Turkey housing

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
It depends on what they are used to, the toms are heavy so the need a wide roost. if to narrow it hurts their feet. We cut down a small pine tree about 8 inches around, 20 feet long and have that about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. We have a few toms that sleep on the ground but most roost.

Do you know what the person you got them from was feeding them? When switching feeds they will pic at it until they get used to it. How old are they? Our breeders we feed an 18% layer mash with whole corn in the afternoon, plus greens, eggs and what they can forage during the day.

Steve

 

[lilchick]

Wyo chick I feed my turkeys a combination of layer pellets, cracked corn and dog food that is 26 % protein.
Mine also "graze" all day on grass and bugs... As far as roosting goes I find a wide 2 by 4 placed low in the coop works for my toms. I also have a platform with a board walkway up to it. They get too heavy to fly straight up in the barn but can work their way up to the rafters....

 

[Wyo Chick]

I'm not really sure how old these turkeys are. My father in law said they were young. How can you tell the age of a turkey? I was having a hard time finding a turkey in the statesville area. I wanted an older one to keep the hawks from getting my chickens. I found a man that was advertising turkeys in a newspaper. He didn't have toms only hens. He told me he could get me a tom if I took one of his hens. When I got the tom he looked like the junkyard tom, but of course I took him. I've had him a week and he's looking better. My point with this story is I didn't know the history of the tom. Now the hen was kept in a pen with 2 other hens. No roosting, but she wants to roost, so we built a large turkey roost. Last night the male was on the top roost and hen was on the bottom. They seem to like eating the chickens food! I sure enjoy them.