Turkeys For 2013

[Celie]

I went to TSC last night to see what kind of "oats" they had and this is what I found. (SEE PICS BELOW) What specifically does the "oats" do for them? How is adding oats to their feed different from feeding any other regular feed? What would a person see in terms of comparison if oats are feed as opposed to if oats are not fed to turkeys?


I also put the ACV in everyone's water as well. I love that stuff.

Do you have horses or any animal that eats oats? Any brand of oats should have about 12% protein and is a natural grain. So I would rather feed that as a scratch grain to give them fiber and by spreading it on the ground where I want them to forage encourages them to do more foraging so they eat more grass too. Whatch for high salt content they put in deerfeed, turkey's need very little.
I'm gonna try the high protein catfish food, you mentioned, too.
If you need incubator room, I have plenty. We need to get together and exchange some eggs, too, so we can hatch a few and have a taste off. I don't mean to hijack your thread, so I'll PM you about it.
I got my first turkey egg of the season today! Very small, about the size of a large chicken hen egg and only one! But it's a start, probably not fertile(haven't checked it yet) and from one if the new younger turkey hens ! Hopefully others will start soon. None from my two older girls, tho !!! I love turkeys, even though DH calls them my new dinosaurs !

 

[kuntrygirl]

I went to TSC last night to see what kind of "oats" they had and this is what I found. (SEE PICS BELOW) What specifically does the "oats" do for them? How is adding oats to their feed different from feeding any other regular feed? What would a person see in terms of comparison if oats are feed as opposed to if oats are not fed to turkeys?



I also put the ACV in everyone's water as well. I love that stuff.

Do you have horses or any animal that eats oats? Any brand of oats should have about 12% protein and is a natural grain. So I would rather feed that as a scratch grain to give them fiber and by spreading it on the ground where I want them to forage encourages them to do more foraging so they eat more grass too. Whatch for high salt content they put in deerfeed, turkey's need very little.
 I'm gonna try the high protein catfish food, you mentioned, too.
If you need incubator room, I have plenty. We need to get together and exchange some eggs, too, so we can hatch a few and have a taste off. I don't mean to hijack your thread, so I'll PM you about it.
I got my first turkey egg of the season today! Very small, about the size of a large chicken hen egg and only one! But it's a start, probably not fertile(haven't checked it yet) and from one if the new younger turkey hens ! Hopefully others will start soon. None from my two older girls, tho !!! I love turkeys, even though DH calls them my new dinosaurs !

No, I don't have any horses or any animals that eat oats. I guess my goat and sheep could benefit from the oats. I think I'm going to try that. Thanks for the tip about oats.

You are not hijacking at all. We're having a good open discussion for everyone. So fire away.

LOL @ taste off. Sounds good to me. CONGRATS on the first egg!!!!!!!!!

I"m not sure if mine are fertile or not, so that's why I have been making scrammbled turkey eggs and omelets.

 

[Celie]

No such thing as a dumb question, so keep the questions coming. Great question - by the way.
In my opinion (and that is worth about 3 cent), I think any breed of turkey can free range and not wander off IF, and only IF, you have raised it from a baby poult and handled it and have had day to day interaction with it, so it knows where HOME is. I think every case will be different. There may be some breeds that will wander off while at the same time that same breed will free range and not wander off. I have day to day interaction with my Bourbon Reds, so they have never and will never wander off. The farthest they go is flying over the fence to the human yard but they fly right back over in the chicken yard when they are done being nosey in the human yard. If they want to see high in the sky and play around, they will fly in the tall pecan trees but when they have had enough of being high in the sky, they will jump down from branch to branch and then fly out of the pecan tree and back into the chicken yard. They know where home is, so they are not going anywhere. It's almost scary because they are so tame that I am afraid that someone could steal them. They will walk up to and go near ANYBODY without any fear or hesitation.

Just my experience.
Let's see what others have to say.

We are not yet completely fenced in and none of my flocks roam, except when the hen turkeys started laying eggs last year. They will go on walk abouts to find secrete places to lay eggs, if they do not like the ones you choose for them and if they aren't "private" enough!!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

No such thing as a dumb question, so keep the questions coming. Great question - by the way.

In my opinion (and that is worth about 3 cent), I think any breed of turkey can free range and not wander off IF, and only IF, you have raised it from a baby poult and handled it and have had day to day interaction with it, so it knows where HOME is. I think every case will be different. There may be some breeds that will wander off while at the same time that same breed will free range and not wander off. I have day to day interaction with my Bourbon Reds, so they have never and will never wander off. The farthest they go is flying over the fence to the human yard but they fly right back over in the chicken yard when they are done being nosey in the human yard. If they want to see high in the sky and play around, they will fly in the tall pecan trees but when they have had enough of being high in the sky, they will jump down from branch to branch and then fly out of the pecan tree and back into the chicken yard. They know where home is, so they are not going anywhere. It's almost scary because they are so tame that I am afraid that someone could steal them. They will walk up to and go near ANYBODY without any fear or hesitation. :/

Just my experience.

Let's see what others have to say.

We are not yet completely fenced in and none of my flocks roam, except when the hen turkeys started laying eggs last year. They will go on walk abouts to find secrete places to lay eggs, if they do not like the ones you choose for them and if they aren't "private" enough!!!

I know what you're talking about when you say aren't "private" enough. One of my girls decided to set up camp in an area in my neighbor's yard. I tried to move her and the eggs but she kept going back to the nest that she set up. Sooooooooooooooooo, I had to "fix up" a protected area around her. It was NOT a pretty apartment. See pics below. This is the shell of an old washing machine or dryer - one of them. We had to prepare a place for this girl. So, every morning I was going over to check on her to make sure her food and water was ok and the same for the evening. When darkness fell, I would walk over and place a steel plate over the entrance so nothing would get in to kill her. It was crazy!!!!!!!!!!! That's the only bad thing about turkey hens. They will lay where THEY want to lay.

 

[TamTurkey]

Now that's being resourceful!

 

[Erick Wright]

this is prob a dumb ?   but is there any turkeys that u can free range or will they just wonder off

We have 2 BBB toms and 2 BBW hens that never leave our side. The toms were hand raised at less than a week old and are now 8 months old and weigh in at 60lbs each. The hens are 1 1/2 yrs old and weigh in at 30lbs due to we really watch their diets so they don't become too big.

 

[Debbi]

I'm thinking, and that always gets me in trouble, that I want about 4-5 BBW, and a trio of either BRs or Narragansetts so I can raise my own. Should one of the BBWs that doesn't go to freezer camp be a hen, I may keep her back too, and breed her to a heritage tom. Anyone ever compared the BR to the Narragansetts, and if so, which breed did you prefer?

As for upping the protein levels in feed, has anyone ever tried feeding dried Duck Weed? Different varitities of it have varying levels of protein, but it grows a at rampant rate of speed, in a pond or a kiddie pool, and keeps replenishing itself! I'm going to have to try it this summer, as my Marans chickens also requite a higher protein content, and with feed getting so high, and being out in the sticks there really is no one that even sells Game Bird feed, so to even ask for turkey feed would be futile. This is just one link I found quickly for Duck Weed, but I'm sure if you googled it you'd come up with many more. Seems the secret is in drying it before you mix in with their feed. In the oven or on a hot tin roof should work! They even sell it on ebay!

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Duckweed_as_chicken_feed/

 

[Shelshanam]

Wow I've learned a lot in 6 pages of reading!

I'm going to be a new turkey owner hopefully as soon as New Years Day (got some RP hatching eggs on the way that are going in the incubator on December 4th).

I'm going to be doing some label studying at the feed stores! I know that I really only have two choices of "turkey starter" in my area, a medicated and a non-medicated. I would prefer to stay a la natural but I like the idea of using some oats, looking for catfish food, and also starting a little pond for some duckweed! Plus I figure they will like the goat yogurt I plan on giving everybody after goat kidding season begins.

Thanks all!

 

[frank53061]

The Oats are a good idea if there was a way to keep there protien levels up as far as intake.
I have thrown oatmeal out for the Turkeys and Chickens to eat that was left overs and they will fight over it like crack addicks they love it and some times fights break out LOL.

 

[Celie]

I know what you're talking about when you say aren't "private" enough. One of my girls decided to set up camp in an area in my neighbor's yard. I tried to move her and the eggs but she kept going back to the nest that she set up. Sooooooooooooooooo, I had to "fix up" a protected area around her.

It was NOT a pretty apartment. See pics below. This is the shell of an old washing machine or dryer - one of them. We had to prepare a place for this girl. So, every morning I was going over to check on her to make sure her food and water was ok and the same for the evening. When darkness fell, I would walk over and place a steel plate over the entrance so nothing would get in to kill her. It was crazy!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the only bad thing about turkey hens. They will lay where THEY want to lay.

To her it looks like home sweet home, to her! Great recycling!

We have 2 BBB toms and 2 BBW hens that never leave our side. The toms were hand raised at less than a week old and are now 8 months old and weigh in at 60lbs each. The hens are 1 1/2 yrs old and weigh in at 30lbs due to we really watch their diets so they don't become too big.

Sounds like you are doing a great job! Even if you watch their diets, the toms may, eventually get so big that they develop leg or foot trouble with painful, Bumble foot, I think it is called. Ours did at almost 2 years old. Your hens can live longer and if you want them to reproduce, you can always cover the BBW hens with a heritage tom, but choose a large Heritage breed, I don't think a Midget White or a Royal Palm or a Beltsville White would get big enough to do the job!!

I'm thinking, and that always gets me in trouble, that I want about 4-5 BBW, and a trio of either BRs or Narragansetts so I can raise my own. Should one of the BBWs that doesn't go to freezer camp be a hen, I may keep her back too, and breed her to a heritage tom. Anyone ever compared the BR to the Narragansetts, and if so, which breed did you prefer?

As for upping the protein levels in feed, has anyone ever tried feeding dried Duck Weed? Different varitities of it have varying levels of protein, but it grows a at rampant rate of speed, in a pond or a kiddie pool, and keeps replenishing itself! I'm going to have to try it this summer, as my Marans chickens also requite a higher protein content, and with feed getting so high, and being out in the sticks there really is no one that even sells Game Bird feed, so to even ask for turkey feed would be futile. This is just one link I found quickly for Duck Weed, but I'm sure if you googled it you'd come up with many more. Seems the secret is in drying it before you mix in with their feed. In the oven or on a hot tin roof should work! They even sell it on ebay!

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Duckweed_as_chicken_feed/

Thanks for the advice, I don't know what it look like, but will look it up! I was told we have or had duckweed on the property, but if we don't, do you sell it?