Turkey feed question?

[selenag]

Hey guys someone in my area is giving me their 6 month old turkey (he’s a Tom) and I won’t get him till a couple of days but I would like to know what kind of feed should be given to him at his age since I’m new to turkeys. his owner isn’t really helpful. any advice is helpful. Hope all of you are having an amazing day

 

[ChickenCanoe]

At his age, you can use a starter/grower chicken feed or All-Flock feed in the neighborhood of 16-18% protein.
The problem with most All Flock feed is that it is usually in the range of 18-20% protein.
At 6 months a male turkey is fine with about 14% protein. So one option is to cut the protein with some grain.
This link will give you a complete rundown of all nutritional requirements of turkeys at various ages and whether male or female.
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g8352

 

[R2elk]

Hey guys someone in my area is giving me their 6 month old turkey (he’s a Tom) and I won’t get him till a couple of days but I would like to know what kind of feed should be given to him at his age since I’m new to turkeys. his owner isn’t really helpful. any advice is helpful. Hope all of you are having an amazing day

At 6 months old a turkey can be on adult chicken feed. I feed mine a 20% protein all flock (aka flock raiser). A lot depends on what you plan on doing with this turkey. Unless you plan on processing the turkey, it really needs other turkeys for companionship. If you plan on processing it, many like to add corn to the diet as it helps fatten them up.

 

[R2elk]

At his age, you can use a starter/grower chicken feed or All-Flock feed in the neighborhood of 16-18% protein.
The problem with most All Flock feed is that it is usually in the range of 18-20% protein.
At 6 months a male turkey is fine with about 14% protein. So one option is to cut the protein with some grain.
This link will give you a complete lowdown on all nutritional requirements of turkeys at various ages and whether male or female.
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g8352

The problem with using anything other than an all flock feed is that there are no other feeds out there with the proper amounts of lysine, methionine and niacin that turkeys should have.

Their chart looks fine right up to the point where they advise decreasing the protein to 14%. I believe that the study was likely done on BB turkeys kept in close quarters. I would not feed 14% protein to any of my poultry and would not advise anyone else to either. I seriously doubt that their "study" was meant for heritage turkeys or keeping turkeys alive long term. I have not had a turkey die of old age either due to a predator or by my own actions. I have had an 11 year old Bourbon Red tom that was in excellent health die on Thanksgiving when a predator killed and ate him. This spring I had an 11 year old Blue Slate hen taken by a predator while on a hidden nest.