turkey questions?

[sdshoars]

i am thinking about getting a turkey poult or two, i am wondering how much extra i would have to go thru with them. i was going to order them with my chicks this spring, can i keep them with my chickens and feed them the same food, or is that a no no? i dont want to make dh build a seperate pen for them, so i was wondering about that... any help is MUCh appreciated!!! thanks!

 

[pdpatch]

1. usually turkeys are shipped on separate days as chicks and aren't included in the minimum number of chicken chicks you order. Usually 15 turkey chicks is the minimum. Most hatcheries ship from April to June for Turkeys.

2. For most turkeys it can be critical to get a good start in life. Other wise it leads to problems that can be to numerous to mention. For the best result feeding them wild game starter, with a viteman and mineral supplement. Which is different that for a chicken chick, Usually it take the Turkey chick about 7 weeks of this to get a really good start. Other here on this forum have used just chick starter.

3.Yes you can mix them, but because of the different feeding needs when they are young makes it difficult. If you are going to mix them from the start then Choose a heritage type that is a good forager. These types are usually more tollerent to what they can eat.

4. If these are your first then Don't get BB bronze of Great white. Both of these type can be difficult to get started.

5. They will eat a lot more then your chickens do, and poop a lot more. So you will need to take this into consideration.

Tom

 

[wilds of pa]

Yup i d have to agree with Tom for the most part.
However don't forget BBB and the great/holland white types cannot fly once they reach a certain age, weight and are doomed to breast blisters, leg problems and heart cond, plus they cannot breed naturally in most cases....its best not to raise the two on soil together. However i can say i have brooded the two together as the baby chicks help teach the baby poults to eat and drink. Also use marbles in the waters and put a few in the feeders as this helps encourage the baby poults to pick at the food and water & helps prevent unwanted drownings.

if we happen to raise poults and chicks together they are fed Medicated Flock raiser, which is bit higher in protein than the chick starter or we may even just use med. turkey starter, but both work well even with the baby chickens.. when they are ready to leave the brooder they are raised on separate grounds here and never together.

Charlie

 

[zatsdeb]

I ordered from cackle, and you can mix chicks and turkeys, I got 5 turkeys, and 3 made it to adulthood, but I ended up with 2, a tom and a hen, the other tom got blown out of the tree in a really bad wind rain storm, the others are fine. they were raised with meat birds so ate the meat bird feed, I mixed it with chick starter. some people don't keep chickens with turkeys, cause of the blackhead disease, I was told that sometimes you have it on your property, soil conditions...etc... you can research it.
my turkeys free range with the chickens and goats, and so far I have not had any problems, (knock on wood!!)
I have pretty dry pastures also...
I do love my turkeys though. I wish I would have gotten more, I have royal palm, they are a little smaller than regular meat turkeys, and these are pets.

 

[wilds of pa]

Kansas State University
Agricultural Experiment Station and
Cooperative Extension Service
credit R. Scott Beyer and J.S. Moritz

History and Life-cycle Blackhead disease
There is an old saying that
many producers may be
familiar with, which is that you
can’t raise turkeys and chickens
together. We now know that
chickens are carriers of several
diseases that can be transmitted
to turkeys. Blackhead disease
falls under this criterion.
A milder form of this same
disease often occurs in chickens.
Chickens usually do not
fall ill from this disease, but if
infected, can potentially
contaminate facilities. Therefore
rearing chickens and
turkeys in the same facility
should be avoided.
Blackhead is caused by a
single celled organism Histomonas
meleagridis, which damages
the cecal wall of the infected
bird and has the potential to
damage the liver. This organism
can find its way to the bird
by first being ingested by the
common earthworm where it
can survive for long periods of
time. If infected earthworms
are available for flocks of birds
to eat, a Blackhead outbreak
becomes a possibility. Once a
bird internalizes the Blackhead
organism, the organism can
infect a common parasite of the
bird’s digestive tract, known as
the cecal worm. Cecal worms
produce many microscopic
eggs that also can be penetrated
and infected by the
Blackhead organism.

read more here of this article its a really good read

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/EP69.pdf

 

[cgjsmith]

In all honesty out of 13 turkey poults I had this spring i have two survivors. If your really intrested try starting with adults. or at least young adults or juvinals. Lots of people are selling off there young they don't want to keep right now. Crystal

 

[QuailHollow]

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[SarahBeth9394]

Momentary thread hijack please. I must ask you QuailHollowPointers did you have trouble with your dogs and the birds. I think that when I finally get my chickens I'll be spending a few restless nights keeping the dogs from going out of their minds (1german short haired pointer and 1 bluetick coonhound). Of course the coop and run will be built predator proof but I was thinking that just framed chicken wire around the run may not be enough. I was going to bury some but I was thinking of using a sturdier mesh on the bottom few feet. Is there anything special you did to your run knowing you have bird dogs?

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
The Broad Breasted White and the White Holland are two different breeds The BBW is a commercial turkey.

The White Holland is one of the oldest breeds of heritage turkeys and one of the largest. The ones we have will come running to the gate when they see you coming to their area, they are very calm and people friendly.

White Holland tom

White Holland hen

Note the size compared to the 5 gallon waterer


Steve in NC

 

[QuailHollow]

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