Turkey Talk for 2014

[TamTurkey]

Well as many of you know we have the BBW for show. Got 50 poults last week. They are in the coop under a radiant heater. I will start them on the FF next week. I am trying to remember the conversion scale on the Protein anyone remember how it goes? I am wanting to add more protein with Full of Pep which is 50% protein and then Honors show feed is 28% I was going to do 2:1 ratio but I want to figure out EXACTLY what that comes out to before I get it fermenting. We have 4 shows with this batch of Turkeys 3 of them are Major shows. Raising hens only. The first show they will only be 13 weeks so I have to push them hard to make them show quality. I hate the first one because they aren't even sexually matured by then. And pushing them to grow too fast messes with their structure.

 

[kuntrygirl]

We are brand new not just to turkeys, but to country living entirely. We retired and bought our dream place in a beautiful setting. We have 14 chickens and a roo and 5 new chicks, that were hatched by a hen that went broody. We have 2 dairy goats that we plan to breed the 1st of Dec.
This summer we bought 5 Narragansett poults from a local guy. The poults turned out to be 1 tom and 4 hens, we lost the tom to ??? some strange malady and replaced him with a new one from the same guy, but a different strain. We want to try to do everything as naturally as possible with organic food and herbs etc; including allowing the turkeys to raise their own broods. We built a special place for them to brood...ha...we'll see how THAT works out  I understand that turkeys aren't very compliant with their choice of nesting places, but ours don't have too many options.
We would like to sell some of the poults, and process some if we don't get too attached   ...which has already happened with our present batch. We plan to let them raise as many as possible, but I hear that turkey eggs are good eating, so we will probably be cutting into the numbers of hatchable eggs...hmmm...omelets, casseroles, I wonder how they would taste deviled? Egg salads mmm.

Welcome to the world of turkeys. You will thoroughly enjoy them. Congrats on the dream place.

You are so lucky to have 4 hens. WOW! Sounds like you have a great plan for the turkeys. Please keep us posted with details and pics of your turkey crew.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Wow is it that time again already to start a thread for 2014!? Will we continue to talk on 2013 thread or is everyone going to jump over to this 2014 thread to make things easier for any new comers that are just joining us in the turkey world? I found the turkeys for 2013 thread to be by far my favorite thread last year to participate on this last year. I cant wait to see what happens for us in 2014.

Yep, that time again. Whatever you all decide would be easier.
I love reading about everyone's stories about their turkeys and seeing those stinking cute pics of poults and turkeys. It's the best part of my day.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I am prepared for 2014. Cant wait for the eggs to start coming again and start those incubators back up. Im going into 2014 with my one and only variety of heritage turkeys, Bourbon Reds. For the upcoming season I have a 2Toms and 6Hens in the breeding pen. I have plans of hatching way more poults than I did this past year just not sure on numbers yet but I plan to keep a good record book this year. My record book will keep track of amount of eggs laid, eggs incubated, poults hatched, number of poults raised in my grow out pen for holiday sales and consumption, number of poults sold, also I plan to keep track of the amount of feed. Here are my Turkeys for 2014

Beautiful turkeys! See, I love that color. Where did you get those from? I did a lot of tracking but got lazy towards the end because I had too much laying of eggs and hatching. I have to do better this year. I have a lot of egg orders to fill for 2014.

 

[kuntrygirl]

It's that time again for us to talk about our Turkey plans for 2014. Laying season has come upon some of us already and for others, laying season will be here in a few months to many months down the line. Let's talk about our turkey plans for 2014. A few things we can discuss could be. 1. Are you prepared for Turkey season for 2014? 2. When do your hens start laying eggs? 3. What breeds do you plan on raising for 2014? 4. What is your current Tom/Hen Ratio? 5. How many poults do you plan on hatching? 6. Did you order any poults from other hatcheries? If so, what hatchery, what breed and how many are you expecting? 7. Are you ordering turkey eggs from someone? If so, how many? 8. Will you be using an incubator to hatch your turkey eggs? 9. Do you want your hens to go broody so that they can hatch eggs? 10. Will you be selling eggs and/or poults? 11. What are your feed plans for 2014? Anyone trying fermented feed for their flock? 12. Do you have your housing ready for your poults and turkeys? 13. How many turkeys will you be processing for your freezer for 2014? 14. What did you do this year that you want to do different next year (2014)? PLEASE feel free to post ANYTHING you want about your turkeys, to include posting pics of those cute poults and those handsome and beautiful turkeys. Our discussion is not limited to the above topics. Especially for those who need help with hatching, poult problems, etc. No question is a dumb question, so don't be afraid to ask anything. We are all here to learn and we can learn from each other. Regardless if you keep your turkeys for pets or for food. It doesn't matter. Your problem and experience with your eggs, incubating, hatching, brooding, raising poults/adults can help the next person. We are all turkey lovers and there are A LOT of experienced turkey people on this thread who are more than willing to help. So let's talk turkey!

That's a lot of questions! Wow 14 questions to start 2014, so curious minds want to know! OK Maybe, December, Hollands, Midgets, Bourbons, Beltsville and Narragensetts, almost 1 to 1 till processing starts, then 1 to 5, As many as God let's me, no, yes, a few dozen, both, if they will, yes , both, lots of foraging, grow as much of my own and high feed bills, no, I don't like wet sloppy feed all over and you guys are not going to like my answer, but wet feed, IMHO, is wet feed. I plan on a 12x14 brooder building and a 12x10 AIRCONDITIONED processing room. and 10 breeding pens. At least 11 by the end of 2013 and a dozen wintered over for 2014 processing. I would have started my brooder and processing buildings sooner. Processing poultry in the summer is just too HOT! OK, Julie your turn's next ?

Oh, I forgot to list my plan. I have 12 hens and 7 toms and 3 that I'm not sure yet. I plan to eat my 1st 3 turkey eggs of the season because they are my favorite eggs to eat of all eggs. All other eggs will be sold or hatched. I will be getting out the incubator soon and making sure it is working ok. I really want to buy another incubator for hatching other eggs. I don't want to have 1 incubator held up with one breed of bird eggs. I had a good year this year selling eggs and poults, so I hope to have another great. I want to try to process at least 2 toms ever hatch. So, I'm looking forward to shipping out eggs to all of the customers who are on the waiting list and hatching poults for my local customers.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Well as many of you know we have the BBW for show. Got 50 poults last week. They are in the coop under a radiant heater.  I will start them on the FF next week. I am trying to remember the conversion scale on the Protein anyone remember how it goes? I am wanting to add more protein with Full of Pep which is 50% protein and then Honors show feed is 28% I was going to do 2:1 ratio but I want to figure out EXACTLY what that comes out to before I get it fermenting. We have 4 shows with this batch of Turkeys 3 of them are Major shows. Raising hens only. The first show they will only be 13 weeks so I have to push them hard to make them show quality. I hate the first one because they aren't even sexually matured by then. And pushing them to grow too fast messes with their structure.

All I can say is you're going to be BUSY!

 

[chicken pickin]

Beautiful turkeys! See, I love that color. Where did you get those from?

I did a lot of tracking but got lazy towards the end because I had too much laying of eggs and hatching. I have to do better this year. I have a lot of egg orders to fill for 2014.

I bought them as poults from a farm local to me that breeds them. I do not know where their original stock came from. I am happy because so far the offspring has been as dark as the toms and the offspring hens are significantly darker than the 2 original hens I started with. So the dark rich color is breeding forward.

 

[Fat Man]

This is our first year, our Bourbon Red hen will christmas dinner. If all goes well, and we like the meat, we'l get some poults for next year and hold a trio back for breeding,

 

[Mrsfoote]

So I'm hearing a lot of mixed input on Tom's. The Jake I bought up until I bought him was raised with chickens of various sizes. I only have one bantam well one and a half, the other chickens are standard sized. How are Tom's mines a Black Spanish. Some say aggressive, some say not at all. I've had no rooster issues, well once mine went at my arm and I hosed him off, took care of that notion really quick, so should I worry?

I ordered 16 poults from Porters and I want to hatch perhaps....

 

[Reyvaughn]

1. Are you prepared for Turkey season for 2014?
- No
2. When do your hens start laying eggs?
- Spring, I guess. I haven't gotten an egg yet. I have young stock - less than 6m.
3. What breeds do you plan on raising for 2014?
- Black Spanish, so far. I'd like to expand but I am not ready for a lot of turkeys yet.
4. What is your current Tom/Hen Ratio?
- 0 to 2. A new tom is in the works.
5. How many poults do you plan on hatching?
- As many as possible. I will be buying hatching eggs to hatch in 2014.
6. Did you order any poults from other hatcheries? If so, what hatchery, what breed and how many are you expecting?
- I wanted to, but won't be able to.
7. Are you ordering turkey eggs from someone? If so, how many?
- Yes... Who has hens laying in January? PM me!
8. Will you be using an incubator to hatch your turkey eggs?
- Yep! My lovely Sportsman 1502!
9. Do you want your hens to go broody so that they can hatch eggs?
- I'd prefer it, but they are young.
10. Will you be selling eggs and/or poults?
- Yes and yes.
11. What are your feed plans for 2014? Anyone trying fermented feed for their flock?
- Just the normal pullet grower.
12. Do you have your housing ready for your poults and turkeys?
- No. Won't take much.
13. How many turkeys will you be processing for your freezer for 2014?
- At least 2.
14. What did you do this year that you want to do different next year (2014)?
- Um, be ready for bid birds! Hold off until the last minute for processing.