Turkeys For 2013

[sandspoultry]

I raised BBW and BBB for myself and others for Thanksgiving but also started with bourbon reds hatched the middle of June. I have 4 hens and one tom. Will my one male be able to take care of all four hens? I am hoping to increase my flock to 20+ this summer, while still selling the extra poults to help with feed cost. Hopefully the plan will work out. I think I will also raise 10-15 meat turkeys again.

Yes, your tom can take care of 4 hens with ease.

 

[Arielle]

I just thought that they were far too skittish. My royal palm doesn't like to be picked up, and I can't get as close to him, but he won't beat the crap out of me if I get within two feet of him either. The bronzes, I couldn't let the kids in the room, because if you walked around in there, they'd fly all over, and getting knocked upside the head by a turkey hurts much worse than you'd expect.
My broad breasted hens, you have to be careful with them, because they are TOO calm. I actually ran one over because the car doesn't matter to them. They will let you run right over them going less than 5mph, instead of trying to fly or run away. :/ They are great lap birds though, to an extent. If I sit on the wicker rocking chair, they'll fly up and fall asleep on my lap to a neck massage and a gentle rock. They ARE heavy though, and their bellies will make you too hot on a hot day.

I love my "little" girls. They come up to say hello, and they are careful about other vehicles, but I guess they trust me and my car too much? They will sit on your lap and twitter away until they fall asleep. Ya know how they have the little lines on their neck of bare skin? The feathers cover it, but when you dig in there for a neck rub, you can feel a line down the neck with no feather buds, and that's where I give the neck rubs, lol.

The bronzes, eh. When we got them, the boyfriend got leery about buying any new birds. They were younger birds (about 3 months old), but they were raised exactly the same way as the BB hen we bought (the one I ran over). They hated even their previous owner. When I had to replace my pekin drake, the boyfriend was NOT happy. He didn't want me to buy him, because he was afraid that it would be like those bronze turkeys. Fortunately, I think his faith has been restored, because that pekin drake is even nicer than our previous drake, lol.

THanks for filling in the details. I can see where these birds might have a different attitude. It could be that particular line or how much, or little handling they received as poults. My mob follow me ( momma) every where, all four breeds, because I raised them from day olds or hatched them myself. HOw they are raised can effect them.

I have kids and too much to do to have pesky birds. After a year of dealing with a overly protective rooster and receiving far too many punctures, he made the mistake of going for DH. THe kids and I had learned how to keep that rooster placated, how to walk with out offending his ability to keep his girls secure. However, Dh doesn't care a hoot about such things and clearly offended that rooster and got nailed. He is now soup. Raptor soup. My nerves are a much calmer now that I don't have to be on alert mode. ANd I want to keep it this way. So I want low key animals.

My BR walk me to the car, and I carefully drive away. Or a child does turkey duty: herds the beasts to a safe location so I can turn the car around. DOes wonders for increasing communication between each of us!! Safety first.

A neighbor accidently ran over her own dog ( long story) and therefore, I have been rather cautious about my car, especially backing up.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THis is a good point. Can differnent breeds of toms handle different numbers of hens? Indiviual fertility aside, I was thinking more like, because of leg legnth or variabilities in interest in the deed, or some breeds effected by temps more than others?

Any one is welcome to answer, though I know S and S has a LOT of birds.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I raised BBW and BBB for myself and others for Thanksgiving but also started with bourbon reds hatched the middle of June.  I have 4 hens and one tom.  Will my one male be able to take care of all four hens?  I am hoping to increase my flock to 20+ this summer, while still selling the extra poults to help with feed cost.  Hopefully the plan will work out.  I think I will also raise 10-15 meat turkeys again.

Yes, your tom can take care of 4 hens with ease.

THis is a good point. Can differnent breeds of toms handle different numbers of hens? Indiviual fertility aside, I was thinking more like, because of leg legnth or variabilities in interest in the deed, or some breeds effected by temps more than others? 

Any one is welcome to answer, though I know S and S has a LOT of birds.

Good question Arielle.

 

[sandspoultry]

With turkey mating it's actually hens choice as she will lay down for the tom. If you have to many toms they will all try to mount the hen and the mating fails or worse the hen will get cut by the toms nails as they fight over her. I don't know if it's the different varieties or the birds themselves that mate differently. When we had the White Hollands they are very efficient breeders. The toms were quick to get into position and mate and fertility was always high. Our Bourbons are a different story all together. The toms will stand on the hens back for quite awhile until they finally mate and fertility with them was always up and down.

I think the temps do factor in, we are having a warm spell here for the past 5 - 6 days and all the turkeys are excited. The toms are fighting and strutting pretty much non stop and even the hens are sorting out their pecking order. The days are still getting shorter so it's not the length of day light.

 

[chicken pickin]

I havent read through this entire thread yet But I do plan to. I have Bourbon Reds that I will be breed this spring (this will be our first year breeding) . Sadly I ended up with 3 toms to 2 hens So I will have to make a new pen soon to house the 2 Toms that are not "in use" until I aquire more hens next spring. They are 5 months old now so when should I have an issue with the Toms abusing the hens.

 

[chicken pickin]

kuntrygirl I read somewhere that you were going to keep a spread sheet on your turkeys egg laying starting jan 2012. Did you do this? I was just curious how many eggs the Bourbon Reds laid for you this year and when they started and when they stopped. I know it differs region to region but was just wondering.

 

[Arielle]

With turkey mating it's actually hens choice as she will lay down for the tom. If you have to many toms they will all try to mount the hen and the mating fails or worse the hen will get cut by the toms nails as they fight over her. I don't know if it's the different varieties or the birds themselves that mate differently. When we had the White Hollands they are very efficient breeders. The toms were quick to get into position and mate and fertility was always high. Our Bourbons are a different story all together. The toms will stand on the hens back for quite awhile until they finally mate and fertility with them was always up and down.

I think the temps do factor in, we are having a warm spell here for the past 5 - 6 days and all the turkeys are excited. The toms are fighting and strutting pretty much non stop and even the hens are sorting out their pecking order. The days are still getting shorter so it's not the length of day light.

This is the great kind of information I was looking for! THank you S and S Poultry!!

I have noticed my BR seem to take their time, and I often wondered if the deed is getting done. "The proof is in the pudding" and I have hatched many poults.

 

[Arielle]

I havent read through this entire thread yet But I do plan to. I have Bourbon Reds that I will be breed this spring (this will be our first year breeding) . Sadly I ended up with 3 toms to 2 hens So I will have to make a new pen soon to house the 2 Toms that are not "in use" until I aquire more hens next spring. They are 5 months old now so when should I have an issue with the Toms abusing the hens.

Genetic material comes from BOTH the male and female. I have cuckoo marans , 3 roosters and 1 hen. My plan is to rotate the roosters to increase the genetic spread. ( Not a correct term , but you get the idea).

Chickn pickin you can make two pens and make 2 pairs to increase the genetic diversity. ( THat's the correct term. LOL) ANd use the third boy at some point too. INOTE: am assumming that each is a fairly good respresentation of the breed.

 

[kuntrygirl]

kuntrygirl I read somewhere that you were going to keep a spread sheet on your turkeys egg laying starting jan 2012. Did you do this? I was just curious how many eggs the Bourbon Reds laid for you this year and when they started and when they stopped. I know it differs region to region but was just wondering.

Hey. Yes, I did begin my spreadsheet but then I got frustrated when my girls were sneaking out and going in the woods, in the neighbor's yard, hiding in the bush in the front yard and everywhere else to they could hide to lay their eggs, so I stopped. I knew my documentation would not be accurate because I couldn't accurately document the number eggs they were laying. :/ I will try again this year being as though now I know what they are up to. I kinda know where there hiding places are, so I will be able to check. It will be just my luck, they will change up on me and lay somewhere else.

I can say that the the 5 different hiding places that I found had anywhere from 12 - 22 eggs in each nest. However I did see a few broken shells in a couple of the nests, so I don't know if the girls stepped on them or if something got in the nest and ate the yolks.