Turkeys

[chicken nanny]

jaku

were are you getting your turkeys at townline?

im getting 5 form townline the white turkeys I have meatie coming with them in may

Are you having them sent with a order of meaties?

 

[Buster52]

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What, like that takes priority over visiting BYC??

Congratulations, Jaku! You must be very proud.

 

[jaku]

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Yeah, I'm sticking with Townline- I'm so close that I'll probably just drive there and pick them up. I'm only ordering 6, and I think the minimum is 15.

Buster- unfortunately, yes... although being on the internet would be a lot more peaceful than screaming kids, I'm pretty sure my wife would kill me!

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

How about AMOUNT of feed? I usually guess about 500 lbs for each 25 broilers, but how much should I plan with turkeys? Granted, it's only six of them, but I'll have them a lot longer, and they're obviously a lot bigger. Any ideas on that?

On the BB type you will be around 70-80 lbs each bird for a 20lb bird, this of course all depends on alot of factors but if you keep them in a tractor this will be pretty close, if free ranging they will need more.​

 

[bigredfeather]

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So they go thru more feed if they free range?

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

So they go thru more feed if they free range?

Yes due to the fact that they are using more energy/calories when they free range compared to when they are in a tractor just eating and sleeping and not being able to fly,run,etc.​

 

[jaku]

Do you feed 24/7, or restrict feed? And roughly how many weeks for a 20 pound carcass, and the time to get a monster one?

 

[CARS]

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I use the same 21-22% feed for my Cornish X's and my BB Turkeys.

Jeff, you do know that you can process early to avoid having HUGE turks

 

[pdpatch]

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Generally it can be assumed to take about 20 weeks for the best feed cost to weight ration. But you can always butcher later or earlier. The earliest we have done a double breasted was at about 16 or so weeks. You can let then go longer since most of the time you use a slow cooking method.

A 20 week Double breasted can in the 18 to 20 dressed range, 30 weeks up near the 30 lb dressed.

Even if you don't use a wild game feed, you should start them off with some sort of starter feed. As those have extra minerals in them which helps avoid bone problems for the Double Breasted. It best to use a Wild Game starter.

Generally is recommend that you don't put them on grass until about 7 to 9 weeks. Since there immune system takes that long to develop. Some don't follow that and have not problems, but it depends on the land they are on.

Tom

 

[Buster52]

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We fed ours 24/7 (just as we do our heritage breeds), and it took me a little over 6 months to get a 50 pound tom.

I put it on a calendar at work, so I will double check that when I get there to see the exact length of time.