Turkeys and Electric Netting

[Berd Man]

I decided to weigh my jakes the other day. They just started week 15 and they were all between 10-11lbs… I was a little surprised for how big they look that they weren’t very heavy…I’ve been seeing that people harvest Broad Breasted varieties around 16 weeks and heritage varieties around 24-28 weeks. They still have some time yet to grow I suppose.

Any of you that eat heritage birds know if I’m on track for a decent normal sized bird at the size they’re at now in their life? They started on Purina 30% Gamebird and now are on the 19% Grower/Flight conditioner. I give no treats, just a scoop of feed at night to lock them up.

I was informed by someone else that sometimes heritage birds need a full year and are best right before / at the second winter season. Don’t know if that’s true or not.

 

[R2elk]

I decided to weigh my jakes the other day. They just started week 15 and they were all between 10-11lbs… I was a little surprised for how big they look that they weren’t very heavy…I’ve been seeing that people harvest Broad Breasted varieties around 16 weeks and heritage varieties around 24-28 weeks. They still have some time yet to grow I suppose.

Any of you that eat heritage birds know if I’m on track for a decent normal sized bird at the size they’re at now in their life? They started on Purina 30% Gamebird and now are on the 19% Grower/Flight conditioner. I give no treats, just a scoop of feed at night to lock them up.

I was informed by someone else that sometimes heritage birds need a full year and are best right before / at the second winter season. Don’t know if that’s true or not.

I leave feed and water available to my turkeys all the time.

I would put them on a 20% protein all flock feed.

To get a full size heritage turkey, it needs to be at least one year old although I have harvested 8 to 12 lb. dressed weight heritage toms at 6 months old.

 

[Chicken Heel]

I leave feed and water available to my turkeys all the time.

I would put them on a 20% protein all flock feed.

To get a full size heritage turkey, it needs to be at least one year old although I have harvested 8 to 12 lb. dressed weight heritage toms at 6 months old.

Mine were 9 weeks old as of yesterday and I have been feeding them Kalmbach 20% Flock Maker since they were 6 weeks old. Before that, I had them on a 28% Starter. And as R2elk suggested, mine have access to their feed and water all the time. They have really taken off in size over the past couple of weeks.

 

[Berd Man]

I leave feed and water available to my turkeys all the time.

I would put them on a 20% protein all flock feed.

To get a full size heritage turkey, it needs to be at least one year old although I have harvested 8 to 12 lb. dressed weight heritage toms at 6 months old.

I’m allowing them to feed freely. They have a platform where other birds cannot reach their food. I can switch to flock raiser 20% easily. I’m guessing the flight developer is more for aged turkeys? Or maybe pheasant…

Thanks for the more accurate timeline on the heritage birds as well.

 

[Molpet]

heritage varieties around 24-28 weeks. They still have some time yet to grow I suppose.

I start harvesting around that time. The year I kept them on the expensive purina 28%, jakes dressed out 17lbs.... after that I had them on a local farmers all stock, instead of all flock... they dressed out 10-12lbs. The all Flock they have been dressing out around 15lbs.
The ones that I let go a year or older have a very nice fat cap that bastes the bird and probably weighs a lb or more. They are closer to 20lbs

 

[Chicken Heel]

I start harvesting around that time. The year I kept them on the expensive purina 28%, jakes dressed out 17lbs.... after that I had them on a local farmers all stock, instead of all flock... they dressed out 10-12lbs. The all Flock they have been dressing out around 15lbs.
The ones that I let go a year or older have a very nice fat cap that bastes the bird and probably weighs a lb or more. They are closer to 20lbs

With that fat cap mention, it appears that my Toms get at least a year.

 

[R2elk]

With that fat cap mention, it appears that my Toms get at least a year.

Mine put on a wonderful layer of fat from eating the Russian olives in the fall.

 

[Berd Man]

Mine put on a wonderful layer of fat from eating the Russian olives in the fall.

You know, I was just noticing they can hop and get up to them far better than the chickens can. My kids are always tossing them Russian olives. Those thorns are bad though!

 

[R2elk]

You know, I was just noticing they can hop and get up to them far better than the chickens can. My kids are always tossing them Russian olives. Those thorns are bad though!

I have a couple of trees in their run that I stand there and strip the olives off. All the birds gather around me and clean up all the dropped olives.

 

[Berd Man]

Jakes and jennies are 16 weeks old now. I did switch to a 20% all flock. I’m using Purina for now but will be sourcing some organic 20% from a feed mill.

The new hen has fully integrated with the flock. I observed her mate with one of the jakes the other day. I doubt it was successful. Managed to record one of the failed attempts. I found some hen aprons from OneMountainAcres on Etsy and got a couple. This hen already was a little ragged and now that five jakes have their eye on her I’ll be keeping it on her to keep her from going bald.

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• Berd Man
• Aug 21, 2024

16 week old jakes

I also found an egg in their roosting area. Unfortunately with all of them in there walking around they crushed it…

The two new poults are still very nervous and get bullied too much to be out with the older turkeys. They are separated by a fence but can still see and interact with the other turkeys. Hopefully after a few weeks of growing they’ll be able to merge in.