Turkeys For 2013

[kuntrygirl]

1MrsMagoo: I  have Narragansett, Bourbon Red, Blue Slate and Royal Palm, out of my Royal Palm/Bourbon Red pairing I will have Red Bronze Toms and Golden Narragansett, I'll also have pure royal Palm and poults from Blue Slate/Narragansett breeding. This will be my first year with poults as they are 11 months old and will be the first eggs.
My website and blog is in my signature. I expect to have eggs late march early April

 

Thanks r4eboxer: I will go check that out!

I have young stock that will start laying when they mature enough.  THose are  Sweet grass and Narrigansetts.  THe Bourbon Reds should be starting to lay in mid APril.  I would recommend the Auburns so far a they have good growth. THe Bourbon Reds are easy going, vry pretty with the red contrasted with the white in the wings and tail. All my birds have had good temperaments with my family.

Arielle,

  Thanks for your response: I appreciate it. I am trying to ease my husband into the turkeys slowly. We started with one breed, and now I am bringing in a couple more. I have enough room, and would like to eventually keep a couple quads of 6-8 varieties: I just need to ease the DH into it and give him time to build the housing and fencing the way he wants.

  So, your Sweetgrass and Narragansetts are all still juveniles and too young to lay this spring? I am the kind of person who likes to bring in stock from multiple blood lines, so even if I get some this spring will always be interested in picking up more eggs! Let me know once they start laying and what you'd like to get for a dozen eggs.
  Thanks,
Rhonda

I'll always have Bourbon Red eggs.


My Bourbons are VERY tame. TOO friendly. Not flighty. They stay very close to home. The hens know how to stand up for themselves if bullied by other animals (roosters). They keep predators (crows and other birds) out of the chicken yard. They have their own daily reality show.

NOW, THat is a show I would make time to watch.

I thought you were pretty much sold out of eggs for the season, or I would have asked. If you find yourself with an extra dozen in late March, early April, I would sure be happy to buy those from you!

I do have a waiting list and I am sold out every day that people contact me for orders but in the event they don't follow through with their order (2 so far) that makes the list shorter so I can put you on the list for March and early April and keep you posted on the status of turkey eggs

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I do have a waiting list and I am sold out every day that people contact me for orders but in the event they don't follow through with their order (2 so far) that makes the list shorter so I can put you on the list for March and early April and keep you posted on the status of turkey eggs

That works for me! Just let me know when the time comes. Or, if you have an earlier cancellation and need a someone to buy the eggs ASAP...I can shoot you a payment then run out and grab ANOTHER incubator. I mean since I am so close it may work out so you don't lose the sale for the dozen.
Either way....

thanks for fitting me onto your wait list.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I do have a waiting list and I am sold out every day that people contact me for orders but in the event they don't follow through with their order (2 so far) that makes the list shorter so I can put you on the list for March and early April and keep you posted on the status of turkey eggs

That works for me! Just let me know when the time comes. Or, if you have an earlier cancellation and need a someone to buy the eggs ASAP...I can shoot you a payment then run out and grab ANOTHER incubator. I mean since I am so close it may work out so you don't lose the sale for the dozen.
Either way.... thanks for fitting me onto your wait list.

No problem. How far are we from each other?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Celie, I sent you a PM on our turkeys. Forgot what we are planning on doing.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Had to find and post the right pics of the hen and rooster working out their "problems". :/

The white rooster in the pic is about 3 years old. He was accidentally hatched and raised with poults a few years ago and he was raised on 30% protein, so he weighs the same as the turkeys.

 

[Celie]

A double yoker turkey egg?? Wow!!!! I love to eat turkey eggs but I dare not say that loud because if Celie hears that, I might get a good thrashing. Lol

I candle my turkey eggs before incubating them, and once in a while I will get a double yolk-er, it will be a huge egg.

I would not recommend hatching a double yolk-er egg from any bird, as it always ends in the death of one or both hatchlings

. We eat all double or triple yolk eggs. Turkey eggs are delicious,

but at $3 each, they are too costly for me to eat,

when I have more chicken and duck eggs than I know what to do with.

BTW, if any of you like baked mac and cheese, try scrambling a dozen eggs with the cream you pour over the macaroni, before it goes into the oven. They come out so rich and cheesier tasting that way. The restaurants that are known for their Mac and Cheese, use lots and lots of eggs in them!

Does everyone have an easy market for baby turkeys? Rosie is sitting on at least 6 and I scrambled up a few doz before. I never see them for sale around here and I really don't want more. (I would if I had more room) Thanks Sue

I agree with the advise about Craigslist and you can also post an ad at all the feed stores and ask the feed stores to buy some from you! The reason that you don't see them is because so few people have them to raise! It is the beginning of a growing market and you are getting in on the ground floor, so to speak. The demand is out there, believe me, you just have to let people know you have them! Good Luck! But IMO you won't need luck, once the word gets out, people will be knocking at your door and waiting in line for poults. Every dozen you scramble, is costing you $35., you could have sold them for or if you hatched them out, from $7 for a mixed breed to $12 for a pure breed!

Good luck KuntryGirl I have been busy for the last few days and have not kept up with the news here have you stated how many Turkey Eggs you put in the Incubator.

I have some news I just found my First Turkey Egg last night when I went to Lock in the Turkeys for the night as I marveled at the very first Turkey Egg ever I gazed at it in the glimmer of the porch light only to find a hole in it the size of a Turkey Toe nail.
I think I am going to send my Daughter out and have her give all the Turkeys a Pedicure so this will not happen again

what would be a good color for Turkey Toe nail Polish

.
I am still waiting for the Incubator I ordered to come in the mail maybe in the next week I hope.

Best of luck Kuntrygirl

Since you have Bourbon Reds, Frank, I vote for red toe nail polish, but don't use the glittery kind or your turkeys will be pecking their own feet. I can't wear a ring or watch around mine, and would not dare wear any earrings or they would pull them off and eat them, for sure! LOL

Still only 3 have hatched. I am hoping that I have some late hatchers. I will take out the 3 poults that have hatched today and leave the other eggs in for another day or 2. If there is no other activity with the remaining eggs, I will open up all of them to see what they look like. I'm hoping this humidity thing didn't mess them up, since I allowed the humidity to go above my normal 40. If that's the case, then the next hatch's humidity will remain at 40. I will not increase the humidity higher because it may be that higher humidity doesn't work for my eggs. This is kinda weird being as though my first hatch was 100% (every egg hatched).

Julie, the paper towel works like a wick in the water and will raise the humidity, until it uses up all the water and then the humidity will drop quickly. If you have room, you might do better with a humidity pad made for that purpose. Remember, 42% on your setting at 100 degrees will equal to 80% at sea level. People in higher elevations and drier climates than us, have to adjust their humidity differently. I'm sending good vibes your way for a great hatch. Higher temps will make the eggs hatch faster, as long as you don't go past 102 degrees( I think is the critical point) and lower temps will take longer to hatch. Too low or too high will result in dead hatchlings. After the poults dry off, I remove them, and allow the others that are chirping by then, it hatch.

Had to find and post the right pics of the hen and rooster working out their "problems".

The white rooster in the pic is about 3 years old. He was accidentally hatched and raised with poults a few years ago and he was raised on 30% protein, so he weighs the same as the turkeys.

Roosters will be roosters and have only one goal in life! My female dog doesn't allow any undue stress on her turkey hens, she will intervene if the roosters fight between themselves, for more than a minute. She keeps harmony between the flocks or she will separate them! The geese do the same thing with the ducks! LOL

 

[1MrsMagoo]

No problem. How far are we from each other?

We are 144 miles and 2.5 hours apart. I am in Bush, LA, which is about 24 miles NE of the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

The only time I get over into your "neck of the woods" is when we take our daughter to Ragin Cajun Softball camp in Lafayette during the summer. I am pretty much a home body and don't even make it as far as New Orleans or Baton Rouge more than a couple times a year.

 

[r4eboxer]

kuntrygirl, If you could would you add me to your wait list too? I would rather hatch out eggs from someone I "know" rather than take a chance on a live bird locally. My hen needs a boyfriend but she will just have to wait until he grows up.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I candle my turkey eggs before incubating them, and once in a while I will get a double yolk-er, it will be a huge egg.

I would not recommend hatching a double yolk-er egg from any bird, as it always ends in the death of one or both hatchlings

. We eat all double or triple yolk eggs. Turkey eggs are delicious,

but at $3 each, they are too costly for me to eat,

when I have more chicken and duck eggs than I know what to do with.

BTW, if any of you like baked mac and cheese, try scrambling a dozen eggs with the cream you pour over the macaroni, before it goes into the oven. They come out so rich and cheesier tasting that way. The restaurants that are known for their Mac and Cheese, use lots and lots of eggs in them!

I agree with the advise about Craigslist and you can also post an ad at all the feed stores and ask the feed stores to buy some from you! The reason that you don't see them is because so few people have them to raise! It is the beginning of a growing market and you are getting in on the ground floor, so to speak. The demand is out there, believe me, you just have to let people know you have them! Good Luck! But IMO you won't need luck, once the word gets out, people will be knocking at your door and waiting in line for poults. Every dozen you scramble, is costing you $35., you could have sold them for or if you hatched them out, from $7 for a mixed breed to $12 for a pure breed!

Since you have Bourbon Reds, Frank, I vote for red toe nail polish, but don't use the glittery kind or your turkeys will be pecking their own feet. I can't wear a ring or watch around mine, and would not dare wear any earrings or they would pull them off and eat them, for sure! LOL

Julie, the paper towel works like a wick in the water and will raise the humidity, until it uses up all the water and then the humidity will drop quickly. If you have room, you might do better with a humidity pad made for that purpose. Remember, 42% on your setting at 100 degrees will equal to 80% at sea level. People in higher elevations and drier climates than us, have to adjust their humidity differently. I'm sending good vibes your way for a great hatch. Higher temps will make the eggs hatch faster, as long as you don't go past 102 degrees( I think is the critical point) and lower temps will take longer to hatch. Too low or too high will result in dead hatchlings. After the poults dry off, I remove them, and allow the others that are chirping by then, it hatch.

Roosters will be roosters and have only one goal in life! My female dog doesn't allow any undue stress on her turkey hens, she will intervene if the roosters fight between themselves, for more than a minute. She keeps harmony between the flocks or she will separate them! The geese do the same thing with the ducks! LOL

Great advice about selling the turkeys and eggs!

You are lucky your geese only police your ducks. Here, they are the morality patrol that watches EVERYONE for infractions. Nothing...not duck, nor chicken, nor squirrel is allowed to mate in their presence. If they continue after being "warned" they get physically yanked off the damsel in distress and the geese save the day.

 

[r4eboxer]

Great advice about selling the turkeys and eggs!

You are lucky your geese only police your ducks. Here, they are the morality patrol that watches EVERYONE for infractions. Nothing...not duck, nor chicken, nor squirrel is allowed to mate in their presence. If they continue after being "warned" they get physically yanked off the damsel in distress and the geese save the day.