Turkey Talk for 2014

[Nickeyo]

There's a disease called Blackhead. It can be carried by chickens without affecting them, but it kills turkeys. It doesn't exist in all areas of the world. In the U.S., some counties don't have it at all, and chickens and turkeys are safely kept together. In other counties turkeys cannot be kept with chickens, or on farms where chickens have been kept within many years. They county agricultural extension offices keep track of that sort of thing, and can advise people if Blackhead is a problem in their area. I don't know if this disease exists in the UK.

Heritage turkeys are excellent free rangers, and can fly quite well. Commercial turkeys, the broad breasted bronze and broad breasted whites, cannot fly well at all, and tend to be so large that they can only free range over a limited area. Given the size of an adult broad breasted commercial turkey, it could possibly intimidate a fox or badger, but definitely couldn't outrun it if the predator wasn't impressed by the size. A juvenile would be much more vulnerable. The heritage turkeys might suffer a few losses due to surprise attacks from an experienced predator, but could probably fly away from most situations given a few moments lead time, as long as their wings weren't clipped. A very large or older tom might have difficulty getting off the ground, but again their size might be intimidating. It all depends on the individual birds, and the layout of the land. If foxes and badgers are truly your only predators, then a well mowed field with some 6 foot high perches would likely be quite effective, as the predators would be easily seen and the high perches would be easily reached by the birds but not easily by the predators. A wooded or highly landscaped area might give the predators the advantage, as there would be lots of areas of cover for surprise attacks. The only differences in vulnerability between male and female would be size (males are between 1.3 to 2 times larger than the females, depending on your group) and egg laying or brooding. The females would be quite vulnerable on the nest.

Thankyou for the information. My landscape is very common english farmland, fields surrounded by hedges and trees dotted about, I also have a stream that is covered by trees and a small orchard. How would breeds such as bourbon reds and normal bronze turkeys cope?

 

[AmericanMom]

What a great opportunity you have here!! But decisions, decisions ---

First, do you have the $55-60 to spend? If not, then of course, don't do it.

Second, can you afford to lose the $10 for the eggs if they don't hatch, and another $10-20 if you have to sell the used Hovabator for $25-35 when you paid $45 for it?

Or alternate worst case scenario, can you afford to lose the $10 for the eggs if they don't hatch, and lose access to the $45 you spent on the Hovabator that you keep for another hatch sometime in the future, or to replace your current incubator if it breaks (because you don't actually lose the $45 if you keep the Hovabator, you just lose the ability to use that money for something else)?

Third, do you have room to brood a second hatch if you can't sell the 1-3 day old poults right away?

Fourth, do you actually want to do it? Just because the opportunity is great doesn't mean that it's something that you want to do.

If the answer to everything is yes, then what's stopping you??? There's the potential that you could make $180 in return for a $55-60 investment, plus retain the use of a $45 piece of equipment, which could give you the opportunity to repeat that income regularly with only an additional $10 investment in eggs. Even if only 6 out of 18 hatch and are sold, you've made your money back and now have a new Hovabator, which you can keep or resell, essentially for free.

If you don't want to buy the new Hovabator but still want to hatch out the eggs, have you gotten onto your local BYC thread to ask if anyone locally has any extra incubator space? You might find someone who would be glad to incubate them for you in exchange for half the hatch, or whatever other payment that you find fair. That way you're only risking $10, and get the chance to meet another poultry enthusiast in person. Or maybe the local feed store would be willing to set up a demonstration of an incubator in use to promote the sale of incubators, and would be willing to use your eggs. They get the sales boost, you get whatever hatches, which you could sell yourself at $10 each, or sell back to them wholesale at say, $5 each, so for a $10 investment in eggs you may lose it all, or potentially make up to $90 with no effort, or up to $180 if you want to deal with the public.

Lots of possibilities. But you need to want to do it.

Thank you so much for your input...I had come to the same conclusion last night, although I have plenty of room to brood them and the $10. for the eggs is not a problem ( sold eggs over the weekend), it was purchasing another incubator for just this... I have set up my little farm so hopefully next year I wont be using my incubator as much.. I have invested in more hearty breeds of chickens that hopefully can do the work for me.. I emailed her last night and told her I just couldn't afford the extra expense right now.. She emailed me back this morning and has offered me the use of her incubator free of charge.. Its the same until I have except hers has a fan..... I am amazed, I know there are folks out there that are good and trusting but to loan out an incubator to a complete stranger floored me... I emailed her back and told her if she would entrust me with her incubator it would be cared for, I cannot hardly pass it up now.. I'm going to try and work something out that is reasonable, give her some of the money if I am able to sell the chicks if I can hatch them

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
let me know how those poults do.. then I can narrow things down a bit to figure out what the issue is

 

[yinepu]

Hi Turkey Folk...Please let me know if this question has been answered before...I'm located near Denton, TX and am thinking of doing Thanksgiving turkeys this year for the first time. I'm very interested in the heritage breeds available and wondered if anyone had thoughts about which breeds might do best during our very hot summers. Thanks

I'm in Texas too.. and the short answer to your question is ANY

I have had just about every type of heritage turkey over the past few years.. they all did fine with our heat and droughts


So now all you need to do is figure out which variety you want based on size, personality and so on.. since the heritage birds are (sorta, maybe, kindalike) the same bird with just a few differences between varieties.. lol
(for those who are fans of specific varieties.. don't shoot me.. but you do have to admit that the heritage breeds are so darn close it's funny

)...

 

[amscrib]

Awesome! Thanks Yinepu, I will start investigating! Does anyone really worry about coyotes and turkeys? I know they can fly pretty well and roost in trees but I'm sure a coyote could sneak up on one if it tried really hard. Any horror stories I should know about?

 

[Reyvaughn]

let me know how those poults do.. then I can narrow things down a bit to figure out what the issue is

Alright. The one died after externally pipping. I didn't open it all the way, but it didn't absorb all it's blood vessels. It wasn't gooey. The other one I had to assist. It took a bit to long to get out and the fans in the Sportsman dried the membrane to it. This is a common issue I have with the Sportsman. If the chicks take to long, they need me to pull them out, wet them and peel the membrane and shell off for them. The poult that made it would have came out on it's own if it didn't stop zipping. I assume it stopped because the rest of the chicks were rolling it around.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
ok.. first.. is there a way you can block the fan a bit (like add a removable partition to slow down/ redirect the air flow)?.. you don't want to block the flow.. just have it blowing a bit softer or more around the eggs...

Are the poults all making it to hatch then dieing after they pip?.. or are they not making it that far?
and are these your eggs .. or shipped ones?

 

[yinepu]

Awesome! Thanks Yinepu, I will start investigating! Does anyone really worry about coyotes and turkeys? I know they can fly pretty well and roost in trees but I'm sure a coyote could sneak up on one if it tried really hard. Any horror stories I should know about?

we haven't lost any to coyotes... YET

Our turkeys free range and are pinioned (can't fly) so they roost lower to the ground.. BUT we have livestock dogs that protect them at night... so no losses to coyotes so far... even the foxes avoid them because of the guardian dogs..

you stand a higher risk of losing the young ones to foxes (our foxes have no problem attacking birds during the day.. but again the dogs keep them out of the front pasture where the turkeys hang out).. if you are completely overrun by coyotes (more coyotes means a higher chance of daytime attacks)..then I would hope that you can set up some sort of pen or deterrent so the birds can be safe during the day until they learn how to fly

older turkeys will roost in the trees at night and should be fine (especially from the coyotes) unless you have a major raccoon problem... lol.. if it's not one predator.. it's another!

 

[Momhunter]

Since adjusting my temps and humidity I just had my second 100% hatching. Was only three eggs. The real test will be when I put 13 in lockdown Sunday. Fingers crossed that I continue with success. The next three groups are 13, 14 and 11 eggs a week apart, my third hen is just starting laying consistent.

 

[Momhunter]

Awesome! Thanks Yinepu, I will start investigating! Does anyone really worry about coyotes and turkeys? I know they can fly pretty well and roost in trees but I'm sure a coyote could sneak up on one if it tried really hard. Any horror stories I should know about?

Mine free ranged all winter and did great, and I live along Denton creek and have a lot of coyotes. I only penned them when the hens started laying, otherwise I wouldn't be able to find the eggs!! Lol.