Turkeys For 2013

[desertmarcy]

I really like the look of his birds, but he is a bit pricy. Some of us will be going in together from the IN thread to split an order this spring.
We are planning to share postage so we don't have to buy 15 birds ourselves. I want to add more BR and mini's to my flock.
Once I get my sportsman cabinet I will go back to hatching eggs.

I don't think his prices are high. It takes a lot of resources to raise turkeys. I've been breeding heritage turkeys for 5 years and they are not cheap to house or feed. And anybody raising any kind of bird is maintaining all those breeder males year around, even in the off season when the hens aren't laying. And feed has become crazy expensive. Look at all the color varieties you can order from just ONE place. You won't find that elsewhere.

 

[desertmarcy]

I can hatch hens, lol. JUst needed breeder hens to get the auburn project going. Temps of the incubator can influence which hatch better, the male eggs or the female eggs. If temps are running low, I think that favors the development of the male eggs, and the female eggs are less likely to hatch. and vice versus. I have also read that some hen tend to produce more males and some more females; the 55/45 rule for the others. THis is what I have read about chickens so I would expect it is likely it applies to turkeys.

This is an old wives tale, I believe. The incubation temperature can affect sex in reptiles, but from my reading, has not been shown to affect sex in domestic poultry. Sex ratio is statistically 50/50 when large #s are hatched. When hatching #s are small, the ratio can vary. The more hatched, the closer to the 50/50 you get. If you know differently, and not just from anecdotal experience, I'd like to see a reference.

 

[chickadoodles]

Just got 8 Turkey poults

subscribed! I'm still on. Page 5 Lol

Hi there Offgridmama and welcome to BYC! What kind of poults did you get?

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Read carefully. I did not say the gender of the egg changes, which is what reptiles can do. What I am saying is that the male eggs and remale eggs have slightly different "best" temp to hatch. No changing the gender, just a possible shift in percent of each that hatch.

Is that a better desctiption??


Edited to add-- most species are not born or hatched at 50-50. THe genetic chance is 50-50 but of the "born " numbers the males out number the females. In poultry it is my understanding that55% are males. In human their are more boys than girl born. BY age 10 in the US the numbers are equal. From thereafter there are more girls than boys.

 

[casportpony]

Read carefully. I did not say the gender of the egg changes, which is what reptiles can do. What I am saying is that the male eggs and remale eggs have slightly different "best" temp to hatch. No changing the gender, just a possible shift in percent of each that hatch.

Is that a better desctiption??


Edited to add-- most species are not born or hatched at 50-50. THe genetic chance is 50-50 but of the "born " numbers the males out number the females. In poultry it is my understanding that55% are males. In human their are more boys than girl born. BY age 10 in the US the numbers are equal. From thereafter there are more girls than boys.

My roommate was telling me that the number of boys born in the UK after WWII jumped drastically after the war, but I don't know how true that is, so don't quote me on that, lol.

-Kathy

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
X2 !

 

[Sally8]

I may have posted this before but it's very lonely without any turkeys and their poop all over the deck. Hubby and I were talking about it again tonight. He doesn't feel the loss. My question. Do you know how much an adult turkey eats? Mine were able to range on 1/2 acre typically. I know my feed bill is now 1/2 what it was but I sold 7 turkeys and 13 year old chickens at the same time. My turkeys were approx. 4 mo old. The 2 Gray slates I paid 15.00 a piece and 4 months later sold them for $25.00. The other 5 I hatched my own. Over all, I made $135.00 for sales of 7 birds. Since I barely passed algebra 45+ years ago, I need help. So, how much does 1 adult turkey eat in a day. Whew!

 

[Arielle]

I may have posted this before but it's very lonely without any turkeys and their poop all over the deck. Hubby and I were talking about it again tonight. He doesn't feel the loss. My question. Do you know how much an adult turkey eats? Mine were able to range on 1/2 acre typically. I know my feed bill is now 1/2 what it was but I sold 7 turkeys and 13 year old chickens at the same time. My turkeys were approx. 4 mo old. The 2 Gray slates I paid 15.00 a piece and 4 months later sold them for $25.00. The other 5 I hatched my own. Over all, I made $135.00 for sales of 7 birds. Since I barely passed algebra 45+ years ago, I need help. So, how much does 1 adult turkey eat in a day. Whew!

Sally, not enough info to tell you an answer. Sorry. I bet your feed bill is much less now!

 

[casportpony]

Maybe this will help?
http://albc-usa.org/documents/turkeymanual/ALBCturkey-4.pdf
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~chibale/an12poultryfeeding.pdf

 

[NewToFarming]

I just got my very first turkeys over the weekend and I am trying to learn as much as I can about them. I got 3 Narraganset's and they are about 4 months old. I started to work on reading through the thread to learn more. I didn't get too far through it yet. LOL Here is a picture of when I first brought them home. I will have to try to get some better pictures of them over the weekend.