Turkey Talk for 2014

[Sydney Acres]

Took the plunge, in my area there is a site called Oregon homesteaders, posted an ad putting the word out I was looking to purchase fertile Narragansett eggs when available.. Got three hits within just a few hours, all three will let me know when I can purchase. !! Got a few folks offering me adult birds that will start laying this spring. .tempting but so not ready for adult turkeys yet... One step closer

As a person who just got turkeys for the first time in 2013, I totally agree that starting with poults is the way to go, assuming that you know how to brood and raise them. They are SO MUCH FUN as babies. I would never want to miss out on that stage. And if I had not raised them myself, their current size might be a bit intimidating when they're acting like bratty teenagers.

 

[AmericanMom]

As a person who just got turkeys for the first time in 2013, I totally agree that starting with poults is the way to go, assuming that you know how to brood and raise them. They are SO MUCH FUN as babies. I would never want to miss out on that stage. And if I had not raised them myself, their current size might be a bit intimidating when they're acting like bratty teenagers.

I know how to brood and raise chicks, I know Turkeys are different but that's why this place is so darn handy and besides, nothing ever would get done unless we atleast tried right?

I've wanted to do this for so long and finally maybe I get to this year...Fingers crossed someones hens will lay lots of eggs so the folks have a lot left over to sell

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Took the plunge, in my area there is a site called Oregon homesteaders, posted an ad putting the word out I was looking to purchase fertile Narragansett eggs when available.. Got three hits within just a few hours, all three will let me know when I can purchase. !! Got a few folks offering me adult birds that will start laying this spring. .tempting but so not ready for adult turkeys yet... One step closer

It took me almost a year to get some, but glad I did.
So far the BR are my favorite. I had a RP pair and we had issues with both hen and tom killing roosters.
I have learned to raise turkeys with my other fowl since, And I now keep the adults separated from the other birds.

This birds sure knows how to crack me up!

Love the happy sounds! Looks like a game for her and you too, obviously quite pleased you are playing

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: exactly, you have to to hang in there and try.
Your best bet is to keep posting every few days. Early in laying season most are planning breeders for the next year/

 

[Sydney Acres]

Well, the weather's been icky and rainy, so the birds have elected to spend more time in their covered pen instead of playing all day out in the rain this last week. With all that time inside, the pen was getting too dirty and I decided today was the day to clean everything out. Has anyone noticed how much longer your chores take when the turkeys try to help?!? One kept begging to be loved on, one thought it was fun to ride on the manure shovel, several kept jumping onto anything I piled up or organized and spread stuff all around, one of the toms wouldn't stop strutting around underfoot, and everyone thought it was great fun to grab anything that would fit in their mouths and run off with it, making me chase them down. Anytime I picked up a new tool, like a broom or a rake, or brought in a new bale of shavings, the excited gobbling and other turkey verbage was deafening. And of course, everyone wanted to ride in the wheelbarrow out to the compost pile. It's like being outnumbered by 5 year old kids with a sugar rush. They're so much fun. (I'm exhausted.)

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well, the weather's been icky and rainy, so the birds have elected to stay in their covered pen instead of going out to play in the rain this last week. With all that time inside, the pen was getting too dirty and I decided today was the day to clean everything out. Has anyone noticed how much longer your chores take when the turkeys try to help?!? One kept begging to be loved on, one thought it was fun to ride on the manure shovel, several kept jumping onto anything I piled up or organized and spread stuff all around, one of the toms wouldn't stop strutting around underfoot, and everyone thought it was great fun to grab anything that would fit in their mouths and run off with it, making me chase them down. Anytime I picked up a new tool, like a broom or a rake, or brought in a new bale of shavings, the excited gobbling and other turkey verbage was deafening. And of course, everyone wanted to ride in the wheelbarrow out to the compost pile. It's like being outnumbered by 5 year old kids with a sugar rush. They're so much fun. (I'm exhausted.)

It seems they do. I can't get mad at them for it tho, I just love it.
You aren't kidding about the 5 year olds! For me its like having little ones again, my kids are all grown up.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I'm definitely not experienced at brooding turkeys, having only done it once, but all seven of mine that survived shipping lived, so I must have done something right. I brooded mine together with an equal number of chicks, which are more precocious, so I think that helped. The poults seemed to learn from the chicks. The big differences I noticed in brooding poults vs brooding my previous groups of chicks were that they needed a higher protein diet (I used Purina Game Bird Grower for the first 10 weeks, then switched to Purina FlockRaiser until they're about to start laying, then to Layer Pellets), and they grew so fast that I wasn't quite prepared for each stage in time. They started perching earlier than chicks, they started flying earlier than chicks (and, wow, those babies can fly -- their wings seem to outgrow their bodies at first, so they've got great lift and almost no weight when they first start to soar), and they needed lots more room earlier than I expected. I've been told that they're very fragile until they're 3 weeks old, but I didn't find that to be true of mine, in my brooding system. That might not apply to other lines, or other brooding systems.

For those of you who are new to brooding, here's what I do. There are hundreds of different ways to successfully brood, and I'm sure many of them are better than this with less work. But this has worked very well for me, with the supplies and equipment that I have.

I use a grow mat (one that I bought for propagating seeds) underneath the entire brooder, then several thick towels as padding and to prevent any hot spots, then a layer of puppy pee pads (which has plastic on the bottom side to prevent the towels from getting wet in case water spills -- less bedding to change), then extra large men's T-shirts next to the chicks (sheets are too slick, and they get their tiny toenails caught in the terry loops of towels, but you have to be careful that the seams of the shirts are not exposed, since they can get their toes caught in the seam threads). The shirts extend out far enough that the shoulders and waist of the shirts are held down by the edges of the brooder, so the babies can't pull them up. The brooder is just a 2 X 6 foot cage made out of 1 X 2 inch welded wire that I put together with J-clips. It is 2 feet tall, and has a removable top but no bottom, so it can be lifted up a bit to change the shirts several times daily. There is thick cardboard wrapped tightly around the entire brooder, extending from the floor to one foot high, and all seams are taped to prevent drafts. There are dots drawn on the cardboard to give the babies something to peck at, which minimizes pecking of each other. I hang a red heat lamp over one end, and have a brooder thermometer at chick/poult level at both the warm end and the cool end. I keep the room at whatever temperature is needed to keep the cool end at 80-85 degrees (not too hard to do with a heat mat on the floor and no drafts) and hang the heat lamp at whatever distance is needed to keep the warm end at 90-95 degrees on week one. I decrease the temperatures by 5 degrees every week, but try to maintain the same 5-10 degree range between cool and warm ends. Each baby is initially set in the brooder individually, has it's beak dipped in warm water, and is watched to be sure it continues to drink. I sprinkle food thinly over much of the floor, and have one waterer with Sav-A-Chick powder added to it (for shipped chicks/poults, I wouldn't add the electrolytes for babies I'd incubated) on the cool end, and one with plain water on the warmer end. I change the waterers twice daily, and put no more food in the feeder than I expect them to eat over 24 hours, so it is never stale. I monitor where the chicks/poults tend to hang out in the brooder, which can tell me if they're too cold or too warm or just right. If possible, I weigh each bird every day on a gram scale to be sure that it's gaining weight properly (not possible if you have too many or can't tell them apart), and I write the weights in the flock chart so I can keep track of trends. After the third day I stop spreading food around, but watch that they are all going to the feeder frequently. By the second week they're growing and pooping so much that I switch to aspen shavings (less dust than white shavings in a relatively closed environment like this) for their bedding, which is A LOT less work. I put a sheet between the shavings and the puppy pee pads to keep the shavings from getting into the pads, and I elevate the feeder and water as high as possible to keep the shavings out of them, but low enough that the runtiest baby can still reach them. I stop using the Sav-a-Chick electrolye/sugar solution, and go down to one waterer. I remove any wet shavings asap, no matter how tired I am, because excessive moisture combined with poop just sitting in a 80-95 degree brooder is a bacterial incubator, which is one of the biggest reasons healthy infants die. The turkeys seemed to eat a lot more of the shavings than the chicks did, which I worried about, but no one had any crops stasis or intestinal blockages. (Even now, the turkeys eat the shavings like candy, with no problems, so I've given up worrying about it.) By the second week they needed something to do, so I put perches in for them to jump on, and a few other bird toys. They were perching by the middle of the second week, but didn't sleep on the perch consistently until week 3-4. By the middle of the second week I started taking them outside if the weather was warm, just a few at a time so I could watch them closely (I have been told that this is not recommended for poults until they are at least 3 weeks old because their immune systems are not strong enough. I don't know if this is generally true or not, but I felt mine were strong enough to venture out by that age). By the forth week they were so active they needed an outdoor pen (but still returned to the heat lamp to bask when they got cold).

Most people don't have a grow mat for floor heat, and you don't really need one. I just find that it makes it easier to keep them warm, since they're never on a cool floor, but still allows me to provide a safe temperature gradient for them. I'm uncomfortable with the idea that infants should never be exposed to anything but the "ideal" temperature, since that is not how the real world works in nature. I suspect that exposure to safe temperature gradients early in life creates a stronger, more vigorous adult, just like exposure to relatively safe germs as a youngster stimulates a better developed immune system.

One thing I will do different next time is change the shape of my brooder. It is currently a rectangle, and I think a circle is a better shape. I have been told that poults frequently pile into a corner, to the point that the one(s) deepest in the corner can get injured or suffocated. I did not have this happen with my poults, but with a previous group of chicks I did have one chick get buried in a pile and break her pelvis. She lived and is doing well, but walks with an odd stride in both legs.

I'd love to know how other people brood their birds. I've actually never been told how to do it, or seen anyone else's setup. Someone unexpectedly gave me a single chick 15 years ago, and I had to figure out how to keep her alive. I read that chicks needed to start at 95 degrees, and decrease by 5 degrees weekly. So I used what I had, got a few more things that I needed, and it worked. Then I got her a few friends, adjusted the brooder details a little, and it still worked. With every new group I've done things just a little different, but sticking to the basics of heat, ventilation but no draft, good sanitation, fresh food and water, and careful monitoring seems to work great, regardless of the details of the setup. Other than the food, I brooded the poults the same way that I've always done my chicks. How does everyone else do it?

 

[chickadoodles]

go to this link and then double click on the image. It will come up as a bigger image and the text is clear. Note that the second pic is the bottom section of the first page. Ditto for the fourth pic matching the 3rd pic.

Thank you Arielle. I did not see a price list for Reese's turkey either. I called him at 785-227-3972.


Frank reese

Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch
730 smoky valley rd
lindsborg, KS 67456
Ph. 7852273972

 

[uphilljill]

I'll post Duane Urchs price list again here since people are interested. Sorry for the quality of the pics. If you can't read anything, let me know and I'll check. Let us know how your order goes!

 

[chickadoodles]

I'll post Duane Urchs price list again here since people are interested. Sorry for the quality of the pics. If you can't read anything, let me know and I'll check. Let us know how your order goes!

Thank you so much uphilljill I do appreciate it very much.