This is probably a silly question, but: what do you do with a turkey?

[farmerlor]

Ah, turkey questions. My favorite!!!
No, turkeys really don't care where they are when they decide to poo so they will indeed do the deed in your lap if they're there long enough.
Not all males are aggressive. I haven't had a mean Tom yet, wish I could say the same for RIR roos.
Turkeys love to free range and would rather roost in a tree providing they can get there. Some of the males get too big to fly too very high. You just have to be aware of your predator situation. My turks aren't allowed to free range at night because of varmints.
Yes, feed stores sell the food they need to eat and you can also have a mill make you fresh food for them.

 

[InsaneBreeder]

Can turkeys fly over fences? What exactly do they eat?

 

[AVizcaya]

Quote:
That's interesting. So they're very friendly? I don't think that chickens have the "most" lovely and social disposition of all poultry because I have never had any other kinds; so I have nothing to compare them to. Do they eat everything, like chickens? When they are in the garden with you, do they eat your plants. Are the males aggressive or social?

My turkeys eat everything my chickens do but at times my birds have needed to be taught to eat certain things they didn't recognize as food, example, the fallen fruit from our trees. When in the garden with me I MUST keep an eye on them or I wouldn't have a garden to speak of, if I can keep them distracted with bugs/weeds there is less to worry about. My males are only aggressive with one another and the roosters when they are out of line. As for the males being social? To the point of annoyance. My birds free range just about every day of the week and I have to keep my ears open to when they gobble, if it is more than just 2-3 times I know they found a photographer at the wildlife reserve. I stop everything I am doing, go out their and usually have a good conversation with the person on the life of turkeys

as my boys circle and they take pics. Escort the boys back to the field and get back to work. My girls on the other hand keep their distance and "bark" their annoyance and this strangers intrusion.

 

[AVizcaya]

Quote:
When young they can fly over anything. As they grow older and heavier they prefer to land on a fence post or the top of a gate before proceeding over the fence. I have a 5 foot fence on their run that extends above the fence posts, my gate is covered so they can't perch on it, no escapees when I don't want them out. When they were about 4 months old (I had 17) I went outside early one morning and could find even one of them but I could hear them gobbling and clucking... I circled the entire house and property, then I saw the shadow of the house... all 17 on the roof, one by one they flew down and straight back into the run, a good 100ft flight. First and last time that ever happened. So, in short, yes, they fly. lol

I feed mine the same 18% layer feed that my chickens get from my local mill. Scratch. But they mostly eat grass and bugs and very little feed now that they are full grown and free range all day.

Edited to add that when young, the poults need a high protein game bird feed.

 

[AVizcaya]

Quote:
I have never had a poop experience with my turkeys. I try to give my animals as much freedom possible while keeping them safe. They are happiest roosting in the trees that are in their run. When free ranging my turkeys prefer as close to people as possible, sticking close to the house, or the neighbor, or someone passing through. If there aren't any human distraction they wander my 2 acres eating and dust bathing in the sun.

You will get a lot different opinions on keeping 2 males. I say 2 males without a hen would work just fine. If you add a hen to the combination you will probably get a lot more fighting and competing for "mating rights." 2 is a nice number, they like company of their own kind.

 

[InsaneBreeder]

So how high would you say their fence needs to be?

 

[caddyeldorado2006]

if they were hand raised, turkeys are very gentle

 

[patandchickens]

Honestly, I think my turkeys are more interesting "people" than my chickens are. It seems like chickens divide the whole world into "food", "danger", "things to have sex with", and "doesn't apply to me". Turkeys do not have the latter category -- they are interested in EVERYTHING. I dunno as they are necessarily smarter than chickens but they certainly do seem more interested in the totality of the world around them.

I would not personally want a 30 lb tom turkey in my lap. Not even a 15 lb turkey. Maybe that's just me

Yes, dogs will chase and potentially eat them.

Broad-breasted turkeys will not fly over a 4-5' fence, at least once they are full sized (but remember they don't generally live real long or real well, for the same reason as CornishX meat chickens don't)... heritage turkeys are hard to fence in though.

Mine are more outdoorsy than my chickens, and would really really prefer to sleep outside even in fairly unpleasant weather (tho I don't let them, because we are Raccoon Central).

You should try a few turkeys, see how you like them -- I am very glad I did

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Blisschick]

Quote:
It's not the height of the fence, but the clipping of one wing. If they can roost 40 ft. up in a tree, you're definitely not going to be able to build a fence high enough to keep them in.

I have a 4 yr. old blue slate tom that I basically raised by hand. He follows me all over the yard like a quiet old dog, and is the only one that will let me pet him. We do have our moments when he gets grumpy with me when I don't feed him fast enough, or there's a stranger in his territory, but if I just show him a little thin switch, I have the power of the world over him!

 

[InsaneBreeder]

Does clipping their wings make much of a difference? I have clipped all my chickens' wings in the past and that made very little difference, but it might be different for turkeys. I would like to get some turkeys, and I have the financial ability, but convincing the parents that I need a turkey in addition to my chickens, and that I really would still have time for school despite having upwards of 50 birds to care for would be extremely difficult at this point. Maybe in a year or so