turkeys in winter...

[adiekaty]

hi all,
i have a blue slate turkey tom, adding to females next week, all are 5 months old. thinking of converting an unused horse stall into a coop. thoughts? currently the tom is with my chickens, but he is getting too big and needs his own friends. I'm in wyoming close to montana border, first winter here, so I'm at a learning phase. i won't be adding heat, have read all will be okay thru winter if they have an area to get out of the wind. how do u all shelter and house your turkeys? btw, my tom is the coolest, great personality, acts like a dog.. haha

 

[ivan3]

Blue Slates and Royals, here in Cent.MO. Several nasty 0° F runs here, last winter. Sometimes they go in their shed. Have tarps up on West/North fencing & shovel out any drifts from run and throw down straw/more sand (sand after ice storms keeps leg injuries to minimum). Close enough to house to use extension to heated dog water bowl (great time saver).

They are tough customers if plenty of food and water & hide-out from wind is provided. Haven't lost one in winter since we started keeping them (10yr).

 

[adiekaty]

Awesome!!!! thanks for the info! )

 

[ivan3]

Oops, forgot to mention - If using a heated dog water bowl make sure to place it up on concrete blocks/milk crate (otherwise it will be `big footed' over and dumped) and keep the e. cords outside the run (will unplug or get legs caught, otherwise).

Have an uneventful winter

 

[nanclapper]

hi all,
i have a blue slate turkey tom, adding to females next week, all are 5 months old. thinking of converting an unused horse stall into a coop. thoughts? currently the tom is with my chickens, but he is getting too big and needs his own friends. I'm in wyoming close to montana border, first winter here, so I'm at a learning phase. i won't be adding heat, have read all will be okay thru winter if they have an area to get out of the wind. how do u all shelter and house your turkeys? btw, my tom is the coolest, great personality, acts like a dog.. haha

Hi, I'm in North Idaho and my turkeys did well through the winter last year. I converted a large dog kennel into a shelter for them. It has a canvas roof and I tarped three of four sides and put straw on the ground. I put their food and heated water in the shelter and they would go in there as needed. Mostly they layed in the snow. I put straw down where they tended lay up against a fence and added to it as needed. I later built a quonset style enclosure which works well because the snow slides off. They also like to roost on top!

 

[red horse ranch]

hi all,
i have a blue slate turkey tom, adding to females next week, all are 5 months old. thinking of converting an unused horse stall into a coop. thoughts? currently the tom is with my chickens, but he is getting too big and needs his own friends. I'm in wyoming close to montana border, first winter here, so I'm at a learning phase. i won't be adding heat, have read all will be okay thru winter if they have an area to get out of the wind. how do u all shelter and house your turkeys? btw, my tom is the coolest, great personality, acts like a dog.. haha

Glad to hear that you have found some females for your tom. Were you able to find Blue Slates?

 

[zekii]

I think my turkeys prefer the colder weather to the hot weather, they are outside on the coldest days in winter with snow and all.
The hardest thing with keeping any poultry here is to provide frozen free water for them. Heated water bowls seem to work well for
the turkeys.