Turkey Talk for 2014

[Reyvaughn]

Oh, my Turkey dreams are coming true!
I contacted a lady about Sweetgrass Turkey eggs. She's asking an insanely low price per dozen and I told her I would like 2 dozen when they start laying. If I can get my Sweetgrass, I will need no other turkeys - not even the broad breasted for eating. I still have that BR tom all by himself and I was thinking about getting him 2-3 girlfriends yet. I don't know. Maybe I will throw a Sweetgrass in with him and try picking up another slate/self blue and a bronze for him. Yep - a mixed pen - just to play!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Ok so I ordered my turkey poults for this year! First time ever with Turkey's. But come the first of April I have got some Bourbon Reds coming to the farm! I have six reserved... 2 for a possible breeding pair, 2-3 for Thanksgiving dinner ( I have lots of family coming) and an extra just in case. Is that enough? I know they can be a little tricky when they're young. Any tips??

They are easiest when raised with chicks their age or a couple days older. The chicks teach them to eat, drink & find the heat.

So I guess my turkeys are mad at me for penning them up. No eggs today : (. I put my royal palm hen and tom in along with my two blue slate hens into a breeding pen. My extra tom spent the entire day strutting around the outside of the fence. So my question to everyone is - Do you only put one tom in with a set of hens or is it ok to put two toms in a breeding pen?? They have been raised together and have been free range until now. The boys are usually always together.

As long as they are not fighting they should be fine. Both of my toms are currently in with my 4 hens. The slightly older 1 is definitely dominant so the younger boy does not challenge him. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they are not fighting & the hens are not being over bred.

whats a good price to sell 8 month old turkeys. I am thinking of selling my 3 heritage breed turkeys all are very friendly and different breeds 2 hens a royal palm and a blue slate and tom bourbon red. 

Around here, good quality breeders go for $30-50 each depending on breed, age & whether or not they are proven breeders.

Oh, my Turkey dreams are coming true!
I contacted a lady about Sweetgrass Turkey eggs.  She's asking an insanely low price per dozen and I told her I would like 2 dozen when they start laying.  If I can get my Sweetgrass, I will need no other turkeys - not even the broad breasted for eating.  I still have that BR tom all by himself and I was thinking about getting him 2-3 girlfriends yet.  I don't know.  Maybe I will throw a Sweetgrass in with him and try picking up another slate/self blue and a bronze for him.  Yep - a mixed pen - just to play!

Would love contact info for the sweetgrass breeder if possible!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My "new" pair from October are still not laying or my younger poults. still waiting....
Will be so excited when I can start poults! We are still seeing a few sub zero temps so its ok.
I do egg checks as often as possible, and see my tom is strutting and shaking that tail!
He gobbles, struts and shows me he is a handsome guy but is not aggressive at all.He is much more curious than the hen.
The hen is still really timid but will at least take mealies from me now.
No active breeding here yet.

 

[Arielle]

I went to put the turkeys and chickens in tonight and one of the hens had an injury. My hens are pretty friendly, but she saw the can of Blucote and wasn't having any of it. As I was trying to catch her, I accidently "cornered" (in the middle of the coop) my fool of a rooster. He came at my face and I never saw him coming. He grabbed my glasses and yanked them off. You'd think they'd be pretty easy to find. An hour and a half of me crawling along the coop floor, sifting through all the bedding by hand and both my neighbors raking everything out to spread on the ground, which I then went through by hand. My neighbor had tried his metal detector earlier with no hits. I asked him to try it again and he found them, still in the coop. The rooster had yanked them off, then thrown them behind me. They had landed right up against the wall. We had all searched that area multiple times. It was dark by then. The good news? I got the hen doctored. But spraying something in the semi dark with no glasses gets you 2 purple hands. As for the rooster, he's had all the chances he's going to get. Always an adventure!

THe rooster is protecting his space and his harem, as he is supposed to. I keep the roosters that care about their job. I look at my role in instigating the situation.

Good for you to not give up and find those glasses. I can't live without mine either.

 

[Arielle]

Can you keep both Turkeys and Chickens?

I have no experience with Turkeys, but I would love to be able to keep them on my heritage breed farm.

What do they require?

Much like chickens, but larger everything: more food, bigger doorways, stronger roosts with wider boards, larger coop for the same number if they were chickens.

I highly recommend reading thru the TUrkeys for 2013 thread and see if that gives you the answers. ANd more!

 

[gevshiba]

THe rooster is protecting his space and his harem, as he is supposed to. I keep the roosters that care about their job. I look at my role in instigating the situation.

Good for you to not give up and find those glasses. I can't live without mine either.

This rooster beats up my turkey hens constantly. This is the third time he's come at my face. If I hadn't been wearing glasses, he'd have gotten my eye. He and 3 others came with my turkey poults last year as males for warmth. I never wanted Buff Orpingtons. I want Speckled Sussex. So he's going and I'm looking for SS eggs to hatch. BTW, he's the first to run for cover if there's a threat, lol!

 

[chicken pickin]

This rooster beats up my turkey hens constantly. This is the third time he's come at my face. If I hadn't been wearing glasses, he'd have gotten my eye. He and 3 others came with my turkey poults last year as males for warmth. I never wanted Buff Orpingtons. I want Speckled Sussex. So he's going and I'm looking for SS eggs to hatch. BTW, he's the first to run for cover if there's a threat, lol!

LOL so hes not a very good rooster. If he lived here he would have already been put in the freezer.

I hope you find your SS.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THe BO I raise don't do that-- maybe the difference of lines. I have 1 SS rooster that is very protective of his girls, especially when free ranging and he has predators to deal with; and he came here as an adult, no one I raised. Generally I don't go between him and his girls. All his sons that I raised are just fine.

Having enough space can also be an issue. My tukeys and chickens are cooped separately; so any conflicts that arise during freeranging is settled quickly as all animals have room to skiddadle.

IF you cull him, he'll be good eating!!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Ok so I ordered my turkey poults for this year! First time ever with Turkey's. But come the first of April I have got some Bourbon Reds coming to the farm! I have six reserved... 2 for a possible breeding pair, 2-3 for Thanksgiving dinner ( I have lots of family coming) and an extra just in case. Is that enough? I know they can be a little tricky when they're young. Any tips??

I would think that would be plenty if they all live. They're more sensitive to shipping stress than chicks, so if they're being shipped you may lose some during or soon after transit. Ideally you'll be able to have more than one hen left for breeding.

If you have experience brooding chicks and have good survival rates, then you should do well with poults. Ideally, brood them with several chicks, either the same age or a few days older, but no more than a week older. Chicks are hatched with all the normal feeding/drinking/dust bathing/foraging behaviors already hardwired into their brains. Poults need to be taught these behaviors, either by their mother, or by you, or by a few chicks. Brooding them without chick tutors would be a lot more work, and probably with lower survival rates. This year was my first time brooding poults. I got 10 poults and 7 chicks from the same hatchery. Shipping was delayed by a day, and 3 of the poults died in transit. But all 7 of the poults that arrived alive did great, brooded with 7 chicks, using the same brooding technique that I've always used for chicks. (When you get chicks to raise with turkeys, be sure you either get them from the same hatchery, or from a hatchery or farm that doesn't have blackhead disease. Blackhead is carried by chickens and is harmless to them. But it kills turkeys. So turkeys should only be raised with chickens that have never been exposed to blackhead. If the farm/hatchery that you get your chicks from doesn't also have turkeys and doesn't know about blackhead, you can contact the county ag extension office where the farm is to find out if they have blackhead in their area, since it only exists in certain regions in the U.S.)

For feeding, growing turkeys need a higher protein diet than chickens, but many chickens can eat a higher protein diet than is marketed for them. Most people that raise both together feed 22-25% protein foods. Most meat bird specialty diet is 22%, so you may be able to find that in some areas. If you can't find that, you can mix chick starter (18% protein) and game bird starter (30% protein) together in the same feeder. That worked well for me. I wouldn't feed only game bird starter (recommended for heritage turkeys the first 8 weeks) to chicks, and also wouldn't feed only chick starter to poults, But mixing them together worked very well for both species.

 

[R2elk]

For feeding, growing turkeys need a higher protein diet than chickens, but many chickens can eat a higher protein diet than is marketed for them. Most people that raise both together feed 22-25% protein foods. Most meat bird specialty diet is 22%, so you may be able to find that in some areas. If you can't find that, you can mix chick starter (18% protein) and game bird starter (30% protein) together in the same feeder. That worked well for me. I wouldn't feed only game bird starter (recommended for heritage turkeys the first 8 weeks) to chicks, and also wouldn't feed only chick starter to poults, But mixing them together worked very well for both species.

I raise chicks and poults together and feed turkey starter to both of them with no ill effects to either. I have done some research on this subject and while the chicks do not require the higher protein in the turkey starter, it isn't going to hurt them for all the longer period they are on it. I also free range all of my poultry and they all eat the same high protein forage that they find on their own. The reason that companies sell the lower protein feed for chickens is because the chickens can live on it and the companies can make a higher profit on it because it costs less to make.