Turkeys For 2013

[elsfieldchickens]

nice looking stag

 

[B J Hopkins]

This is my adult tom. Name is Tequila, or just "T". He's been really bad about stomping my adult roosters. He seems to go crazy around my Momma hen w/her chicks. Otherwise he's a great protector of "his" flock.


He will let me catch him & hold him. My husband tried it yesterday & T would have none of it.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

For those of you want ing to order from Porters-- please order early!! THey are booking orders now for next year because they book up FAST. By Feb you might be looking at an early summer delivery.




Quote:
Spell check at its best-- caruncles--lol

At what age can you start eating turkeys? I have 14 and plan on eating 7 of them. All were born in the spring.

Technically you can start eating at any time. THe older they are the more meat. Turkeys also over winter well because of their feathering and size. Just need some shelter during bad weather.

LOL...the turkeys tried to get in the car as my husband was trying to leave to go somewhere tonight.

lol-- I now have scratches on the door where they scrabled up the door!! Mine run down the drive follwoing the car--- until DS shoo's them back .

Quote: PICs !!!
will see if i can manage that

Thanks for the tip Arielle! I want to get a handful from several different breeders, I am officially hooked on BRs, my Snoodles from you has stolen my heart

He is the sweetest baby doll I have ever had. Will be pestering you late winter for another big box of your awesome eggs!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

This is my adult tom. Name is Tequila, or just "T". He's been really bad about stomping my adult roosters. He seems to go crazy around my Momma hen w/her chicks. Otherwise he's a great protector of "his" flock.


He will let me catch him & hold him. My husband tried it yesterday & T would have none of it.

WOW he is a handsome tom

 

[chickadoodles]

WOW he is a handsome tom

X2 He is very handsome
Mine are very tame, but do not like to be held.

 

[Chicken man76]

I have the same prob with my tom Big Red I have to monitor him when I let him free range or else he tries to stomp my 2 roosters into the ground he's just to big for the I know its a pack leader thing he wants to run the flock.

 

[Chicken man76]

 

[Celie]

The first turkeys I sold, I sold for $15.00. They were several months old. I hatched them myself and were a mix between Royal Palm and Bronzes. They sold within a few weeks of posting. The next batch, were of the same but I asked $20.00 a piece and they were gone in a few hours. This last bunch were the same mixed breeding, $20.00 a piece and I had a pair of Blue Slate, pure and I asked $25.00. They were gone by the next morning after I posted them but the man that came 2 hours away gave me a hard time about the pricing and I told him he could just leave them and go home. He paid the money and tried to buy my car.
I think there is a market here as I never see any for sale around me. I just don't have the room. I think I'll have turkeys again as I really do like them but need to be sure that I have the room for them. I'm not sure that I can say that mine are 100% organic but I've never added anything. Something for me to research this winter.

What age were they?

I advertise my birds as fed all natural feed, no hormones, no antibiotics, fresh garden fruits and veggies, that seems to be okay with most people here.

-Kathy

Organically fed means that everything they eat is organic too! But your ad sounds good, even if they are not "Organic"!

I just love turkey any kind of way! I think the one baby Narraganset is a girl. But this spring my Alfa male will have the Black hen till my baby is grown is she turns out to be a hen like I think she will. But I have free feeders set up in my pens for my birds and turkey so they can eat anytime they want. But I know you free range. So I don't know. But I do know that one of the articles I read on raising turkey said a couple weeks before you butcher to freely feed them corn! It will pack on the weight.

Corn packs on fat in turkeys, will do both in roosters and put weight on pigs. High protein puts weight on turkeys. I have mine on 28% protein and free range, plus whole wheat, oatmeal and multigrain bread for snacks. They also have been eating a lot of Bartlet pears, before I can get to them. They also forage in the oaks and the acorns give the meat a nice sweet taste!

Yess!!!!!! Thank you!!!

If Celie is lurking I have a q---

"I am going to start using only year old toms for breeding, because I raise White Holland Heritage breed and the toms are huge and weigh around 40 to 50 pounds compared to the 25 to 30# hens."

Why would anyone need a BBW with white HOllands around???

Seriously though, are the hens really 25-30#? That is almost the size of a BR or Narri tom.

Yes ! At full maturity. live weight. Take 20 to 25 % off to get process weight, depending on amount of fat. My older ones are as large as 1 year old toms, or a bit more. They are wide and heavy,

 

[chickadoodles]

Thanks Celie my birds are on 28% also and I give them all kinds of snacks and treats grits, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, cornbread, and what ever bread we are eating. Plus we have live oak and hickory trees over them for shade and nuts.

 

[Sally8]

...

What age were they?

I sold them in several different times but they were 2 - 4 months, typically.