Starting off with a hen....nervous!

[KOTurkeyRanch]

What will they eat? Turkeys need high protein so it worries me that grass and bugs wont be good enough. Also, i raise my turkeys and chickens together (2 gobblers, 1 hen, 1 rooster, 2 chicken hens). They pose threats so i dont know how i can seperate them. When do they start to roost? Will my hen sit on the poults to keep them warm at night, if not, how could i keep them warm? Do most hens step on some poults? Tell me everything about what you do and what your hen does.

 

[ziggywiggy]

First, you have to seperate the hen and poults from the rest of your flock. Everything will try and kill the poults. Plus, the hens are very nervious and if there is a lot of activity she will step on the poults.
The hen will eat the game bird or turkey starter and after setting for 28 days she can use the extra protien. You can mix her regular feed with it.
She will keep the poults warm. No worries there. Try not to be more of a mother than your hen. Just leave her alone and keep her as isolated as possible-she'll know what to do.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Ziggy is very right there. Turkeys have been doing the whole sitting/raising thing longer than we have and most hens do it very well.

Steve

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

i have a divider in my barn so i think it should be good. The only thing that worries me is the there are spots that the chickens can fly into so they could pose a threat. ill have to make my dad fix that lol