Turkey Newbie!

[AprilTwilights]

Hi everyone -- these two showed up in my yard today. I put them in a kennel and bought some turkey starter feed and grit...though I honestly have NO idea how old or what gender they are...or if turkeys need grit!

If no one claims them, they'll get moved into the chicken coop with our five girls. Two people at the feed store said they house their chickens and turkeys together, so hopefully that's okay!

Anyway, can anyone help me sex and age these guys? Sorry, they're pretty filthy.

Also, any great resources that I could be made aware of would be greatly appreciated!

PS -- we will not be eating them.

 

[AprilTwilights]

...anyone? I guess this is going to be harder than I thought!

 

[Bethy]

I'm no expert but it looks almost identical to my 5 week old broad breasted white turkey.

 

[AprilTwilights]

Thank you! Will they start losing their fuzzy face feathers soon? And are they easily sexed at this age?

Mariah

 

[redneck farmer]

I'm no expert either.
And they look great for living outside for who knows how long
They look to me to be somewhere between 4 to 6 weeks old
They will need more room than that dog crate here soon.
I would say they r BBW
I kept my 1 turkey in with my chicken coop but they need a lot of room compared to a chicken.
You did good by getting turkey feed.

 

[AprilTwilights]

Our chicken coop is a converted shed (10x5) with an attached outdoor area that is about 12x10. We also give them supervised free range time in our backyard multiple times a week...We only have five chickens. Are they going to be too crowded in this area? We have six foot privacy fencing around that whole yard. In the event that they need more room than the coop, if we clipped their wings, would the fence be enough to contain them?

I haven't kept them entirely trapped in the crate. They got to stretch their wings last night and a couple times today.

Any suggestions on helping the chickens accept them? The crate is in the chicken yard now so the girls can see and hear the babies. Do I just start letting the turkeys be loose with the girls while I supervise? How bratty do I let the chickens get before I intervene?

 

[mightymax]

It sounds like you're off to a good start with the size of your pen and run. Also, it seems like you already know about introducing new chicks to an already established flock, so just keep on doing what your doing and let them mingle with your supervision. Both chickens and turkeys are very inquisitive and tend to 'process' things by pecking at them so I would just watch them closely for any possible bullying, always keeping in mind that they are both flock animals and as such will develop a hierarchy, or pecking order, so a little bit of scuffling in the beginning isn't always a reason to intervene. Hopefully like mine, yours will figure it out in no time!!! Good luck and have fun. Turkeys can be quite hilarious. Mine are very smart, come when called and are more affectionate than my most people friendly chicken!

 

[AprilTwilights]

Thanks, everyone! I'm getting more comfortable with this turkey thing!

I still don't know if they're male or female, but they are tentatively named Maple and Meringue. No idea which is which or how to tell them apart yet, haha!

 

[redneck farmer]

When I had my turkey I raised it with a chicken chick and they were both the same age and that helped the older chickens bond with my turkey sence my turkey and the chick it was raised with was so close. As for intervening with the pecking order I would allow a little bit of pecking/fighting but if a turkey gets pinned down or it's being hold by the head then intervene.
Also I would let them free range and meet each other while being outside so if it gets to flighty the turkeys can get away

 

[mightymax]

Males usually have a larger, longer snod. They will also go completely bald on the head and neck area whereas the females will lose only about 75% of their head feathers. Males are generally larger by comparison and have larger, more prominent carbuncles. It will still be several weeks or more before you can unmistakably differentiate between the two sexes. Oh, and males will usually start to 'strut' soon, but watch out cuz I had one once that started strutting and he turned out to be a she...lol!!!