Turkeys For 2013

[erinszoo]

We just hatched out four poults from a set of five eggs - we were trying out a new bator. We've set another 25 eggs which will be ready for hatch around Feb 22. They are white hollands which clean really nice for eating and grow pretty well too. We started the first of April last year and had an 18 lb dressed weight bird for Thanksgiving dinner and it wasn't the biggest of the bunch. They started laying really well in December and we get 3 eggs a day now (we have 3 hens). Anyone interested in poults or hatching eggs just send me a PM.


This pic is at 2 days old.

 

[kuntrygirl]

We use colored plastic zip ties. You can get a bag for a few dollars of mixed colors. Clear can also be used and they are a little cheaper. If the colored is used just pick a color for the year, if using clear.  Right leg - 2013, left leg 2014, both legs 2015, then you could double band for 2016 if you keep breeders that long. Walmart, Lowes and Tractor supply all carry the colored zip ties

You know I forgot about the zip ties. I have a pack at home that I bought from the Dollar Tree last year. I think there were 100 zip ties for $1.00. Thanks for mentioning the zip ties.

At what age do you start zipping and tieing? Because once you get those babies on, they don't stretch with the turkey's leg as it grows.

 

[kuntrygirl]

We just hatched out four poults from a set of five eggs - we were trying out a new bator. We've set another 25 eggs which will be ready for hatch around Feb 22. They are white hollands which clean really nice for eating and grow pretty well too. We started the first of April last year and had an 18 lb dressed weight bird for Thanksgiving dinner and it wasn't the biggest of the bunch. They started laying really well in December and we get 3 eggs a day now (we have 3 hens). Anyone interested in poults or hatching eggs just send me a PM. This pic is at 2 days old.

LOOK HOW CUTE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What type of bator do you have? When did you set your eggs?

 

[Bettacreek]

I was wondering about that too. It'd be nice if I could start banding birds pretty early on... Like chicks... I was hoping that I could band some chicks and just change them out as they grew, so if I get eggs from different people, I can tell the bloodlines apart without seperate brooders, same with birds from my own flock... I have ameraucanas and some that are mixed in the bator, and I'd like to be able to tell them apart.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I was wondering about that too. It'd be nice if I could start banding birds pretty early on... Like chicks... I was hoping that I could band some chicks and just change them out as they grew, so if I get eggs from different people, I can tell the bloodlines apart without seperate brooders, same with birds from my own flock... I have ameraucanas and some that are mixed in the bator, and I'd like to be able to tell them apart.

After reading a few posts here, I was thinking the same thing. As cheap as the zip ties are, cost would not be an issue. If you all have a Dollar Tree in your area, you could get 500 zip ties for $5.00 ($1.00 per a 100 pack). They are multi-color ties. I will find them and take pics and post tomorrow.

Sure is good to talk things out and post so others can comment and make suggestions. Helps a lot with making decisions. Thanks everyone for all of your input on all topics that we have been discussing. Makes it so easy and less stressful knowing that you are not alone and that we all have the same issues.

 

[Bettacreek]

Yes, I love this place! I was already planning on a Dollar Tree run to get some lemon juice (I'm having cravings for lemonade) and little organizer baskets for keeping egg batches seperate in the incubator during hatch, so it'll be easy to just grab zip ties at the same time!

 

[Celie]

Great discussion everyone. Kuntrygirl, you asked how much I would pay for a prime hen, I don't know!!! lol Hoping I can find something pretty inexpensive though. I guess $50 isn't bad from what I'm hearing here, and since I know I can find some for that price, I probably wouldn't exceed that amount, around here at least. So, to answer your question, not more than $50, lol

As far as sheep, I hope to eventually get some. Probably going to get Katahdin or Dorper, those are hair sheep bred for meat. But supposed to be really hardy, thrifty, great parents, parasite resistant and not really suffer from all the other things sheep are usually susceptible to. Sound too good to be true!!

For growing some feed, I am really interested in this subject! Soybeans are a good source of protein, but need to be heated before feeding to release some dangerous substances. And then grinded. I was looking into amaranth, it is REALLY high in protein 14%-18%, easy to grow, easy to harvest, and it wouldn't have to be crushed. I think it still needed to go through some heat process before being perfectly safe though. Here's the link, http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/feed_ingredients/grains.html been a while since I was on there. But amaranth seems like the secret for me. That site also has a lot of other useful info.I'm sure it will be of benefit to some of you.
I hope to grow this year some corn, oats, millet, amaranth, BOSS and then garden produce that stores well like pumkins, mangles and the like.
I'm also interested in growing Black Soldier Fly larvae. I find it easier than worms, crickets and meal worms. Look them up, I think they are great. I grew some in a homemade bin, but had trouble with the crawl off ramp. Oh yea, did I mention they're self harvesting, self probogating and only need your turkey manure to live on? lol
I'm thinking I can dry or freeze them for use in the winter months.

About 30 odd years ago, I saw an artical about growing Amaranth in Organic Gardening magazine. The artical said it was being used as a cheap, renewable source of protein being used as a trial AG program for growing in poor farming areas in3rd world nations, at the time. I was a lived in the subburbs at the time, and could not raise any livestock, but my brother, who had just moved to Mississippi onto 14 acres did and we went there to grow a nice big vegetable garden. Well, we tried to grow some and had no luck in southern MS. I tried South of the lake, in LA,where every thing I stuck in the ground, yielded bushels and no luck either. I guess the stuff just doesn't grow in the South.I think the article was about a trial in either Africa or South America, but I just don't remember anymore.

I want to band birds, but with the massive variety of sizes, I'd need to buy a pack of every size. From button quail to the monster sized legs of the bb turkeys.

As for ranging the bb's, mine do as well as the royal palm. My hens are only twenty pounds at eight months though. But, that's a lot of meat. My dominant tom is bbb/royal palm. He wouldn't be muchworth eating though. I'm hoping 75% bb and 25% palm will give me a better meat bird with males that can still give me 100% fertility. The mixed tom I have was actually a result of a bbb tom over a palm hen, but I'm not sure what their fertility rate was.

My biggest problem with the bb's is the butchering. While I hate standard bronzes and most other breeds enough to be all too happy to kill them, the bb's are more like puppies. Not easy to kill a bird you've raised for months who comes to greet you everytime they see you. In fact, I have yet to kill one, except the one I accidentally ran over.

I find with Holland Whites, it takes about the first 9 months to grow a good framework, but not much meat until the second 9 months. We processed 2 around Thanksgiving and they weighed out to be 34 and 35 pounds, that's a lot og meat! I first started with BBW's, that I bought at the local feed store. That was before I did my homework to find out that they Needed to be AI.

I bought on an impulse. When I found out they had all the problems, I restricted their diet and tried to free range, but the buggers hardly left the feeder. I started putting their feeder further and further from the barn and did manage to get them right around 2 years old, but they were overr 80 pounds on foot by then! They could hardly walk, so it was a mercy killing! I use a lot of ground turkey, and add a little beef chuck roast for the fat content.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bettacreek

Where's the cheapest place for the plastic numbered bandettes? Cutler's only has four sizes.

Plus at seven bucks a pack, that's twenty eight, excluding shipping and would only band a few of my birds!

How many comes in a pack?

We use colored plastic zip ties. You can get a bag for a few dollars of mixed colors. Clear can also be used and they are a little cheaper. If the colored is used just pick a color for the year, if using clear. Right leg - 2013, left leg 2014, both legs 2015, then you could double band for 2016 if you keep breeders that long. Walmart, Lowes and Tractor supply all carry the colored zip ties

I use them for leg cuffs when I catch roosters for processing,LOL but I am afraid they might tighten on them and I might not be able to get them off! I buy them at the Harber Freight Store They come in all sizes and colors, too.

LOOK HOW CUTE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What type of bator do you have? When did you set your eggs?

What do yours weigh when they hatch out? I also am raising HW's, too, and mine weigh about the same as Kuntrygirl stated hers weighted and a few a little more, but they seam to be laying smaller eggs than I remembered getting last year? I had a breach hatching yesterday, the poult started to peck the bottom half of the shell, instead of the top, so I tried to help the poor thing out and I started to see blood, oops, so I got a rag and wet it in warm water and wrapped it around the shell, except where the shell was broken. I know it would not make it, too much blood. Well this morning it was not in the rag, so I took the shell out and there it was, right in the hatching draw, as good as any poult could be and weighted a tenth of an ounce more than the others!

Yes, I love this place! I was already planning on a Dollar Tree run to get some lemon juice (I'm having cravings for lemonade) and little organizer baskets for keeping egg batches separate in the incubator during hatch, so it'll be easy to just grab zip ties at the same time!

I shop there a lot too!

 

[Arielle]

I've been laughed at by men, but I only use one tool to butcher my deer out. Two actually, if you count the rope to hang it. My trusty little 4" pocket knife takes me from whole carcass to freezer on all of my deer. The reason we took the lamb to butcher was because I had no way to pop it off. No gunfire allowed on prison property, nd I wasn't about to slit the poor thing's throat. If you want all boneless meat, it's pretty simple really. Big muscles get cut or pulled from the bone whole for roasts, pull the backstraps off for slicing intochops, the restinto chunks for canning/stewing. If you've got a grinder, grind up the chunks into ground meat, plus any scraps
Quote: THis is the first year I have butchered my own stock. Always took it to Bloods--5 generations of butchrs!!-- and pt my heart on hold went into a mental freeze and helped DH load the lambs. THis year I sold a few animals on the hoof and the guys showed my how to butcher chickens, and sheep. CHickens I got better at--and I use a scalpel as it cuts the throat very fast. THe guys cut the throat on the sheep but I couldn't stay for that. In general I was in a mental freeze--I want the meat, but hate killing the animal. I say a prayer like the Native Americans.

What pocket knife do you use that holds up so well? DO you sharpen it?

 

[chicken pickin]

THis is the first year I have butchered my own stock. Always took it to Bloods--5 generations of butchrs!!-- and pt my heart on hold went into a mental freeze and helped DH load the lambs. THis year I sold a few animals on the hoof and the guys showed my how to butcher chickens, and sheep. CHickens I got better at--and I use a scalpel as it cuts the throat very fast. THe guys cut the throat on the sheep but I couldn't stay for that. In general I was in a mental freeze--I want the meat, but hate killing the animal. I say a prayer like the Native Americans.

What pocket knife do you use that holds up so well? DO you sharpen it?

I know what you mean about the mental freeze. We did our own CX this past summer. I was in a frozen blind state of mind. We made it through all 26 in one day. The next morning I woke up and cried for a long time, I felt nausious the rest of the day. After the CX I couldnt bring myself to do the 2 BBWs I raised, I bonded with them a little and had a very big soft spot for them I couldnt do the deed I brought them to the farm up the road. This year we plan to process all our extra roosters also the CX again and I hope we can bring ourselves to try the Turkeys also. Only time will tell.

 

[Arielle]

Where's the cheapest place for the plastic numbered bandettes? Cutler's only has four sizes.

Plus at seven bucks a pack, that's twenty eight, excluding shipping and would only band a few of my birds!

NO one has mentioned the toe punch-- it is done with chickens, can it be done with turkeys?? I was looking at the tom legs today and noticed that the state inspectors metal legbands are GONE--wasn't looking for webbing between the toes. Do turkeys have a spot to punch??