Thinking about a turkey or two

[Hopefulloflove]

My hubby and I currently have 20 chickens. We are thinking about having a turkey or two. I wonder, if you raise a turkey, at what age is it best to butcher them? I know that you have to keep Turkey's seperate from chickens, but don't know much more...do they freerange or would you pen them? Any insight would be helpful! Thanks!

 

[Janie1968]

We have raised Broad Breasted Bronze, Midget White and Narragansett turkeys. We harvest our turkeys just before Thanksgiving so they are at their largest weight on Turkey Day. All of our turkeys and chickens are kept together. Knock on wood, I haven't had health issues with my birds. They free range during the day and some of the turkeys roost with the chickens (the pen is locked up at night to keep our birds safe from predators) while the others roost up in the oak trees. All of those birds produced wonderfully tasting meat. I think that it is due to the fact that they get to eat whatever is in the yard as well as their feed. My husband likes to examine their crops on harvest day to see what they were eating... they really like the olives that hang over our fence. Good luck on your new adventure, turkeys are pretty cool animals. Their call is one of my favorite sounds.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

We did Turkeys for the first time this year. We purchased four Poults and raised them in with the chickens, just like the chickens. Other than making sure they get enough protein when little they were really almost exactly the same as taking care of chickens. The go into a coop at night, and penned during the day, when we are home they get to come out and free-range, just the same as the chickens.

We were very pleased! We really REALLY enjoyed them, so much in fact we ordered 15 babies to come this spring!

They have a ton of personality and I love the noises they make! Only thing I noticed was that they eat a LOT. They were very friendly, would call to me when they saw me, followed me around and ate out of my hand. Most people that saw them were scared of them because they're so big, but they aren't scary at all, they're great!

We bought ours in July, worried they wouldn't be big enough, but by Thanksgiving the largest one dressed out at 26 pounds!!!