Turkeys For 2013

[casportpony]

Nice looking birds!

-Kathy

 

[NewToFarming]

Thank you! I really had no idea what I was buying but there was this cute little Amish boy selling them at TSC. I told him if no one buys them to give me a call and I will buy them from him...well here there are! LOL One thing I would like to know is what is the best type of perch for them and how high? I have a barn with a pretty high ceiling and they keep looking up near the roof of the barn like they want to perch higher.

 

[casportpony]

I worry about the landing and the glide path if that makes sense? Too high with not enough room to fly down is when they get hurt, I think.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

 

[NewToFarming]

Yes, that does make sense. Thanks! I guess they will just have to perch lower.

 

[racinchickins]

Not the best picture, but.... There is nothing cuter than a little fluffy head sticking out of Mama's feathers.

edited to add: oops. didn't pay attention to which Thread I was on. Not my Turkeys, but still cute!

 

[TulsaChick]

I only have two turkeys right now, had 3 but one got invited to Thanksgiving dinner. So I don't go through a lot of feed, they free range mostly in our wooded acre and grass, wild berries, and what they manage to steal from the chickens, they are thieves, will watch the chicken scratching and digging and snatch before the chicken knew what was happening. Mine are.......

We processed one of these boys, he was 18.7 carcass wait. There was a thick amount of fat on his chest, like 2 inches. where they puff up and their beard is. But that made him really juicy and tasty and will do them again. I want hatch out from the other two.

So pretty! I'm not in to turkeys but I love those

 

[Sally8]

Mstricer - very pretty turkeys!

Arielle - I guess I gave out too much info. lol. What I was wondering was, typically, how much does a turkey eat in a day. I've read that chickens eat 1/2 cup per bird daily that has the freedom to free range. I wish I had tried to check this out when I had them. Thanks, anyway. sue

 

[casportpony]

Mstricer - very pretty turkeys!

Arielle - I guess I gave out too much info. lol. What I was wondering was, typically, how much does a turkey eat in a day. I've read that chickens eat 1/2 cup per bird daily that has the freedom to free range. I wish I had tried to check this out when I had them. Thanks, anyway. sue

If that number is based on a 5 pound chicken, I bet a 15 pound turkey would eat three times as much, but that is just a guess, and one I don't want to calculate given the sheer number of large fowl I have here, lol.

-Kathy

 

[Celie]

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.

I heard that due to war, more male babies are born to the next generation. Don't know for sure, but in my family it was after WWII. My mother had6 boys and 2 girls, my aunts about the same ratio, when combined. I can say out of all the turkeys I hatch every year, it is close to even. Last year, it was 60% females, this year about 47% were females. That's close enough to half for me, but I can't give you a reference, but I have 50+ turkeys outside if you want to interview them? LOL

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!

I don't know how much in #s, but I can tell you, while they are growing up, they eat a lot more than adults do. My chickens ate more than the turkeys for the amount of weight they gain. I worked out a plan to let them out of the barn at sun up and not feed them till around noon, whereby they would free range over our 5 acres while they were hungry, eating their fill of bugs, grass, seeds, etc. I feed them all they care to eat at noon with a little left over and then I feed them again about an hour or two before dark, so they go to roost on a full crop. This plus getting rid of 3/4 of my chickens and more than doubling my turkeys, has cut my feed bill about 40%! I have really huge turkeys, Holland Whites, so smaller turkeys should eat less. I have some Midget Whites and one Bourbon Red, this year, that eat a lot less than the Hollands, but are much smaller, too. $25. for a 4 month old Heritage sounds very low to me. I sell poults a few days old for $10, others I see charge more, but a 4 month old would bring at least $40. At that age the hard part is over and they are very sturdy!

Thank you! I really had no idea what I was buying but there was this cute little Amish boy selling them at TSC. I told him if no one buys them to give me a call and I will buy them from him...well here there are! LOL One thing I would like to know is what is the best type of perch for them and how high? I have a barn with a pretty high ceiling and they keep looking up near the roof of the barn like they want to perch higher.

My turkeys perch fine in the rafters of the barn, until the get over a year old and too heavy to perch, then they just sit on top of a crate or dig a spot in the sand floor and lay in it. Last year, the younger ones preferred the outside perch that was 8 feet high, about the same as the barn rafters or maybe a little lower.

Originally Posted by mstricer

I only have two turkeys right now, had 3 but one got invited to Thanksgiving dinner. So I don't go through a lot of feed, they free range mostly in our wooded acre and grass, wild berries, and what they manage to steal from the chickens, they are thieves, will watch the chicken scratching and digging and snatch before the chicken knew what was happening.
Mine are.......

We processed one of these boys, he was 18.7 carcass wait. There was a thick amount of fat on his chest, like 2 inches. where they puff up and their beard is. But that made him really juicy and tasty and will do them again. I want hatch out from the other two.

Are these pretty birds Hollands or Beltsville? They are either very heavy Beltsville or very young Hollands for that weight? They are beautiful !!!!!!