Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

YES!!!!

My BR are laying 1 month beyond last year.

Sweetgrass are under lights, and generally laying an egg a day.

 

[Arielle]

Have your started to lay??

 

[kuntrygirl]

YES!!!! 

My BR  are laying 1 month beyond last year.

Sweetgrass are under lights, and generally laying an egg a day. 

I was sooooooooo hoping that my girls had stopped. Mine started early and are laying late. :/ Mine are still laying.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Have your started to lay??

Mine started laying in December (i think), so they have been laying for 10 months now. :/

 

[Arielle]

I have noticed my hens have quit laying-- SOME have quit laying and molted despite the light on in the coop. Maybe turkeys can be influenced in many ways too.
I expected my birds to stop a while month a go--and I"m wondering if they are telling me it will be a BAD winter, or . . . .a very mild winter.

Clearly if your girls start in December, the sunlight as in number of hours isn't the whole picutre of what triggers laying.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have noticed my hens have quit laying-- SOME have quit laying and molted despite the light on in the coop. Maybe turkeys can be influenced in many ways too. 
I expected my birds to stop a while month a go--and I"m wondering if they are telling me it will be a BAD winter, or . . . .a very mild winter. 

Clearly if your girls start in December, the sunlight as in number of hours isn't the whole picutre of what triggers laying. 

For our area (South Louisiana-very warm climate) our turkeys tend to lay longer than other places. And we won't use any additional light. I think that is what triggers the extended laying. And our winters are not true winters either. On Christmas, we can easily have on short, tank tops and flip flops on sitting under the shade trip with a nice glass of cold ice tea or lemonade. Some winter Christmas huh? :/

 

[chicken pickin]

Does anyone have hens that are still laying eggs?

Ive gotten 3 eggs in the past week

 

[Celie]

Celie that is where I am at on the turkey! The pens! May I ask what size your turkey pens are? Right now I only have one hen and 4 toms. But hoping to change that around soon! lol I don't know what size to make my pens. I was kind of thinking 20x20 for 4-5 hens and 1 tom. I may use netting over the tops of the pens for the grown turkey.

I have a 30x50 poultry barn where I use 10x10 dog kennel looking pens 6 foot high chain link fencing panels to form the pens with and use chicken wire at the opening at the top, so they can't fly out. I can put 1,2 or 3 panels together in a line to form 10, 20 or 30 feet, so they are very versatile. I have 5 acres for them to free run on, and can fence separate areas off for each breed, for large runs but don't know if some of the lighter breed toms will still be able to fly over the 6 foot fencing, by the time they are sexually mature? I have only had up to now, the Holland whites and by breeding age they are too heavy to take on a 6 foot fence. I want to use yearling toms, because the heavier the tom, the more risk of damage to the hen, because of his weight. I will be keeping the toms we raise for the freezer in a separate yard on the far side of the property. I had 7 hens and a tom in one 10 x 10 pen, to start, this year, but by the time I put in the large nest boxes, it was too many. Since they all wanted to use the same nest box, I think one nest box and 4 hens with 1 tom might work. Most of the time 4 hens would be on the nest at once and the rest of the pen was empty. I use large dog kennels(carriers) for them to nest in, because they don't seem to like open nests much! I guess it will be trial and error, unless someone can come up with a better idea?

 

[Celie]

Yup.

My young ones roost 20 feet up, or try too! THe older birds are put in a 8x8 barn and locked up to keep them safe as they don't roost very high and are easy pickings.

That's where I have a little different situation. I let the young, not old enough to mate yet, free range and they are closed up only at night. I have very grassy pastures, that even after foraging, I still have to mow them every few days. They have a mixture of Bermuda and bahaya grass. and only a very small place under the oak trees near the barn, where I can't keep the grass growing well. About a half hour before dark, the geese call it bedtime and everybody goes to bed in the poultry barn. I go out about dark thirty. so no stragglers are still out and close up the doors. With smaller pens, inside the barn I can put chicken wire over the top, but the outside runs only have 6 foot fencing. I am wondering how hard it would be to let a couple breeds free range on different sides of the barn and stay on their own side, without netting over 5 acres?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Does anyone have hens that are still laying eggs?

Ive gotten 3 eggs in the past week

That's good that yours are still laying too.