Turkeys For 2013

[chickadoodles]

I only have 1 adult male turkey. Have 3 young male turkey; 4mo & 2mo. Mr. T takes his aggression out on the chicken roosters. Even though he's 1yr & 2-3mo, I can still pick him up & put him in the turkey yard & shut the gate. He gets a lot of "Time Out".

Thanks Bj they are still trying to fight thru the fence. Hopefully they will quit! They have not tried to hurt any of the other birds thru this.

 

[Arielle]

Sorry they are fighting. I have onlylost one tom because of fighting. Odd, too as they grew up together and they 3 toms had been living with 6 hens for a number of months. He went down hill fast. Usually my males will bump up against the common fencing then move along as athey free range and can move out of the vicinity.

Can you build another pen?? WIth out a common fence line??

My big group will fight if one has been away for a few hours-- becsue they split up and traveled on different adventures for the day. Guess nature designed them to stay together, or stay apart.

 

[chickadoodles]

Sorry they are fighting. I have onlylost one tom because of fighting. Odd, too as they grew up together and they 3 toms had been living with 6 hens for a number of months. He went down hill fast. Usually my males will bump up against the common fencing then move along as athey free range and can move out of the vicinity.

Can you build another pen?? WIth out a common fence line??

My big group will fight if one has been away for a few hours-- becsue they split up and traveled on different adventures for the day. Guess nature designed them to stay together, or stay apart.

I cannot just yet. We just finished the rooster run a few weeks ago. I did put one of the turkey in it. We are planning to build turkey pens to separate them but we just cannot right now. We will have to wait till work slows down some for my DH. It is my 2 favorite toms fighting and they are making me crazy!

 

[Arielle]

IT is distressing to see them fighting. Depending on the fencing between them, they can't do much damage to each other, but continue to make gestures and try to fight thru the fence. Testosterone!

Given the delay in contruction, you will have time to design a good pen.

 

[chickadoodles]

IT is distressing to see them fighting. Depending on the fencing between them, they can't do much damage to each other, but continue to make gestures and try to fight thru the fence. Testosterone!

Given the delay in contruction, you will have time to design a good pen.

Yes it is very distressing! Would you mind posting pics of yours so I can get some ideas for mine?

 

[Celie]

She is 6 months old

Turkeys are sexually mature by 8 to 9 months, depending on the breed. They will start "practicing a couple of weeks before the hen starts laying eggs, which in the deep South is December or sexual maturity, whichever comes later!

Quote:


Well, that explains why when I asked him about how to breed the AUburns, he basically blew me off!! lol I've been struggling with what they should look like and he only said like the bronze. Well. How uniform is the feather coloring? Are the legs ok if they are pink? I am down to 4-5 AUburn toms with no girls and I"m ready to can them all and call it quits on the auburns. Paying for a yohoo group is out of the question right now. ANd I have been rethinking turkeys too. THey are not as flexible in their eating as chickens are.

BUt they sure taste good!!

I find that my turkeys, for the amount of meat they provide, eat a lot less than chickens, because they forage a lot more. I let mine out of the barn shortly after daybreak and do not feed them anything until around noon, so they will forage, on empty bellies. If fed too early, they get lazy and rely on you for most all of their food. After noon feeding, I toss whatever scrapes, egg shells from the incubator, stale bread, fruit or veggies past their prime, etc. out the back door and they come running! Then about an hour or two before dark they are fed again in the barn. They are fed however much the care to eat, then the feed for an hour or so, then the feed is picked up so it doesn't draw mice or coons. They go to bed with full tummies and are hungry again by daybreak to start foraging again. Since I am down to about 50 chickens, my feed bill is cut in half. I have about 40 turkeys, maybe 50, counting the bitties still hatching out. Before I started this schedule, I could never fill them up and the feed bill was breaking me. Now, partly due to my rabbit, poult, rooster and POL pullet sales, I break even on the feed bill and fill my freezer, not accounting for my labor!

Thanks Bj they are still trying to fight thru the fence. Hopefully they will quit! They have not tried to hurt any of the other birds thru this.

Turkeys will fight through the fence, because they are toms and that is establishing pecking order, till they wear the feathers off their chests, but should not cause any real damage to each other. Boys will be boys!

 

[chickadoodles]

Turkeys are sexually mature by 8 to 9 months, depending on the breed. They will start "practicing a couple of weeks before the hen starts laying eggs, which in the deep South is December or sexual maturity, whichever comes later!

My hen is 6 months old. So I guess will start laying in Dec.

I find that my turkeys, for the amount of meat they provide, eat a lot less than chickens, because they forage a lot more. I let mine out of the barn shortly after daybreak and do not feed them anything until around noon, so they will forage, on empty bellies. If fed too early, they get lazy and rely on you for most all of their food. After noon feeding, I toss whatever scrapes, egg shells from the incubator, stale bread, fruit or veggies past their prime, etc. out the back door and they come running! Then about an hour or two before dark they are fed again in the barn. They are fed however much the care to eat, then the feed for an hour or so, then the feed is picked up so it doesn't draw mice or coons. They go to bed with full tummies and are hungry again by daybreak to start foraging again. Since I am down to about 50 chickens, my feed bill is cut in half. I have about 40 turkeys, maybe 50, counting the bitties still hatching out. Before I started this schedule, I could never fill them up and the feed bill was breaking me. Now, partly due to my rabbit, poult, rooster and POL pullet sales, I break even on the feed bill and fill my freezer, not accounting for my labor!
Turkeys will fight through the fence, because they are toms and that is establishing pecking order, till they wear the feathers off their chests, but should not cause any real damage to each other. Boys will be boys!

The Narri's have pretty much quit pacing the fence and they are not paying any attention to the Midget White who is pacing and going crazy wanting to keep fighting. But I put him in a small area of the run opposite the Narri's! So hopefully by tomorrow it should be over!
Thanks Celie

 

[desertmarcy]

Quote:


Well, that explains why when I asked him about how to breed the AUburns, he basically blew me off!! lol I've been struggling with what they should look like and he only said like the bronze. Well. How uniform is the feather coloring? Are the legs ok if they are pink? I am down to 4-5 AUburn toms with no girls and I"m ready to can them all and call it quits on the auburns. Paying for a yohoo group is out of the question right now. ANd I have been rethinking turkeys too. THey are not as flexible in their eating as chickens are.

BUt they sure taste good!!

Auburns are not in the APA SOP, so there is no Standard for them. That could be why he didn't give you a specific answer. Kevin is very nice, but this time of year, also very busy like a lot of us.
I guess if you like that color, then just go by what he has on his website. There is no fee to join a Yahoo group. You just email the list moderator and ask to join. Usually they want you to say why you are interested, introduce yourself, etc. I belong to several Yahoo Groups, no fee for any. There is a Rare Heritage Turkey group on Yahoo, also.

I like my turkeys WAY more than the chickens. They are just more personable. If I had to choose between one or the other, the chickens would go! My adult turkeys don't seem to eat nearly as much as the chickens, either. I agree on them not being as flexible in eating as chickens. Chickens are hogs. They eat anything. If they are used to being given scraps, they will dive in and ask questions later. The turkeys, they are more suspicious of anything new. Once they are convinced they like something, though, they will dive right in. I think it is really funny to give them a bowl of something new and watch them circle it, giving it the hairy eyeball.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:


Well, that explains why when I asked him about how to breed the AUburns, he basically blew me off!! lol I've been struggling with what they should look like and he only said like the bronze. Well. How uniform is the feather coloring? Are the legs ok if they are pink? I am down to 4-5 AUburn toms with no girls and I"m ready to can them all and call it quits on the auburns. Paying for a yohoo group is out of the question right now. ANd I have been rethinking turkeys too. THey are not as flexible in their eating as chickens are.

BUt they sure taste good!!

Auburns are not in the APA SOP, so there is no Standard for them. That could be why he didn't give you a specific answer. Kevin is very nice, but this time of year, also very busy like a lot of us.
I guess if you like that color, then just go by what he has on his website. There is no fee to join a Yahoo group. You just email the list moderator and ask to join. Usually they want you to say why you are interested, introduce yourself, etc. I belong to several Yahoo Groups, no fee for any. There is a Rare Heritage Turkey group on Yahoo, also.

I like my turkeys WAY more than the chickens. They are just more personable. If I had to choose between one or the other, the chickens would go! My adult turkeys don't seem to eat nearly as much as the chickens, either. I agree on them not being as flexible in eating as chickens. Chickens are hogs. They eat anything. If they are used to being given scraps, they will dive in and ask questions later. The turkeys, they are more suspicious of anything new. Once they are convinced they like something, though, they will dive right in. I think it is really funny to give them a bowl of something new and watch them circle it, giving it the hairy eyeball.
ROTFL-- so true.

THe auburns are not SOP which creates more of an issue. NOthing written as a guide. HOwever Jeff says on his web site that these are an old breed and need more breeders. HE knows that is why I wanted these birds, ( Maybe he doesn't remember with so many buyers) but he sent me extras beyond the usual number to try to establish a breeding group. So a little help would be appreciated. Even if he mentioned the yahoo group . . . .

 

[desertmarcy]

ROTFL-- so true.

THe auburns are not SOP which creates more of an issue. NOthing written as a guide. HOwever Jeff says on his web site that these are an old breed and need more breeders. HE knows that is why I wanted these birds, ( Maybe he doesn't remember with so many buyers) but he sent me extras beyond the usual number to try to establish a breeding group. So a little help would be appreciated. Even if he mentioned the yahoo group . . . .

I relooked at Porter's auburns. I see now why he said "go with the Bronze". These are a bronze turkey with homozygous chocolate (e) genes which turns all the normal black coloration of the Bronze to brown. So just replace "brown" anywhere the SOP says "black" for the Bronze, I am guessing. SOP says "Shanks andToes - in young specimens, dull black, changing to a smoky pink with maturity." Eyes should be dark brown.