Turkeys For 2013

[chicks and hens2]

Hi,I am brand new to raising turkey's. We just purchased 3 Eastern Wild hens and a tom.They were a flock of 6 hens and 1 Tom. They are about 1year and almost 1- 1/2 yrs. The lady said she had researched different flocks before getting them and so they were originally from different flocks. I did ask at what age she purchased them, but she wasn't sure of their exact ages she had some of them for 3 mos and some for 2 months.They were free ranged and fed some feed, bread etc. She had a LOT of other fowl and poultry roaming from Geese, Narragansett's, ducks, chickens and this flock of Eastern Wild Turkey's . The tom doesn't "gobble" yet although he makes a clucking type warning noise I've heard the Hens making their cooing noises.

When Does the tom start gobbling?

I thought it would be before now.
He doesn't have a full snood, it's just starting to grow down his beak. She thought he was between a year and one half and 2 years

She had separated them from the rest of the other poultry flocks about 2 weeks ago so she could determine if they were laying yet. She thought they had been laying but since she moved them she hadn't seen any eggs.
We will keep these for breeding stock.

I have a question...We feed our poultry organically. If we switch these to organic feed will the eggs laid be organic when she starts laying? or if we let her raise some poult's will they be organic?

Also Since the previous owner thought she was laying should I feed her the Layer I feed my chickens, or Turkey grower or a combination?

They will be able to forage once they are used to their new home.

The grower is 20.5 % protein with o.87% min and 1.10% max calcium and the pullet layer is 16% protein and has min of 3.50% calcium and a max of 4.40 % calcium plus they have free choice calcium in a separate container,
Sorry for all the questions in one post.

OH,I also bought 6 Bronze turkey poult's that were born almost a week ago that were at a TSC (Dell's Farm supply here). They stumbled around and if they fell on their back the first couple days they had a hard time turning over. I had some larger shavings in the brooder thinking that would keep them from eating them but it made them more unstable so I switched to the smaller shavings (white only)
and they seemed to do better,they weren't very good at eating so I bought some chicks and they seemed to learn pretty quickly what to do.I am feeding them a chick starter and turkey grower ( they are in the form of grains (rather than crumbles or pellets) and other stuff so I had to grind it a little finer. I know they need 30% protein, so I read on here I should give them meal worms and hard boiled eggs (smashed) which I've been doing. The other post said not more than 1/3 of their daily feed ration, but I'm not sure what that is so I've been feeding them a couple tsp of egg and about one tsp of meal worms twice a day but they don't generally eat all the egg. Is this right?

I came home today and one was dead with a mouth full of shavings. Don't know if it was eating the shavings or if it was having trouble and had it's face pushed into the shavings and then couldn't breathe. It must have been within just a little while of dying because it was still warm and not rigid. I felt so bad,but know that this occasionally happens.
Not sure what I can do to prevent further deaths if anything. I've read on other posts that if you can keep them alive til they are out of the brooder they're pretty hardy animals.

ANY HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. Thanks in advance

The wings of the Eastern Wild turkey's were clipped by the previous owner,do any of you clip the wings? If so, How often? we don't have many predator's here, just our dogs and they wouldn't be out on their own without us.These won't totally free range they will be in a protected run and we have hoop coops that we'll move around for them to get fresh grass on

 

[joshm97]

Up here in New England the eggs usually get laid in April to June. maybe march. But one of my hens decided to lay eggs in the middle of December
To the end of January... Hens can be goofy!!!

 

[joshm97]

Wild turkeys, even their closely resembled cousins that few have on the farm. Domestic eastern are very, how you could say, flighty. Some birds may have bad experience with another gobbler. If he was gobbling with or at another Tom( adult male) or a jake(male under age of 2 years) he may have been severely attacked there for is call shy. You will possibly here gobbles but he is also closely related to our wild birds out in the fields (where are you located I would love to get my hands on some easterns

Hi,I am brand new to raising turkey's. We just purchased 3 Eastern Wild hens and a tom.They were a flock of 6 hens and 1 Tom. They are about 1year and almost 1- 1/2 yrs. The lady said she had researched different flocks before getting them and so they were originally from different flocks. I did ask at what age she purchased them, but she wasn't sure of their exact ages she had some of them for 3 mos and some for 2 months.They were free ranged and fed some feed, bread etc. She had a LOT of other fowl and poultry roaming from Geese, Narragansett's, ducks, chickens and this flock of Eastern Wild Turkey's . The tom doesn't "gobble" yet although he makes a clucking type warning noise I've heard the Hens making their cooing noises.

When Does the tom start gobbling?

I thought it would be before now.
He doesn't have a full snood, it's just starting to grow down his beak. She thought he was between a year and one half and 2 years

She had separated them from the rest of the other poultry flocks about 2 weeks ago so she could determine if they were laying yet. She thought they had been laying but since she moved them she hadn't seen any eggs.
We will keep these for breeding stock.

I have a question...We feed our poultry organically. If we switch these to organic feed will the eggs laid be organic when she starts laying? or if we let her raise some poult's will they be organic?

Also Since the previous owner thought she was laying should I feed her the Layer I feed my chickens, or Turkey grower or a combination?

They will be able to forage once they are used to their new home.

The grower is 20.5 % protein with o.87% min and 1.10% max calcium and the pullet layer is 16% protein and has min of 3.50% calcium and a max of 4.40 % calcium plus they have free choice calcium in a separate container,
Sorry for all the questions in one post.

OH,I also bought 6 Bronze turkey poult's that were born almost a week ago that were at a TSC (Dell's Farm supply here). They stumbled around and if they fell on their back the first couple days they had a hard time turning over. I had some larger shavings in the brooder thinking that would keep them from eating them but it made them more unstable so I switched to the smaller shavings (white only)
and they seemed to do better,they weren't very good at eating so I bought some chicks and they seemed to learn pretty quickly what to do.I am feeding them a chick starter and turkey grower ( they are in the form of grains (rather than crumbles or pellets) and other stuff so I had to grind it a little finer. I know they need 30% protein, so I read on here I should give them meal worms and hard boiled eggs (smashed) which I've been doing. The other post said not more than 1/3 of their daily feed ration, but I'm not sure what that is so I've been feeding them a couple tsp of egg and about one tsp of meal worms twice a day but they don't generally eat all the egg. Is this right?

I came home today and one was dead with a mouth full of shavings. Don't know if it was eating the shavings or if it was having trouble and had it's face pushed into the shavings and then couldn't breathe. It must have been within just a little while of dying because it was still warm and not rigid. I felt so bad,but know that this occasionally happens.
Not sure what I can do to prevent further deaths if anything. I've read on other posts that if you can keep them alive til they are out of the brooder they're pretty hardy animals.

ANY HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. Thanks in advance

The wings of the Eastern Wild turkey's were clipped by the previous owner,do any of you clip the wings? If so, How often? we don't have many predator's here, just our dogs and they wouldn't be out on their own without us.These won't totally free range they will be in a protected run and we have hoop coops that we'll move around for them to get fresh grass on

 

[ashandvine]

Beltsville Small Whites. I raise them (got them from Jerry Poole's flock) and am fully aware they are different from the Midget Whites: Thanks though.

YEY! Its so nice to have someone know. I know that sounds odd but I have people tell me all the time they are the same and to show them that way. If you are trying to represent a breed then pretending its another isn't helping, if you get me. I really like your Buff Saddle Pom avatar. I tried for a quad of them this year and had a mishap... the guy let them get out and they found water never to return.

 

[Ryan521]

Good news today. It's day 25 since i first put my eggs in the bator and the first 2 have already started to pip.



The first one started before i even moved them to the hatcher.

 

[chicken pickin]

Wow 3 days early thats exciting! How many eggs in the hatcher and what kind?

 

[Ryan521]

8 eggs and all are White Holland Turkey. I opened up the hatcher real quick to make some adjustments a minute ago and heard one peeping at me.

 

[gevshiba]

Hi, I've been reading and lurking on this thread. Today I ordered my poults so I thought I'd better subscribe to keep up better. I raised 5 Eastern Wild last year. I just ordered 15 BBB. It's not what I wanted, but I'm keeping them at the neighbor's place and I'm hoping these won't fly over the fences and upset the neighbors. They will be in a covered run after the brooder, until they are big enough to not attract hawks, then in a fenced area. This is my first time brooding and I'm a bit nervous about it. Last year the poults were 7 weeks when I got them. I'm sure I'll have questions later.

 

[Celie]

I don't think so. The liquid inside should be cloudy. One of the brands is Braggs and I think Heinz does too. Below is a photo of home made and I'm showing it to you to see how cloudy it is I can't remember what brand Walmart carries but I've seen it there. It will say unfiltered and somewhere on the front will say with Mother or Mother intact. At Walmart I found it with the rest of the vinegars. At my grocery store it is with the organic foods. It's very easy to make but takes a couple of months.

Wal-mart sells Heinz in my area. I bought a couple bottles and then started using frozen apple juice concentrate with what was left in a couple bottles to make more, worked pretty well and a lot less $. You could also take a cheaper bottle of apple cider, add the ACV or some mother from it, put aside for a few weeks and use that too. It's like Sour dough bread starter, you save some and the yeast multiplies so you have it forever !

8 eggs and all are White Holland Turkey. I opened up the hatcher real quick to make some adjustments a minute ago and heard one peeping at me.

Sounds exciting ! Please keep us posted?

Of course, we want pictures, too !!!!!!! LOL

 

[Ryan521]

Quote: Trust me the second one pops out everyone that i can tell is going to know.