Topic of the Week - Getting started, keeping turkeys

[R2elk]

What is the main reason for keeping turkeys?

I started keeping turkeys for grasshopper control. They have also done an excellent job keeping the property free of snakes.

In my opinion they are a great pleasure to have around. It is as easy for people to become attached to turkeys as it is for turkeys to become attached to people.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I have 10 chickens and have just started looking into turkeys. We've always kind of wanted one, but we always thought it was super complicated. But then we got chickens, and realized they were easy to raise. So now I'm checking out turkeys and growing more and more excited for some turkeys for next year. But I have some questions, and I'm very glad this thread was made.

1. Can you just have one male, no other turkeys at all, or will they get sad/lonely? (as a pet)
2. Are Royal Palm Turkeys a heritage breed? One that will live a while?
3. Can turkeys free range?
4. What predators would harm a turkey?
5. When both chickens and turkeys are grown up, can they be out free ranging together, and would this help if the turkey gets lonely? (If I were to get only one male)
6. Can poults be raised alone? Can you only raise one at a time?
7. If you have experience with chickens, could it make turkey raising slightly easier?
8. Are turkeys harder to raise than chickens? If so, in what ways?
9. What are the names for male, female, baby, juvenile, etc. (Anything I should know about calling turkeys?
10. Is there anything you would like to tell me for advice, or tips?
11. How long does it take a turkey to be fully matured or grown?
12. Can I have 2 boys if there were no girls at all, like they would be brothers?

If you haven't figured out from my list of questions, I just really want one male since it would be a pet, and the males are just so much prettier. Also, I would try to get a Royal Palm Turkey.

Sorry if these questions were stupid, I haven't even had my chickens for a full year but I've fallen in love with poultry! (But turkeys and chickens will be the only birds I would keep.)

 

[R2elk]

I have 10 chickens and have just started looking into turkeys. We've always kind of wanted one, but we always thought it was super complicated. But then we got chickens, and realized they were easy to raise. So now I'm checking out turkeys and growing more and more excited for some turkeys for next year. But I have some questions, and I'm very glad this thread was made.

1. Can you just have one male, no other turkeys at all, or will they get sad/lonely? (as a pet)
2. Are Royal Palm Turkeys a heritage breed? One that will live a while?
3. Can turkeys free range?
4. What predators would harm a turkey?
5. When both chickens and turkeys are grown up, can they be out free ranging together, and would this help if the turkey gets lonely? (If I were to get only one male)
6. Can poults be raised alone? Can you only raise one at a time?
7. If you have experience with chickens, could it make turkey raising slightly easier?
8. Are turkeys harder to raise than chickens? If so, in what ways?
9. What are the names for male, female, baby, juvenile, etc. (Anything I should know about calling turkeys?
10. Is there anything you would like to tell me for advice, or tips?
11. How long does it take a turkey to be fully matured or grown?
12. Can I have 2 boys if there were no girls at all, like they would be brothers?

If you haven't figured out from my list of questions, I just really want one male since it would be a pet, and the males are just so much prettier. Also, I would try to get a Royal Palm Turkey.

Sorry if these questions were stupid, I haven't even had my chickens for a full year but I've fallen in love with poultry! (But turkeys and chickens will be the only birds I would keep.)

1. Turkeys are a flock bird and very social. You should not have a lone turkey tom around chickens. When breeding season comes the tom is going to try to breed something which is very likely to end in flat chickens. If you feel you must have a lone turkey as a pet, get a hen or better get two hens.

2. Royal palms are a heritage variety and can live long full lives. Royal Palms are a smaller turkey and are very capable flyers.

3. My turkeys get to free range except during laying season so that I have have to search for their nests.

4. It depends on the age of the turkey. All young turkeys are susceptible to all the same predators that chickens are. As they grow up they are still susceptible to the larger predators. I have lost more turkeys to other people's dogs than to any other predator.

5. My turkeys free range with my chickens. (See #1)

6. The fewer poults that you try to raise at a time, the harder it will be to keep them alive. Poults do good in larger groups.

7. As long as you realize that turkeys are not chickens and treat them properly including giving them the proper food and care having previous knowledge about poultry can be helpful.

8. Once turkeys are out of their early fragile stages they can be raised easily. It is just getting them through their early fragile stage that can be difficult.

9. Newly hatched turkeys are poults. Yearling males can be referred to as jakes. Yearling females can be referred to as jennies. Adult males are toms unless you live in a part of the world where they are referred with different terms. Adult females are hens.

10. Unless you are getting sex linked poults, there is no guaranteed way to choose the sex of a poult other than one particular company that has bred into their commercial turkeys the ability to be feather sexed as poults.

11. Turkeys can be sexually mature by the time they are 6 months old although there are reports of sexually mature birds at 5 months old. Heritage varieties can take 18 months to 2 years to attain full physical maturity.

12. Having 2 toms of equal abilities may see them getting along fine until breeding season at which time the fights for dominance are likely to start and continue endlessly since there will not be one that can clearly demonstrate its dominance over the other.

Of course if you are in an area that has blackhead, adding turkeys to your flock of chickens will likely be sentencing those turkeys to death.

I strongly urge you to forget about bringing a single male turkey into a flock of chickens. The most likely results will be heartbreak for you when the turkey dies or when the turkey starts killing your chickens.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

8. Once turkeys are out of their early fragile stages they can be raised easily. It is just getting them through their early fragile stage that can be difficult.

10. Unless you are getting sex linked poults, there is no guaranteed way to choose the sex of a poult other than one particular company that has bred into their commercial turkeys the ability to be feather sexed as poults.

12. Having 2 toms of equal abilities may see them getting along fine until breeding season at which time the fights for dominance are likely to start and continue endlessly since there will not be one that can clearly demonstrate its dominance over the other.

How long is it until they are out of their fragile stage?

What is this place that has feather sexed turkeys? Are they meat birds or heritage? Also what types of sex linked? Are they pet breeds?

Well, if I can't have just toms, how many hens would I need for one boy?

 

[ChickenGirl555]

Well, @R2elk , now my big question is how much space do they need for 2 hens? Or could I have 3 hens and 1 tom? If it takes up too much room, I don't know if we'll be up for building something that big. Also, are ventilation and housing rules the same as chickens? (I'm guessing bigger since they are not as small as chickens)

What do I need to know about roosts, and what do they need in their coop, or whatever it's called.

We have 3 acres of land, and I'm going to check my laws about turkeys tonight but I'm pretty sure we can have them, since we live in a pretty rural area. I have 3 acres, and the chicken law here is 20 chickens per acre, and I only have 10. We have no rooster laws, but is there such a thing as tom laws?

(I'm sorry if all of this is pretty annoying)

I would get them next Spring anyways, so I have all year to decide, but I want to know if I should start building something if I really do want turkeys.

 

[R2elk]

How long is it until they are out of their fragile stage?

What is this place that has feather sexed turkeys? Are they meat birds or heritage? Also what types of sex linked? Are they pet breeds?

Well, if I can't have just toms, how many hens would I need for one boy?

I think that after they are 6 weeks old they are getting pretty hardy.

Apparently the company offering the sexed poults has discontinued that policy as they no longer show sexed poults on their site.

They offer broad breasted turkeys and varieties that are in between broad breasted and heritage turkeys. They do no list the minimum quantities that they will ship.

http://www.valleyofthemoonturkeys.com/products.html

There is only on breed and that is turkey. Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys used to show a disclaimer because of a Federal law that prevents them from shipping turkeys as pets so when buyers answered the question that the turkeys would be pets, they would not sell the poults to them. It has to do with a Federal law about buying pets unseen that causes certain liabilities to the vendor that they did not want to deal with.

I try to keep at least 4 to 5 hens for one tom.

I recommend a minimum of 10 sq. ft. of clear space per adult turkey in a coop. I also recommend at the barest minimum 20 sq. ft. per turkey in an attached run with 100 sq. ft. per turkey being far more appropriate.

Heritage turkeys do like to roost and I provide roosts at a staggered height with the upper roost at 6' high.

The sex linked varieties are either Narragansett (n) based or Chocolate (e) based.

These are currently the only sex linked color genes. The toms can have a pair of these color genes (nn) or (ee) while the hens can only have one of the genes (n-) or (e-) and cannot pass these genes on to their daughters but can pass it on to their sons because they are linked to the male chromosome only.

The ones where the poults can be sexed at birth are normally crosses which will not breed true.

You can check out the Turkey Color Calculator at Porter's site trying making different crosses including the Narragansett or Chocolate genes to see the possibilities.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I think that after they are 6 weeks old they are getting pretty hardy.

Apparently the company offering the sexed poults has discontinued that policy as they no longer show sexed poults on their site.

They offer broad breasted turkeys and varieties that are in between broad breasted and heritage turkeys. They do no list the minimum quantities that they will ship.

http://www.valleyofthemoonturkeys.com/products.html

There is only on breed and that is turkey. Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys used to show a disclaimer because of a Federal law that prevents them from shipping turkeys as pets so when buyers answered the question that the turkeys would be pets, they would not sell the poults to them. It has to do with a Federal law about buying pets unseen that causes certain liabilities to the vendor that they did not want to deal with.

I try to keep at least 4 to 5 hens for one tom.

I recommend a minimum of 10 sq. ft. of clear space per adult turkey in a coop. I also recommend at the barest minimum 20 sq. ft. per turkey in an attached run with 100 sq. ft. per turkey being far more appropriate.

Heritage turkeys do like to roost and I provide roosts at a staggered height with the upper roost at 6' high.

The sex linked varieties are either Narragansett (n) based or Chocolate (e) based.

These are currently the only sex linked color genes. The toms can have a pair of these color genes (nn) or (ee) while the hens can only have one of the genes (n-) or (e-) and cannot pass these genes on to their daughters but can pass it on to their sons because they are linked to the male chromosome only.

The ones where the poults can be sexed at birth are normally crosses which will not breed true.

You can check out the Turkey Color Calculator at Porter's site trying making different crosses including the Narragansett or Chocolate genes to see the possibilities.

With the sex-linked turkeys, would Porter's site sell them by gender? Or would I just know when I got them? So what colors would they be for the genders?

Also, could I just get two hens, no toms, and they would be happy? Would they be nicer towards my chickens? I don't plan to have the turkeys live with the chickens, but I mean just for running around the yard free ranging. If I had a rooster, it would be one of my polish chicks, and I'd only have one.

Going back to having just two toms, could I help/prevent the fighting during breeding season problem?

 

[R2elk]

With the sex-linked turkeys, would Porter's site sell them by gender? Or would I just know when I got them? So what colors would they be for the genders?

No Porter will not sell poults by gender. For the last couple of years he has not even sold them by variety but only by assortments and with a minimum purchase of 15 poults.

@memphis has two hen turkeys that get along fine with her chickens and even adopted and raised her 2 new Speckled Sussex chicks.

Going back to having just two toms, could I help/prevent the fighting during breeding season problem?

If you keep two toms (not fair to them to not have hens available during breeding season) and they fight during breeding season, the more you interfere with their fighting, the longer it will take them to work out their differences. The only way to put an end to their fighting is to separate them in such a fashion that they cannot see each other. Of course after breeding season is over and you try to put them back together they will begin a fight for dominance.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

No Porter will not sell poults by gender. For the last couple of years he has not even sold them by variety but only by assortments and with a minimum purchase of 15 poults.

@memphis has two hen turkeys that get along fine with her chickens and even adopted and raised her 2 new Speckled Sussex chicks.


If you keep two toms (not fair to them to not have hens available during breeding season) and they fight during breeding season, the more you interfere with their fighting, the longer it will take them to work out their differences. The only way to put an end to their fighting is to separate them in such a fashion that they cannot see each other. Of course after breeding season is over and you try to put them back together they will begin a fight for dominance.

Well, if I do decide I want to get turkeys, I'm most likely going to want 2-3 girls because of all the problems with toms, even if they are beautiful.

But if I were to get a sex-linked turkey variety, what would I want and what would be a girl and what would be a boy?

 

[R2elk]

Going back to having just two toms, could I help/prevent the fighting during breeding season problem?

But if I were to get a sex-linked turkey variety, what would I want and what would be a girl and what would be a boy?

To make sex linked ones that will make different male and females you want the tom to be of a variety that carries the Narragansett or Chocolate genes. Varieties such as Narragansett, Royal Palm or Chocolate with the proper match will produce hens of their same variety but males that are different. An example is crossing a Royal Palm tom with a Sweetgrass hen will produce Royal palm hens and Sweetgrass toms carrying the hidden recessive Narragansett gene. Crossing a Royal palm tom with Bourbon Red hens will produce Golden Narragansett hens and Red Bronze toms. Crossing a Narragansett tom with a Bronze hen will create Narragansett hens and Bronze toms carrying the hidden recessive Narragansett gene.

Crossing a Chocolate tom with a Black hen will produce Chocolate hens and Black toms carrying a hidden recessive chocolate gene. The female poults will have the same color pattern as the black poults when they hatch but the females will be brown and the blacks will be black.

There are many more possibilities.