Turkey Question!

[Ozarkhomesteader]

I would love to raise some turkeys for the holidays, and keep some as breeders (like 3). We have 2 acres in the city and keep chickens, quail, and ducks right now, expanding in the spring. We do have neighbors pretty close. I was wondering how loud they are. What is the comparison to a rooster, and do you have any tips to keep them quieter? Thanks.

 

[Coles FreshEggs]

Breeding might not work for your situation, simply because of the Toms. The toms, especially when there is more than one can spend a good chunk of their day calling back and fourth, quite loudly to each other. Of course there are special situations, where some Toms are quieter, and some are much worse. If you were to re-order hens ever year, the noise factor would be next to nothing. Hope this helps.

 

[chknoodles]

We have a small poultry farm and I can honestly say the turkeys are much quieter than our Roosters. They do gobble (the boys) and will call to each other but the noise level is quite tame compared to our chickens. Love our chickens, but if I could only have one breed of bird, I would choose the turkeys.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Thanks for the help We do have roosters without complaints, so i'm guessing a few won't be a problem. Do they get louder at a certain time, like a rooster??? I really like turkeys, so i am really hoping they work out. They are really cool birds. There would only be one tom all year around, but in the summer, there might be more because of the dinner ones.

 

[JonathanL23]

Turkeys aren't as loud as roosters and only the toms really make a noise. But be careful don't get the commercial white and bronze turkeys from a hatchery. As I recently learned they can't release reproduce. I'd day hunt down some Slate or bourbon red turkeys and raise them.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Turkeys aren't as loud as roosters and only the toms really make a noise. But be careful don't get the commercial white and bronze turkeys from a hatchery. As I recently learned they can't release reproduce. I'd day hunt down some Slate or bourbon red turkeys and raise them.

thanks Yeah, i recently learned that too...similar to a Cornish. I like slates a lot, so i'll most likely get some of those.

 

[chknoodles]

Ok..lets get this straight...there are Heritage Turkey breeds, Wild Turkey Breeds and Broad Breasted Turkeys. Bronze can be a broad breasted or Heritage. Broad Breasted birds have been genetically selected over time to grow big really fast and because of that, they MUST be butchered within a short growing time or their body weight gets too heavy for their frame and they die from not being able to move or breathe properly. Some folks who accidently get a BB turkey when what they wanted was a pet turkey, will keep their BB on a restricted diet so that the bird can have a longer life. Because they grow so large, they cannot mate naturally.

 

[chknoodles]

My avatar, those are two Heritage Bronze boys when they were about 8 months old. Sold one and we still have the other one (Jeff). He is about 28 lbs and will be 2 years old next Spring. Heritage breeds continue to grow for 2 years (so do large chickens like Jersey Giants). Jeff fathered a bunch of babies this past Spring and now has even more girls in his pen for next spring! LOL We also have Rio Grande and Narragansett. I have had neighbors make comments (some positive, some negative) about our Roosters crowing and the Guinea fowl, but no one has ever complained about the turkeys gobbling or calling. People think they are super kewl birds and love to come by and make sounds or calls of their own just to see if they can get the boys to gobble..and ours comply with even a whistle, a door slamming, hands clapping...any unusual or loud noise. They do NOT gobble back every time a rooster crows or a guinea calls - thank goodness...hahahaha.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Ok..lets get this straight...there are Heritage Turkey breeds, Wild Turkey Breeds and Broad Breasted Turkeys. Bronze can be a broad breasted or Heritage. Broad Breasted birds have been genetically selected over time to grow big really fast and because of that, they MUST be butchered within a short growing time or their body weight gets too heavy for their frame and they die from not being able to move or breathe properly. Some folks who accidently get a BB turkey when what they wanted was a pet turkey, will keep their BB on a restricted diet so that the bird can have a longer life. Because they grow so large, they cannot mate naturally.

thanks for setting it straight.

My avatar, those are two Heritage Bronze boys when they were about 8 months old. Sold one and we still have the other one (Jeff). He is about 28 lbs and will be 2 years old next Spring. Heritage breeds continue to grow for 2 years (so do large chickens like Jersey Giants). Jeff fathered a bunch of babies this past Spring and now has even more girls in his pen for next spring! LOL We also have Rio Grande and Narragansett. I have had neighbors make comments (some positive, some negative) about our Roosters crowing and the Guinea fowl, but no one has ever complained about the turkeys gobbling or calling. People think they are super kewl birds and love to come by and make sounds or calls of their own just to see if they can get the boys to gobble..and ours comply with even a whistle, a door slamming, hands clapping...any unusual or loud noise. They do NOT gobble back every time a rooster crows or a guinea calls - thank goodness...hahahaha.

They are cool looking. Do you like the bronze or Narragansett better? I like both breeds. lol....do both girl and boy guinea's make loud calls, or is it just one?

 

[chknoodles]

It would be unfair to choose. Our Rio and his girl are the oldest at 4 years old and they have a daughter in with them who is a Spring hatch and exceptionally spoiled. The Bronze boy and two of his girls are 1 1/2 and there is a daughter in that pen and two more growing out. The Narri are this Spring and big lumbering kids...when we let them out, they follow us everywhere and get into things, like to visit all the chicken pens and puff up at the Roosters and they like to check out their reflection in the truck bumper, etc - they do all kinds of silly things. So right now, the Narri are the most fun but I am sure as soon as it gets to breeding season, they will mature up and not be as zany as they are right now.

As for meat quality, I can't make any determination on that either. We SAID we would do turkey to sell and meat for ourselves, but so far, we haven't butchered a single one. Usually they sell as poults if we hatch them or we sell eggs for people to hatch. The Narri are a show quality line, so we will probably start taking one of them to shows, If you want to see more pictures of the turkeys, we are on facebook under Chick N Stuff. We have butchered some of our chickens and Guinea fowl, but somehow we get really attached to the turks..we do have two bronze boys growing out and if they don't sell this summer, those two might be the honored guests for next year's holiday season..strange, because we hunt and do put wild turkey in the freezer.

Oh, about Guinea..both the boys and girls make lots of noise. Girls can make a 2 syllable call, but the boys can only make a single syllable call..which would be a great way to sex them EXCEPT the girls can also do the boy call..HAHAHAHA. To sex a guinea, you can tell by their helmet (the horn on top of their head). Boys have a helmet that points straight up and waddles that are rounded. The girls' helmet points towards their back and their waddles have a point that points towards their neck. I know you didn't ask about sexing Guinea Fowl, but it is such kewl info, I thought I would share.