Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

I should think that the local feed suppliers would know who has/breeds heritage birds

THe feed dealers in my area buy from Meyers. I teach them about chickens because I know more thn they know. At the other grain place, it is a hardware store capitalizing on a nich market. Hatchery stock.

 

[desertmarcy]

My point was it is very easy to get a layer chick, but much harder to find a turkey poult. My feeds and needs only recently started carrying chicks. If they carry turkeys is it the BBW/BBB. I can look at craigslist and find only a few listings for turkeys. MANY for eating eggs and chicks.

Well you are right about that. Same way out here. I get a lot of calls for turkey poults but a lot of people lose interest fast when I tell them I can't sex the poults. They are so used to being able to buy pullet chicks.

 

[Celie]

I guess I have been lucky with my Turkeys I have had no aggression towards me or my family.
Now the Roosters we have had is a different thing as Kuntrygirl stated you have to show who is the Cock of the roost so to speak is.
My Daughter has developed her own way of doing it the first sign of aggression she catches the fowl Rooster and talks to it like a baby in front of the Hens and puts it down and if it shows any more signs of aggression she will chase it around the pen till the rooster has had enough this from time to time seems to keep them in there place

I dont know that the Baby Talk does any good but she feels that she is humiliating the rooster in front of the Hens

Frank, it sounds like your daughter has some very good poultry instants, to me ! Smart girl !

I hope someone will answer that has more wisdom than myself. That sounds like something I've heard of before but just can't remember. I'm so sorry. I lost 2 poults a couple of days ago. They didn't act just right when they were born. One felt puffy. Or squishy, if that makes any sense. Right before they hatched our temps (outside) spiked in the 90's, so the incubator temp went up too high also. I had 15 eggs. 2 hatched fine, 2 died and 11 didn't hatch. They all should have. It's too late in the year to hatch eggs, I( guess).

Incubators can only handle so much fluctuation in ambient temperature, that is why the work best indoors in a room like the kitchen or utility room. Some can regulate temperature better than others, but if you move yours into your house, it should do a better job. Also, hatch the largest, heaviest eggs your hens lay as turkeys start by laying smaller eggs like chicken pullets do. Hatching eggs should feel heavy for their size, too. Keep trying, practice makes perfect. If the eggs are from your own turkeys, all you have to loose is a couple of omelets !

I have a hen that has the side of her face all puffy. From the beak all the way under her eye. I have looked in her mouth and nostril and dont see any thing. (I had a turkey last year that got a small stick wedged in her nostril that looked similar, I removed it and put her on antibiotics.) she is sneezing every once in a while but no discharge. Her eye seems to be watering.
Since I'm not seeing any foreign body I'm reluctant to put her on antibiotics what do you think?

It is probably Sinusitis or an allergy! Can you post a picture? I can look up treatment in the poultry vet books, If you can?

I've got one BBW poult and have been looking for some more poults. I ordered some poults, even though I know the BBW will be ready for butcher by the time they can be introduced to each other. Anyhow, in my searching I was looking on Craigslist and somebody has been trying to sell Black Spanish poults for $20 each. That seems high, is it? This is for day-olds. I think they've had a couple hatches since I've seen this ad a few times this spring.

Sounds high to me. I sell week old poults for $10 each, but have seen a few listed for $12, so I guess it is whatever the market can bear for some folks, but I feel $10 is fair and I give a free tutor chick and a Poult care list with each purchase. Just because they list, doesn't mean they are all sold and doesn't mean asking $20 means they sold them all for that. People will call and ask "if 1 is $10, how much for 6 ? "

I think it depends on your area. Here, I always have an ad on CraigsList for heritage turkeys. I have multiple breeds and sell poults up to one week of age for $10, after a week, I bump it up to $12.
I have a lot of turkeys right now to sell and locals are not exactly knocking my door down to get them. A lot of people don't use or think to look on CraigsList, either. The local feed stores around here order in birds and it is easier for buyers just to pick them up there, making it harder for the small breeder to sell them. There seems to be a lot more people here now with heritage turkeys. When I first started breeding mine, there was hardly anybody and I had a long waiting list.

Just because there are no turkeys at the shows does not mean there aren't any around. Turkeys are very large and hard to transport. The only time I've taken a turkey to a show is to one small show that our Tucson poultry club puts on that is only 15 minutes from my house. My partner took the turkey down for me in the other truck because I was already filled up with chickens. Otherwise I wouldn't have room. Also, depending on parking, it is harder to get your bird into the show building. A lot of times it is easier for me to carry my large cockerels in my arm than lug a heavy crate with a heavy bird in it. But I can't carry a big heavy tom like that. So if you have to use a dog crate and a cart on wheels to get your turkey to the show, that is more space taken up in your vehicle. I don't have a huge travel trailer or something to transport birds like some people do. I think this is the big deterrent to taking turkeys to a show and why you don't see many there.

I agree, and then after the bird is exposed at a show and brought home, the 30 day quarantine period takes more space for a large turkey than it does for a chicken !

I should think that the local feed suppliers would know who has/breeds heritage birds

Around me they will not give that information out. They want to sell the hatchery stock they can make more profit on, but you can ask if they have a bulletin board where customers put ads. They might not bother pulling off all competition!

 

[joshm97]

I should think that the local feed suppliers would know who has/breeds heritage birds

I would try tractor supply...

 

[Celie]

The people at TSC in my area don't know a chicken from a duck, literally !

 

[popsicle]

I live 150 miles from a TSC. Our local ranch store usually has poults in the spring--they were selling Bourbon Reds for $11ish. However, that was before my BBW came with an order of chicks. I've got an order from Porter that I'm patiently waiting for now.

 

[Momhunter]

Out of the 4 almost two week old royal palm turkey poults only one is getting black dashes on the wing feathers, the others are all white and bigger. Does that mean that that one is a jake? Or are my others really not royal palms? They were bought from the feed store but the only "white" poults they ordered where the RPs, they also had blue slate and a couple of "wild colored" breeds.

 

[kuntrygirl]

The people at TSC in my area don't know a chicken from a duck, literally !

 

[Zootopia]

Out of the 4 almost two week old royal palm turkey poults only one is getting black dashes on the wing feathers, the others are all white and bigger. Does that mean that that one is a jake? Or are my others really not royal palms? They were bought from the feed store but the only "white" poults they ordered where the RPs, they also had blue slate and a couple of "wild colored" breeds.

You wont know for a couple more weeks. Some times the hatchery sends "fillers". The wild colored ones could be Nargansetts or BBB. The white ones Palms or BBW. Hope they turn out to be your palms.

 

[mbfarms]

HI. I'm raising 2 royal palms and 2 blue slates. I started with 6 day old chicks and now have only 4. One died the first day. The other got sick and died. Not sure why. One of the blue slates is not thriving, but she's ok for now. In the future I think I'll try hatching my own chicks, since these have not seemed hardy.

At any rate, my question is about temperature. They are one month old. I live in the desert where it can be anywhere from 85-100 degrees during the day but as cool as 60 at night. How cold is too cold at night for these chicks? I've been keeping them under a lamp at night, but I'm just wondering how long i need to keep doign that?

Thanks.
Mary Beth