Should I get all males?

[Country Parson]

I notice that Ideal will sex turkey poults (at least for the Broad Breasted). Since we are planning to raise turkeys purely for meat, would there be any issues with getting just male? My thought is that without females I won't have many aggression/fighting issues.

 

[Olive Hill]

Your reasoning is misguided, but no, there's no problem with getting all males.

 

[Country Parson]

Help me understand where my reasoning is faulty....lest I make some future mistake.

 

[Olive Hill]

I can't really see where it would lead to any mistake in the future, but 1) all males will not eliminate fighting in mature male turkeys. If they want to fight, they will fight, regardless of the presence or lack thereof of females. And 2) in your case it doesn't really matter because they'll be in the freezer before they're sexually mature and mating season comes around again anyway.

If you want a reason to get all males, they do tend to get bigger. And for your uses, that's not a bad thing.

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Your reasoning is misguided, but no, there's no problem with getting all males.

He said hes getting them for purely meat. Meaning he doesnt want eggs, so he could get all males.​

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
He said hes getting them for purely meat. Meaning he doesnt want eggs, so he could get all males. Your response was misguided.

Did you read the thread?

 

[Frosty]

I agree with Olive Hill, the first year you won't see aggression and fighting. And even if you keep them until the second year, by then they can't really move around enough to get into serious fights. So it pretty much comes down to if you want all of your birds uniform in size.

 

[ShadyHoller]

For those who say the males don't fight during their first year: that hasn't been my experience. Our BRs were getting pretty hostile to each other by the time they were 5 months old. Ultimately, none of them were really worse for the wear, and they all made it to slaughter on schedule, but that doesn't mean they were sweet to each other. A couple of them got pretty severely beaten.

Broad breasted birds might be different. I know nothing about them.

Also, do hatcheries sell turkeys sexed? When we started our flock, the birds were only available straight-run.

 

[Country Parson]

Ideal's website says they sex the BBs, but I didn't see this option for any of the heritage birds. I was surprise that they sexed the BBs, since they are the only hatchery I've seen offer this.

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
BBs are ready for the freezer before they begin to reach sexual maturity.

Also note that sexual maturity and "first year" are not one and the same.