance told me if I could get a runt bbw tom then it is possible for them to breed.

I want meat but I also don't want my turkeys to end up at my neighbors because they are gun happy.


**Thanks everyone for replying.