Turkey Coop?

[poultry guy]

Hi i'm looking to get some turkeys and i need to build a coop but don't have a good idea of the dimensions i also want to build a run. i want to get rio grande wild turkeys. About 8 of them.

 

[BarneyChick97]

We got turkeys last year for the first time. My husband built a really nice coop, all enclosed, 3 sections, about a 10x10 space each---for ducks/chickens/turkeys. The turkeys stayed in their coop all the time, from about May until the summer. It got a little crowded, plus they just would fight a lot, and there wasn't really anywhere to go. (there were no Toms) The poop was overwhelming, so we started to let them roam the yard. They seemed to go through more food when they were cooped up too. After we let them roam during the day, they ate grass and bugs, and we weren't spending loads of money on feed. It also seemed to help with the aggression issues too. They still would fight occasionally, but it didn't seem as bad. I would recommend a run, or a large fenced in area too if you want to control where they roam. Their poop is really messy (but you can rinse it into the grass easily with a hose), and our dogs seemed to enjoy eating it!

This year, we are going to put a large section of field fencing near the coop, so that they have a designated area to stay in. We also had a turkey house to put them in at night as well. I would recommend it being very well built too. We had to re-do some things on it in the middle of the year. We didn't anticipate on how much they would weigh (it was built off ground-on stilts to give them more room to roam in the coop).

Our turkeys were all processed by us right before Thanksgiving. We had 2 white turkeys, and 2 bronze. The whites weighed: 22LBS and 44LBS. The bronzes weighed: 30LBS and 39LBS. (weights after processing)

Good Luck!

 

[ChicwannaB]

Ive been checking into turkey needs, houseing, etc. If I got eggs could I raise just 2 turkeys? How long does it take to grow out a heritage breed??

 

[pdpatch]

Heritage type turkeys usually take about 30 weeks to butcher.

 

[lizablair]

Don't say butcher! My lone white turkey who thinks she is the dorm mother of the chickens that were raised from eggs with her...she thinks she is a chicken most of the time.doesnt think she is a turkey or chicken but a pet ...my protector...nobody gets near me..she will peck them, pull out feathers from them, or grab them by neck and sling them away from me....this year she has decided she wants to stay up later than the chickens so she sits by the food tray and eats and eats and eats...most nights about 10 or so she will stumble to the coop and sleep on the floor so I am in the process of building a new coop....with the first floor being her domain..the second floor will be the one rooster and 5 hens suite (of poop) and the nest boxes...only two cause they usually want to lay where the other hen is busy laying her egg so the second hen goes around the chicken yard growling to show her displeasure...especially since the turkey, Freda, is most times panting her head off while she sits for hours waiting to lay her huge egg...is in the way...more growling....meanwhile Freda "plips" at them telling them to leave her alone...about two min. after Freda lays her egg she gets up and runs (which is a lot of effort for a 40 pd turkey) for the small wading pool and jumps in feet first and just sits like that for a while...then she drinks a gal. of water gets out and rolls in the red dirt/clay mixture that is the ground...then I say I had a turkey, who became a swan and then changed from white to rusty red...but I love watching them, petting them, feeding them...it is so much work but I totally relax watching them. Heres to the other backyard chicken lovers....good nite.

 

[creaney]

Do you keep your turkeys and chickens together? I have two baby turkeys who I will not be eating, and I'm not sure if I should let them join my 14 chickens or not?

 

[ChicwannaB]

I ended up getting Midget Whites, they are at 17 weeks now, tall, but not filled out at all yet.

 

[Haida]

Hi there! We use an old horse barn for our turks... we have 11 of them (all heritage breed... 2 adults, 4 teenagers and 5 almost teenagers) and they seem to really like what we have set up for them. The horse barn is about 20' wide x 30' long, and inside there they have NUMEROUS perches (they are never happy if you just have one lol), feeding station, water bowl, as well as a small coop for poults (has a heat lamp, ect) and a fenced off area for the poults when they're too small to be with the big guys yet (its 20' x 8'). Then they have an outside run that is totally fenced and netted in (with the kind of netting you use to keep birds out of the garden) and it's 24' wide and 44' long. There's lots of weeds, grass, compost pile, watering buckets and short perches (so they can't get up and push on the netting).

Oh, and the horse barn has a screened door so when its rainy or snowy out, I can put the turkeys away. I can put all 11 of them inside and they just kind of hang out. There's lots of hiding spaces and perches so if someone starts picking on someone else, they can get away. I haven't had any fights yet. *knock on wood*

I hope that makes sense and helps! This is my second year raising turkeys, and we do process our birds... I think I'll only be keeping the two adults and one of my teenagers... but next year I plan on getting a few more (no more than 15 at any given time). I really hope you'll find them as fascinating as I have!

Good luck!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Housing Link
http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/turkeymanual/ALBCturkey-6.pdf

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Turkeys 101 - New To Turkeys (What Do I Need To Know?)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/787208/turkeys-101-new-to-turkeys-what-do-i-need-to-know

 

[BarneyChick97]

I would not keep turkeys and chickens in the same coop unless I had no other options. I have had some fairly aggressive turkeys in the past. If you have a tom they might be okay at first, if there are more than one, the "leader" is always a JERK. It also was apparent to us that when you "took out" (processed) the leader, the 2nd in command will take over IMMEDIATELY. When they reach sexual maturity, the fighting is insane too. We had 3 toms this year. After taking out the biggest guy, then we had of course 2. They eventually could NOT be housed or kept in the same coop. They would fight so much, I would find blood on someone's face each morning. They were separated by chicken wire, and we eventually had to put up a barrier by that to end to the violence. If a chicken stood in the way of that, they'd be dead for sure. I have one chicken (she's got to be the Queen B of my flock) that will try to take on ANY bird we have. She's got up into all bigger birds business, and had been lucky that I thought of putting some kind of "barrier" between her and the jerk-turkeys. We have one laying hen turkey left now. (I couldn't' handle the violence anymore) She seems very sweet and timid. I don't think she'd hurt my chickens? But, I also don't have to because now I've got more space.

How were your baby turkeys? I found (maybe cause they knew they were boys right away?) mine were very aggressive VERY early!!! The biggest jerk, strutted after only being with us for 3 days! The other ones tried to bite you most of the time. Now that I think about it, the female was probably the most docile of them all. There was just way too much fighting going on so early, I would of never mixed them with my chickens. Plus, it didn't take long for them to get bigger than a chicken.