Turkey Talk for 2014

[TeaChick]

To reduce the chances of the hens going broody, collect the eggs everyday. Keeps the girls focued on laying. Not a 100% effective measure, but it sure helps.

Oh, thank you. I collect my chickens' eggs everyday; it never occurred to me that this would deter them from sitting; but it makes sense that having nothing to sit on would deter them from sitting. I feel so silly.

From R2elk:

Originally Posted by TeaChick

Can the turkeys free range with the all the chickens?

How different is keeping turkeys from keeping chickens?

2. When do your hens start laying eggs? IDK, but I'm looking forward to eggs. Wondering what the difference is between turkey eggs and chicken eggs.

4. What is your current Tom/Hen Ratio? 0/0; I would keep one tom for fertile eggs. What should it be, approximately?

5. How many poults do you plan on hatching? IDK; I guess something like three to six, at least.

8. Will you be using an incubator to hatch your turkey eggs? Yes, unless someone can give me advice on using a broody chicken to hatch them. And what's the broody rate on turkeys?

When your chicken goes broody just replace her eggs with turkey eggs. I gave a bantam hen one turkey egg but she probably could have managed three. Last year I gave my cornish hen 6 turkey eggs and she handled them well. Just remember that they will take 28 days to hatch instead of 21 days. In my experience the broody rate for turkey hens is 100%. They prefer to build up a clutch of 10 to 15 eggs before going broody but can go broody on just one egg or well over 2 dozen eggs.

Good luck with your endeavors.
Thank you!!! I greatly appreciate the info and advice.
The only thing is that I don't really have a part of my yard that hasn't been used by the chickens; to put the turkeys in an area where the chickens haven't frequented, I'd have to put them well away from the house and then I'd be worried about predators, especially at night. I will find out whether blackhead (I don't know what that is, beyond being a disease that turkeys can get from chickens) is a problem in my area; I'm getting the eggs I'll hatch from a friend up the street who raises turkeys and chickens.
Thank you very much!!! =)

 

[R2elk]

Oh, thank you. I collect my chickens' eggs everyday; it never occurred to me that this would deter them from sitting; but it makes sense that having nothing to sit on would deter them from sitting. I feel so silly.

If you take the turkey eggs daily, I recommend that you either mark the first egg so you can tell which one it is and leave it in the nest or replace it with a nest egg. The reasoning is that if there is an egg left, it is likely that the turkey will continue to use the nest. If you always leave her an empty nest, she will do her best to find a "better" hiding place for her nest. Better to the turkey means more hidden from you and does not mean it is a better place to have a nest.

 

[TeaChick]

If you take the turkey eggs daily, I recommend that you either mark the first egg so you can tell which one it is and leave it in the nest or replace it with a nest egg. The reasoning is that if there is an egg left, it is likely that the turkey will continue to use the nest. If you always leave her an empty nest, she will do her best to find a "better" hiding place for her nest. Better to the turkey means more hidden from you and does not mean it is a better place to have a nest.

Oh, thank you. =)
I've got to start doing that with my chickens right now. Half of them are laying on the back porch b/c we had an incident and one of them won't sleep in the coop now unless I lock them in there before she gets a chance to get back out and bed down on the back porch.
The incident, btw, was that one of the hens (Sandy) pecked my new Jr. rooster to death and I found him Tues morning. Now, Chocolate won't sleep in the coop, wants to bed down on some blankets on the back porch and all my Comets are following her example and laying on the blankets; I thought she was broody b/c she was trying to sleep there in deep freeze conditions, but she got up in the morning. IDK what happened between Mon night and Tues morning, but it's got her dander up and she's not settling down from it.

 

[Hounds51]

I just got 2 burbon red a young hen and tom. also got a young narragassant a couple weeks ago.
Now I am looking for some fertle Beltsville Small White Turkey eggs. I would like to keep the Beltsville linage going
Looking to locate a local but will take any area of the country.

 

[chickadoodles]

I just got 2 burbon red a young hen and tom. also got a young narragassant a couple weeks ago.
Now I am looking for some fertle Beltsville Small White Turkey eggs. I would like to keep the Beltsville linage going
Looking to locate a local but will take any area of the country.

I am buying from Country Hatchery because he has stock from Frank Reese because Frank Reese is one of the largest breeders of Turkey in the U.S. and came highly recomended by Mr. Bob B. here on BYC on the Heritage thread. He has a very nice line of Beltsville White turkey.
Here is a link to County Hatchery's website

http://www.countryhatchery.net/turkeys.html

 

[Hounds51]

I just got 2 burbon red a young hen and tom. also got a young narragassant a couple weeks ago.

Now I am looking for some fertle Beltsville Small White Turkey eggs. I would like to keep the Beltsville linage going

Looking to locate a local but will take any area of the country.

I am buying from Country Hatchery because he has stock from Frank Reese because Frank Reese is one of the largest breeders of Turkey in the U.S. and came highly recomended by Mr. Bob B. here on BYC on the Heritage thread. He has a very nice line of Beltsville White turkey. 
Here is a link to County Hatchery's website

http://www.countryhatchery.net/turkeys.html

Thanks for the info. and yes I see that they also sell turkey hatching eggs.

 

[chickadoodles]

Thanks for the info. and yes I see that they also sell turkey hatching eggs.

Your welcome. And good luck with your new turkeys. I hope you post pics of your poults when you get some.

 

[abmaddox1981]

Here's the turkey I got Friday. Any ideas on what breed? I couldn't get a good pic of his tail but the barring has a beautiful blue in it

 

[SilkieSensation]

Here's the turkey I got Friday. Any ideas on what breed? I couldn't get a good pic of his tail but the barring has a beautiful blue in it

Can't see very well but probably some variety of bronze or wild.

 

[abmaddox1981]

So apparently what I thought was a bronze mix tom is actually a naraggansett (sp) hen. Oops.
I forgot my husband and his dad used to raise turkeys. I had sent him some pics and he called me to tell me that I need to get my glasses checked b/c that was a girl.