Turkeys 101 - New To Turkeys (What Do I Need To Know?)

[R2elk]

I have a question about mixing brooders of birds? I was planning on getting some geese and turkeys at the same time but I read in the OP that mixing with water fowl is a bad idea. Does this include geese as well?

One more question, we have a 500 acre farm I will to raise them on but I plan on "letting them go" on decent size field with plenty of thickets in between two large cow pastures for them to live once they are grown enough. They will access to water but is this a bad idea? Do they need to be supervised everyday? I wanted to see if they could survive and reproduce on their own so we could have turkeys 365 days and use them for meat.

I don't want to give the sense that I'm neglecting them just seeing if they will be alright on pasture without having to bring them in everyday. Should I build a roost and cover for them up high to avoid predators?


Thanks!

Geese are waterfowl also so not a good idea to brood them with turkey poults.

Turning the turkeys out to survive on their own is likely to result with most of them lost to predators. You didn't say whether these are of the broad breasted variety or heritage turkeys. Broad breasted turkeys will have almost no chance of reproducing on their own. Heritage turkeys will be able to reproduce if they survive the predators. You will also need to supplement their food during the winter and early spring since you are trying to contain them in a "small" area. Wild turkeys would just leave the area when food becomes difficult to find.

 

[buckinbunnies]

hi everyone! im new to turkeys and have some questions. my turkeys are all 1 yr old now. i live in se mo. everyone else in my area turkeys are laying now but i have yet to get any eggs from mine. my tom is strutting and gobbling like crazy and trying to breed with the hens but they dont seem to be letting him. i feed game bird feed like everyone here suggested they have constant water just wondering if they need anything else or just behind the times? lol any advice is greatly appriciated thanks in advance.

 

[feedman77]

hi everyone! im new to turkeys and have some questions. my turkeys are all 1 yr old now. i live in se mo. everyone else in my area turkeys are laying now but i have yet to get any eggs from mine. my tom is strutting and gobbling like crazy and trying to breed with the hens but they dont seem to be letting him. i feed game bird feed like everyone here suggested they have constant water just wondering if they need anything else or just behind the times? lol any advice is greatly appriciated thanks in advance.

I'm in north central mo. I think I got my first turkey egg last night. But so far my girls have not started yet. But they have been matinh for about two weeks now. So I'm hoping it won't be long.

 

[buckinbunnies]

I just went out to check for eggs from chickens and turkeys both and I have a royal palm hen yelping excessively. More than normal. I bet she yelped for 2 minutes straight without taking a breath lol.

 

[buckinbunnies]

ok so i just found out my turkeys may not be getting enough protein to lay. they are getting about 22% best i can find right now. any suggestions on what i can give them for more protein?

 

[R2elk]

ok so i just found out my turkeys may not be getting enough protein to lay. they are getting about 22% best i can find right now. any suggestions on what i can give them for more protein?

Your hens are getting plenty of protein for them to begin laying. I feed my adult turkeys 16% layer feed and give them oyster shell free choice. Mine are doing fine on that. I have two hens that are laying and two hens that are not laying. The two that are laying are young hens that were hatched last year. The other two hens are older and each year that passes, they start laying later.

The requirement for higher protein is for the poults who really do need a 28% to 30% protein for at least their first 2 weeks.

Turkeys normally start laying when they get 14 hours of daylight. Older turkeys often start laying later than young hens.

Good luck.

 

[buckinbunnies]

Thanks R2elk. All my turkeys were supposedly hatched last spring. 1 tom 3 hens. Maybe they are just late bloomers lol.

 

[WindyHillFarm]

Really valuable info! Our bronze turkeys are arriving next week or so and we've only ever raised chickens so this is great stuff. Thanks a million.

 

[MamaBear0128]

Well, I'm really believing I have a male/female at this point. I took another good look today. I know they are still young. However, I noticed that one of them has white barring on the wing feathers and the wing feathers seem longer. The middle toe looks much longer on the one versus the other. The other doesn't have the barring but only a few small specks of white and the wing feathers are smaller/shorter. Way different in length of neck and Johnny's head is bigger too. They both have all their wing feathers. They still have the soft fuzzy faces and chest but their back feathers and tail feathers are coming in at this point.

Tonight.....one of the chickens got too close for his liking and he started hopping like a wild rabbit and fluttered his wings as he threw his legs up at her. He then landed on his feet and promptly strutted back over to lil June. Is this normal at this age? I'm thinking they must be 3-4 weeks old. Ohhh I hope Johnny isn't going to be a stinker! I really don't want to eat him. I want raise him as a part of the family farm to admire. I'll be really disappointed.

 

[Mikefinger]

For the first time we are raising turkeys. I have 7 1 week old broad breasted bronze. How high should I set the roost for them when it comes time to put them out in the coop?