Turkey Talk for 2014

[desertmarcy]

Thank you. I might have mentioned before, my coop, which is at the neighbor's house, is built around a cattle handling system. My birds walk through the side of the head gate and down the chute to a side door to get to the run. It's crazy. So when the toms started messing with the roosters, I was going to build some kind of gate the chickens could get through to the coop, but not the turkeys. That way the hens could still go in and lay and the roosters could escape the turkeys. Then it hit me that the tail gate could be let down in the squeeze chute. It doesn't go all the way to the ground, so the chickens and smaller turkeys can pretty much run under. The toms have to scrunch down to get under, but they can. They don't really like to go under unless there's a good reason and chasing the roosters didn't qualify, most times. So I did it again for the jenny. It seems to have worked again. I haven't seen them chasing her anymore. Hopefully, they'll be in the freezer this weekend. I'm still not totally sure how many of the younger ones are toms, but there's at least 2, so all 4 of the older ones can probably go. I'm trying to get down to 5 or 6 turkeys, total.

Sounds like you found a good solution. Are these turkeys broad-breasted or heritage?

 

[gevshiba]

Sounds like you found a good solution. Are these turkeys broad-breasted or heritage?

Heritage. Bourbon Red. The BBB's were much easier. They never did stuff like this. Well, the hens did gang up on the nasty rooster. They'd tag team him. They even went after him when he came after me. My dogs said he was tasty.

 

[desertmarcy]

Heritage. Bourbon Red. The BBB's were much easier. They never did stuff like this. Well, the hens did gang up on the nasty rooster. They'd tag team him. They even went after him when he came after me. My dogs said he was tasty.

Well the heritage are more intelligent, don't you think? And smart creatures find ways to get in trouble because they are inventive and need stimulation

At least that's one way to look at it.

 

[gevshiba]

Well the heritage are more intelligent, don't you think? And smart creatures find ways to get in trouble because they are inventive and need stimulation

At least that's one way to look at it.

Oh, the BR are intelligent. I'm sure mine are bored out of their minds and looking for action. But I will say, my BBB hens were not stupid. They lacked the ability to misbehave to the same extent as the BR's, but not the desire. I gave them to a friend and they met her every day at the door, escorted her to the feed room and waited for her to turn on the big fan so they could chillaxe in front of it during the hot TX summer. My BBB toms were total duds in the personality & intelligent departments. They made it much easier to send them to freezer camp.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Yup!!! Dumping all those empty carbs are great for the heart and blood vessels!! THe docs don't like to tell us that the insulin necessary to move the glucose out of the blood stream ( very important) also causes problems for the lining of the vessels and arteries. We were NOT made to be eating 300 carbs a day. lol

When I was pregnant the first time and had gestational diabetes, the recommendation was to eat 300 carbs a day and take the necessary amt of insulin ( injected) to keep my blood glucose numbers normalized. Well, I tossed that idea, and ate real meats, vegies and generally low carb foods and boy did that keep my blood sugars at a great level and only needed 10 units a day of insulin.

Lots of good low carb options these days to substitute for the familiar ones we are all used to.

As I get ready to go into my second year as a turkey farmer I am curious at to peoples opinions of how many turkeys is best to have a self perpetuating flock? Beyond jut sheer numbers of birds, what are ideal tom to hen ratios?

My only expereince as far as this goes if from my observations while hunting wild turkeys. It seems to me that small flocks come in at 15-20 in the wild and large flocks easily reach 50 birds. So, I guess the answer to my question could be a varied as the number of people who are willing to profer an opinion.

To throw it out there, I currently have 250 acres, but may be moving for work and the property I have my eye on is about 15 acres if I do in fact get the promotion and move to corporate HQ.

I do not believe in the one tom and 3 hen senerio AND keeping new stock year over year. Certainly a trio and quad can be used for MANY years ( keep a back up male) but inbreeding can create problems. Many poo poo this but having bred animals for any years, it is better to exchange good breeding stock with someone else from time to time.

Please read the rotational methods discussed on the ALBC website. Look under the buckeyes for a good explaination. I keep three breeding pens of buckeyes per DOns recommendations; you can swap stock with other breeders if you keep only one pen. Some folks only have room for one pen, or the money for only one pen and that is fine. Just try to find a partner to work with and exchange GOOD specimens for breeding from time to time.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Here's how I do turkey & duck breeders both:
I only keep hens from my own flock to put back in the breeding pens. Males are swapped out with stock from an unrelated flock about every 2 years. This avoids backbreeding for more than 1 generation at any given point in time.

 

[birdman55]

I cant wait till after winter so I can get more turkeys

 

[klilly20]

I cant wait till after winter so I can get more turkeys

I agree with ya. I had a bad year keeping my birds alive past six weeks. I tried some thing different and that oh boy is 13 weeks old and rotten I guess because the whole family loves him. So this spring I am going get me more eggs try it again with my new incubator I got for Christmas

 

[Wasson6Pack]

If anyone has fertile turkey eggs, I have an empty incubator! Let me know.

 

[gevshiba]

I have five, almost 7 month old poults and I still can't tell if they are toms or hens. I'm thinking maybe because I had so many older toms? I put 9 in the freezer this month, plus one of the 6 month olds that had a bad leg. I thought that one might be a tom, but it wasn't. I think 2 might be toms, but I was wrong about the crippled one, so I don't know. If they are all hens, I've made a mistake because I butchered all the older toms. Oops. Snoods all look like hens, two have heads going bald (so did the crippled one) and their legs look heavier. Oh well. I have a plan if I messed up and if I didn't, I have a plan for that too. I might be eating a lot of turkey eggs this year.