The Old Folks Home

[Alaskan]

Yeah, i think we will have to run it every day though!

with all of the boys home we have to run the full sized dishwasher at least twice a day, AND scrub stuff.

 

[Latestarter]

From my perspective, what I've witnessed and what I've understood... If you want turkeys, and you have chickens, then get you some turkeys. If you have turkeys and want some chickens, then get some. If you want to keep them together, then do so. I have been to many farms with chickens and turkeys free ranging together and staying in the same coop and run area with no issues whatsoever.

Turkeys "CAN" carry mareks, but it doesn't affect them. Chickens "CAN" carry blackhead, but it doesn't affect them. If you have chickens, and there are wild turkeys about, then your chickens don't carry blackhead. If they did, the wild turkeys would get infected.

Mareks is carried by wild birds, so if there are wild birds where you live, they are as likely to give your chickens mareks as any turkeys you raise.

IMHO, much of the ado that exists regarding many things, is about nothing. If in fact you are unlucky and your turkeys get sick, then you'll know. Start slow.

Just my opinion...

 

[perchie.girl]

View attachment 1188825
Here you go. You might need a magnifier! i think getting up early today has done me in. I am getting giddy!

I been looking at those.... Efficient and no need to install.... They handle a surprisingly lot of dishes.... YOu just do pots and pans by hand because I dont think they would fit.....

deb

 

[Alaskan]

pots and pans should be done by hand anyway.

 

[Beer can]

pots and pans should be done by hand anyway.

DD#2 likes to throw in a couple pots and pans and a giant mixing bowl, cuts down on how long it takes her to load it. Actually making efficient space for more dishes is just too much work....

 

[chickadoodles]

Turkey eggs, like Royal Palm, can sell for $140/dozen this spring. Bronze riddley? sold for $70/dozen. I think they seem to sell well here as well.

On Ebay some were selling turkey eggs for 20.00 each! hahahhaa

 

[chickadoodles]

I think turkeys are much friendlier than chickens.
We raised the BB whites once. Toms were around 50lbs dressed. We should do it again, just cost so darn much for poults. I've thought about getting into breeding them and selling poults locally myself, but not sure if I would care much for doing all the 'work'.
I've often wondered how the growth rate would be with a heritage Holland white Tom over BB white hens, then I could just let them do their own 'thing'.
I don't like cornishX chickens, I'll eat them but don't like raising birds that look/act like they want to die before processing. But I have nothing against raising BB turkeys. They don't seem to have any health problems and get around just fine, just the Tom's get to big to hop up and get 'jiggy with it'
Guy I work with has a friend who lives near Philadelphia, she gets $80 each for them for thanksgiving , organic/free range, they pick them up and she doesn't even process them.

80.00 for organic/freerange is cheap!
I had a local hardware store that got us non gmo feed that I used for my birds.
And it was only 11.00 per bag here. But I did mix a lot of grains to give them to put the weight on them and give them enough protein. Wheat, oats, and other grains mixed. I also grew fodder for them. They do need more protein than chickens do.
I crossed some of my heritage bronze with a bbb hen I had. I had to open the shells as the poults were to large to hatch. But I did get 8 to raise. I enjoyed them so much.
These were my crosses. They could fly and they were larger than the standard bronze but not as large as the bbb.

 

[chickadoodles]

Okay, so what is the truth?

Will keeping turkeys along with chickens protect the chickens from Marek's?

I've read both yes, no, hog wash, maybe...sigh. Makes it hard to know what is fact and what is fiction.

The president of the Buckeye poultry club is the man I bought my Buckeye's from.
He had a mild problem with Mareks. He bought some Black Spanish turkey to raise to free range with his birds to try to help his flock.
Chris McCary you might try to contact him and see if it helped his birds.
He's also on FB. I don't think I have his contact info any longer.
But I think you have such a bad case of it that I I don't know.
He only lost a bird now and then I believe.
I would not recommend penning them up together but they could free range together.
I tried to keep mine penned together and I caught one of my tom's trying to figure out how to breed one of my chicken hens. Some have lost hens to this.

Blackhead is something the turkey do get from being penned with chickens.
Ron is right. Less of a problem if they free range together.

 

[chickadoodles]

Cap I bought one of those counter top dishwashers. But I can't use it.
Our sink and faucet is to small and the connectors won't fit.
Dh does not do pluming so it is in my spare room taking up space till the cow jumps over the moon I guess.

 

[chickadoodles]

If any of you do decide to get some turkey. You might check on the turkey thead's to see who might have some eggs or poult's. There are a lot of folks on those pages that have some great turkey stock that I would buy from. A great variety of breeds also.