should i get turkeys?

[Berd Man]

I’m fairly new to keeping turkeys. I hatched out ten poults this spring and so far I really like having them. I definitely imprinted on them and spent time handling them daily. The things other people have said are accurate as it pertains to the imprinted jakes/toms… be cautious with them. Some of mine are semi-tolerable others are definitely untrustworthy and possibly dangerous to people/kids.

The hens that are hand raised are very sweet and still sit with me when I go out and call them. I took an older hen in from somewhere else and I expected her to be a bit shy and standoffish but after about a week integration she’s approaching and eating from the hand and able to be pet, same as the hens I hatched myself.

I don’t think you’d regret getting a few older hens, but if you can get poults and raise them from when they’re babies I think you’ll really enjoy it good luck!

 

[Goose08]

should I get some "pet"-like turkeys this spring? and if yes do they get along well with chickens if I were to raise them with chicks next spring?

I’ve been raising bbw (broad breasted white) and bbb (broad breasted bronze) turkeys for years now as pets, and their my everything. After a bobcat attack when a lot of our poultry was killed, we were left with 2 turkeys. Their names are goose and pokey. goose is a bbw Tom and pokey is a bbb hen. The only downsides are that they require space, and you need to have time to maintain a good diet for the turkeys. I feed them 1-2 large handfuls for both. There are also lots of pros. The eggs are acctually quite tasty, and large. We only get one a week though. And when a hen is laying, I recommend keeping the Tom separated as some times they’ll eat the eggs. If you do, I recommend getting babies. They grow to be incredibly sweet. I always hand raise the babies, and I’ve never been attacked by any of my turkeys. I’m always followed around by the little guys, and they’re always waiting for me to come outside. One concern is the chickens and turkeys. Our bbb hen is very moody, and has gotten into fights with our bantam rooster. But I do recommend getting them, as they’re a great new addition to flocks!

I also recommend getting heritage, not bbb or bbw as those are near birds and can have a lot of heart problems, and their legs can break if they get too heavy.

 

[chickenlover0805]

I’ve been raising bbw (broad breasted white) and bbb (broad breasted bronze) turkeys for years now as pets, and their my everything. After a bobcat attack when a lot of our poultry was killed, we were left with 2 turkeys. Their names are goose and pokey. goose is a bbw Tom and pokey is a bbb hen. The only downsides are that they require space, and you need to have time to maintain a good diet for the turkeys. I feed them 1-2 large handfuls for both. There are also lots of pros. The eggs are acctually quite tasty, and large. We only get one a week though. And when a hen is laying, I recommend keeping the Tom separated as some times they’ll eat the eggs. If you do, I recommend getting babies. They grow to be incredibly sweet. I always hand raise the babies, and I’ve never been attacked by any of my turkeys. I’m always followed around by the little guys, and they’re always waiting for me to come outside. One concern is the chickens and turkeys. Our bbb hen is very moody, and has gotten into fights with our bantam rooster. But I do recommend getting them, as they’re a great new addition to flocks!

I also recommend getting hybrids, not bbb or bbw as those are near birds and can have a lot of heart problems, and their legs can break if they get too heavy.

Your turkeys look so cute!

 

[R2elk]

I also recommend getting hybrids

I asume you mean heritage turkeys.

 

[Goose08]

I asume you mean heritage turkeys.

Yes lol, sorry about that

 

[Goose08]

Your turkeys look so cute!

Thank you!!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

We have some experience with broad breasted Bronze turkeys. This was when we had too many chickens running loose and struggled to contain them, 4ish yrs ago. There were an equal number of guys and gals. We were raising them for processing. The chickens kept to themselves and so did the turkeys. The alpha Tom would walk his women around on display for the beta Toms to look.. but don't touch.
The least desirable experience raising them was that the Toms were hard to train to not to charge at humans. We weren't scared of them but aware to say the least. I do miss the Toms yelling out loud.
We will do it again someday. It was nice having a freezer full of all natural turkey. It was sad to see the last one leave the freezer.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

always had good temperments with BRs only one BR male was the son of satan lol.. (guess who got eaten first) Recently tried the white turkeys with the black band on their tail feathers were really sweet too. For the BR males you don't have to do anything, they were just sweet curious and interactive by nature.

They do make exceptional property guards like dogs. My group of male BRs led by our keeper turkey "toe" marched down our driveway and went across the road to go after a man who had stopped looking at some road equiptment for sale. All I saw up at the house was a man runing and jumping around that equptment. I realized it might be toe down there. I picked toe up in my arms and said sorry to the man. Toe was growling at the man lol.. I miss him dearly.

If you get turkeys I like the males as they more interactive directly with you . you can play turkey bingo with them. lol.. a group of boys play easily, but girls wont play. Have your Bingo cards and markers. Call out the numbers and if the turkeys gobble and you have the number on your card you mark it. If the turkeys don't respond you do't mark that number. If you get a meany it's not fun, you should eat it.. The rest of the are just so much fun to have.