Talk to me about turkey predators

[mooman]

I would like rundowns of your predator prevention and personal experiences with lossing turkeys to predators. Include age and size of turckeys as well.

I will be raising 12 bbb turkeys. They will be kept in a secure 64sq ft brooding shed (about 5sqft per bird) untill they get to big

At what age will they outgrow this shed?

The birds will then go into a 1,000sq ft pasture. Pasture will be inclosed in a 6ft fence buried a few inches in the ground.

My worry is they will then be horribly vulnerable to predation. The fence should keep dogs out, but raccons could climb right over no? Are raccons a concern with these birds?

Before anyone suggests it, there is no money left in this years "project" budget for an electric fence (maybe next year).

 

[Struttn1]

A coon is very capable of killing or maiming even an adult turkey and the only way to coon proof your pen is to make sure there are absolutly no holes or cracks anywhere that a coon can squeeze it's head into. They are masters at squeezing those heads through very small openings and if they get their heads through the rest of the body will follow.

 

[jvls1942]

a weasel or a rat can easily kill young turkeys.. and if a rat can get his head through a hole, he can get his whole body through,, and a rat will dig and gnaw his way in..

cats, dogs, hawks, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bear, bobcat, mink...

this is a list of visitors I have had..

 

[mooman]

Will coons climb over fences? I imagine they can. What are your predator defences? Anybody get away without having an electric fence?

 

[sandspoultry]

We have lost young ones to 'possum's before, once they reach full size we haven't lost any to predators. It's another one of those things that it really depends on your area and what's running around. We have black bears in our area and have seen tracks and scat in our driveway and around the turkey areas but they have never been any trouble.

We have 6 foot fence surrounding our turkey areas and that has been good to keep out foxes etc. There are local trappers so I'm sure that does help.

Steve in NC

 

[Plain_View_Farm]

We had raccoons get a half dozen of our birds. Turkeys included.
We ended up running electric fence across the top of our enclosures.
You can get mounting brackets that attach to chain link fencing to do this.
I think the whole thing was under a hundred bucks including the charger, wire and brackets.

David