two turkey quick qestions

[Evelle]

1. how old do they start to mature i have two that still look very small i think i got them in mid may.

2. im kinda new to raising turkeys and my white turkey has some hard brissle type things off its chest.. what is it and does this mean my white hen is really a white tom??

this is my third year trying to raise turkeys with little sucsess

but i have two!!!!!
thanks for putting up with my stupid qestions.

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
Hello! I also have two turkeys, a BS and a RP. I bought them as day olds on May 20. Here's what they look like now:

They like to come onto the front porch and peek in the window.

I think the brissle thing is called the beard. I don't know if only males get the beard or not. Neither one of mine has a beard.

 

[rfwombat]

Both males and females can have a beard, just depends on the breed. The males will have a much larger and fuller beard than the females though.

 

[Evelle]

Quote:
Hello! I also have two turkeys, a BS and a RP. I bought them as day olds on May 20. Here's what they look like now:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/23665_porchturkeys.jpg
They like to come onto the front porch and peek in the window.

I think the brissle thing is called the beard. I don't know if only males get the beard or not. Neither one of mine has a beard.

thats cute!!!! mine do the same thing. my white gives me loves every morning crawls in my lap and lays down till s/he has had enough then jumps down and eats. thank you for sharing that picture with me mine are about the same size and i just feel they should be bigger..

i really really want a royal palm and that other one is a blue slate??? im trying to keep the "cheep" ones alive before i get more extravgant ones.. this year i started with 3 white and 5 bronze breasted

sadly i only have one of each i gave one away and she died about a month later DARN PREDADORS!!!!!! i really really want royal palms burbon reds and the blue slates. next year im going to try to hatch all my chicks and focus on turkeys.

 

[chicmom]

I was hoping you'd say yours are the same size as mine! That makes me feel better too. I think they take longer to mature than a chicken, since they're so large. I'm still not even sure if they're males or females. I might have one of each....The RP looks more male to me, plus he displays, but the BS has NEVER displayed. I really hope one's a hen and one's a Tom, but it doesn't really matter because they are pets.

I love it when they display and puff all up, looking so regal! Mr. Turkey, the RP will display whenever a stranger comes around. I think it makes him nervous to see a stranger, so he puffs up to look really big and scary! LOL

They're just so interesting. They sometimes fly up on top of the big hen house. And they make the neatest sounds.....If I imitate them, they will call back to me. Oh, I love those turkeys!

I bought them at a swap meet in Ohio, and I think they cost $7.00 each, so they weren't too pricey.

Sharon

 

[Evelle]

Quote:

i do the same thing!! if a call to them they call back and come runing all stiffed legged to my front door.. i have bible study every week and the ladys love how they are so curious outside looking in.. i love them too. i just cant help it i started with alot and slowly my neighbors dogs and the evil trough has taken them from me. the last one that was killed was a little bigger them these two and he desplayed alot hated my roo. wouldnt let him get out of line at all. i miss him i think a coyote got him when i went to go pick my girls up from school..
but i hear females can strut and fluff up too.. just so you can be just as confused as me lol

7 DOLLARS!!!! man! i wish we had things like that here. cheepest ive found is 10 and i have to drive about 100 miles to go get them so it would be cheeper for me to get them at a hatchery. im hoping that i can talk my local feed guy to order some for me when he orders his chicks he orders 20 chicks just so i could get 5 ducks so i hope he would do it again.

 

[chicmom]

Evelle, what parts are you from? I'm from Northeastern Ohio. Starting to get chilly now....Down into the 40s at night. BRRRR! I've gotta start thinking about winterizing my coops again.

 

[Evelle]

this is tom tom he dissappeared 4 weeks ago.
north Idaho. its starting to get cold here too. havent even stared thinking about winter.. oh man that makes me sad

 

[chicmom]

Oh, he was cute! So sorry he came up missing! Idaho is getting cold too, huh? I love autumn here in Ohio, it's sooo colorful, and we have all the different festivals. Winter is cold cold cold! I've gotta make sure my chickens are sheltered from the wind, which is just awful. I put tarps around my run, and my husband put a roof over the run last fall, so it's much nicer. The tarps block the wind, and hubby hooked up electricity to the coops too, so I can put lights in there, which is great. Winter is so gloomy for the chickens! I'm not ready for that!

 

[Evelle]

thank you.. he was very sweet and just so funny to watch. we walked all over our acerage to see if we could find anything!! no feathers...nothing!
I love the fall also. but winter could be shorter. the last few years have been just dredful.
oh yuck.. we dont have electricity in the coop yet.. last year i had to run extention cords to put heat lamps to make sure the water wouldnt freeze i think this year we are going to invest in heated water things. the chicken didnt to to bad in the winter hated getting in the snow though. they have a deck infront of the coop that i try to keep shoveled along with my driveway and my deck. urrrgg.. winter

darn it.. oh golly i have 5 ducks that sleep under my barn that i need to figure out what to do.. that tarp thing is a good idea.. just make sure they dont have cold wind blowing on them..