Turkenstein25's Turkey Talk for 2015

[Bush84]

I don't know when exactly a TOM gets too old...LOL.  Our oldest boy is Clyde.  He is a 5 year old Rio Grande and still does his duty.  I have heard that some breeders will only use a Tom for 1 or 2 seasons, then retire him (u can decide how to define "retirement") and start the 3rd season with new boy.  The reason is that the Toms get big and pretty heavy by the end of year 2 and they don't want their hens damaged.  This is our Heritage Bronze boy's 2nd Spring and he is getting to the 30 lb mark, so we will have to decide if we will "retire" him or not.  As for replacements,,one of his sons.  But if we didn't have extra males here..we'd look for a breeder and buy one that way.

At what point does genetic diversity become a consideration? Would simply replacing a tom with one of his sons bring issues with inbreeding?

 

[feedman77]

At what point does genetic diversity become a consideration? Would simply replacing a tom with one of his sons bring issues with inbreeding?

It really isn't inbreeding its called line breeding. Some breeders use this for developing certain traits. If you search line breeding in the search bar there is numerous threads on this.

 

[Peepers4Piper]

In your situation (first chickens on the property, not a known problem in the area), I'd guess there's little risk of blackhead. We were in a similar position last year. We had a flock of over 14 chickens that were all about 6 months old. We ordered turkeys and guineas, which we brooded in the chicken coop and still house them all together. Turkeys and guineas are 8 months old now and haven't had any problems with disease.

Thx SoProlix! Good to know. Those pics are great! I'd love to be able to let them range together but I think I'm going to wait for a while till I get my feet wet. Question...Is it hard to keep the guineas contained? A friend of mine called me back before Christmas and was telling me about these strange looking birds that just showed up on her property. She said they were staring in her sliding glass door at her making this really loud noise. I asked her if they were black with white spots...sure enough! She was a little disconcerted with them watching her every move.

 

[SoProlix]

Thx SoProlix! Good to know. Those pics are great! I'd love to be able to let them range together but I think I'm going to wait for a while till I get my feet wet. Question...Is it hard to keep the guineas contained? A friend of mine called me back before Christmas and was telling me about these strange looking birds that just showed up on her property. She said they were staring in her sliding glass door at her making this really loud noise. I asked her if they were black with white spots...sure enough! She was a little disconcerted with them watching her every move.

Ha ha, that's a great story. Guineas sure can be loud.

I honestly don't try to keep them contained. As I mentioned, we brooded them in the coop with the chickens. I was hoping that would imprint that place on them. It was only partially successful. None of them roost with the chickens and turkeys in the actual coop area, but most of them roost under the roof next to it. We may enclose the rest of that area, so they would have as much protection as the rest of the birds, but we haven't had any problems so far. During the day they definitely like to range further than the other birds, but they all stay pretty close together and don't usually leave our property. *knock on wood*

 

[Bush84]

So here's a question that i don't feel warrants its own topic. So this works. What are advantages of turkeys? I'm looking for anything to convince my wife that she wants turkeys.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

So here's a question that i don't feel warrants its own topic. So this works. What are advantages of turkeys? I'm looking for anything to convince my wife that she wants turkeys.

Well, they are friendly, if you want them for meat, you get meat.

 

[Bush84]

I want a sustainable source of turkey that I can use for meat. Now my wife on the other hand wants nothing to do with them and doesn't care to butcher or the idea. I am hoping that turkeys do something like eat a ton of mice or ticks. That'd be good ammunition

 

[Book Em Danno25]

LOL ok... look in the Reviews forum and look in the turkeys section. maybe a few reviews will help you make your decision!!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Hello! I think we might be getting turkeys this year! We were going to get pigs--but their availability this year is low. Thus, we should be getting turkeys!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

So here's a question that i don't feel warrants its own topic. So this works. What are advantages of turkeys? I'm looking for anything to convince my wife that she wants turkeys.

My husband feels sort of the same way about my turkeys that your wife feels about yours. He was against the idea until a mutual friend got excited about the idea of us raising them together...I guess he could say no to me but not to both of us. Anyway, when we ate our first home grown turkey (a Royal Palm...purchased from someone who said they were BBW) it was so incredibly tasty and moist that my husband groaned "I guess that means we'll be raising turkeys again next year!" Our compromise is that I only purchase them in the spring and butcher them before Thanksgiving, not keep them through the winter for breeding. I'd really, really like to save a few for breeding purposes, but for now at least, this is the deal I've made. I raised Bourbon Reds last summer. This year I'm trying Narragansets.