Turkeys as pets??

[Sparrow]

I'm just curious...am I the only person around who wants to keep a couple turkeys as pets? Everyone I meet laughs at the idea or thinks I'm kidding!

Seriously, I'd love to have a pair of pet turkeys in my backyard! I'm going to do it someday, too, as soon as I can get ahold of some. My feed store was getting some in the other day, and a lady beat me to them and bought all 20 babies for her kids' 4H projects. Crushing.

Anyway, I just want to know if I just come up with crazy pet ideas or if I'm really not *very*(key word there!) far off my rocker.

 

[suenrob]

Well, I have been looking for turkey's too!!! I would like to get eggs and hatch myself. So you are not the only one. We can be crazy together!!!!!!!

 

[newbiecaroline]

Hi there, I think you're completely sane. Like me. lol
I plan on some too.
What would be interesting to find out through your post is which breed will make the most 'pettish' of all the turkey breeds...I hope to find calm non aggressive turkeys if there is such a thing?

 

[Double-T-Family-Farm]

we had 2 toms and 5 hen turkeys as pets a couple years ago.. but the toms became so mean so we got rid o them.. and i bought two more last weekend.. lol

 

[southernsibe]

I've told my turkey story a couple of times, but I love it so here goes....

I was buying chicks for my kids, and dh was at work every time we happened to go get them. The first time he had the chance he took all of us to the feed store so he could be there for "the pick". Well, that day, no chicks! But there were turkeys, and he was not going to go home empty handed, so we left with two turkeys, one for each kid. I was a bit skeptical because "people" had said that turkeys were really stupid and I should never get them. I'm glad we ignored them. The turkeys have turned out to be one of the best additions to our family we ever did. I have a tom and a hen, they are royal palms.

If you are looking for a pet, I would definitely recommend one of the heritage breeds. They live longer for one thing, without the myriad of health problems that plague the meat birds. They can also reproduce, which the meat birds can not do. I'm not saying those birds wouldn't make good pets, I can't speak to that, I've not had one, but it seems that they have a lot of problems the heritage breeds don't.


Our turkeys follow us around the yard, literally everywhere. They are very curious, and interested in everything we do. When someone new comes, they expect to meet them and give their opinion on them. When we had loggers here, they also inspected the equipment to make sure it was all in working order

This spring we did have to make sure that our Tom could get too close to our daughter, she is only 2, and when she sits down or squats to play in the yard, she is just the right size and height to look like a hen. So....We made sure that he couldn't get close to her. It has gotten a bit better within the past two weeks or so. I still don't trust him with her by herself, she is too small. This is the only problem I have had with them. Once in a while, someone may be intimidated by them because they show no fear when someone comes up the walk way, and they will go to greet them. There has only been one or two times when they have challenged someone and not wanted them to come on the porch.

This is a link to feathersite
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Turkeys/BRKTurkey.html


I'm also going to add, we got three more turkeys this year!!! A different breed, we got Rio Grande

This was a lot more long winded then I intended. I'll finish with my turkeys are beloved, and I am very happy we decided to get them.

Rachel

 

[boilerjoe_96]

OK, I'll add my two cents...

My chickens run around the place without a fence. So far I have been lucky with coyotes and hawks... Anyway, we got 4 Royal palm tukeys hoping to keep them as pets and to sit on eggs. We had a Broad Breasted Bronze, he was the nicest guy, great personality...but his time came...

So the 4 RP's would fly up to the roof of the house and poop everywhere. Now with 20 chickens running everywhere and 3 pigs(penned of course) a little poop doesn't bother me..... However, these 4 pooping machines were something else. It was all over our back patio and even I thought it was a health hazard.

Then in January one of the darn things knocked a heat lamp(for broody chicken in barn) over and I had a 14K fire. The RP's I had were not friendly(as the BBB was), pooped everywhere and almost burnt the barn down(somehow the chickens lived though a very smokey fire(100 bales of hay burnt).

Needlessly to say...the Turkey were sold and we have no plans on anymore.... At least the turkey's we had were not up to having no restrictions on them. Maybe inside a fence???

 

[coopist]

My experience is somewhere in between. I used to raise Royal Palms. Mine were friendly and good-tempered, especially the hens. But yeah, they were always flying up on the roof, definitely. They were h*ll on the paint job on the vehicles around here too, LOL, until I penned them up in a covered pen. I don't raise them anymore, but I wouldn't rule it out for the future, depending on if I get a bigger place with a nice big pen for them. I wouldn't recommend them as pets for folks without much room, unless they just wanted maybe one or two hens. The toms are a pain, but nice-looking birds when they strut.

 

[wynedot55]

nothing wrong with turkeys as pets.ive got a hen with 10 poults now.so im going to try an raise them.now like you said you need to watch the toms.because they could get mean in general or breeding season.i wont put up with a mean tom.

 

[Frosty]

Lots of folks keep them as pets... from what I hear Lilacs are some of the best temperament wise. I had a Bourbon Red that would let me carry him around, and a Narrigansett tom that would display and gobble when I talked to him in a high pitched voice saying 'prettttty baby!' The Narri tom started acting aggressive when he was about 4 years old, though. Then when I was cooking him, I made the stupid mistake of splashing him with brandy before putting him in the oven and the alcohol fumes must have reached the flash point. Blew open the oven door and caught a dish towel hanging nearby on fire...

Anyhow, if you want it as a pet, I would definitely recommend a heritage type. My experience with Palms is that they do tend to be flighty.

 

[Becky89*]

Sparrow,

I keep a group of Broadbreasted Bronze Turkeys as pets and we have only ever had to butchur them and start over because of one dog attack.

My Turkeys before the dog attack were Victor (52 pounds) Maxwell (48 pounds) Penny (25) and Dana (34)

The turkeys that I have now love to strut around and gooble at the wind

I love my Turkeys

They are really good for school groups to cause I'll let them out of the fence and they will walk right up to the kids and stand or sit beside them so they can pet them and see what a turkey feels and looks like.

The Turkeys that I have now are Taylor, Danny, Johnny (all males) and then Morgan and Anne for my to females.