want to find out about raising turkeys

[PatS]

I have heard that the BB birds are not too bright and need more care due to a lack of "common sense"? For example, they need to be brought inside when it's raining because they could actually drown? Are these stories grossly exaggerated? I didn't realize that they would be ready so quickly - even if they do need more care, it seems pretty manageable if its only for a few months.

I have limited experience, this being my first season with turkeys. I'm raising some midget whites and bourbon reds. These are supposedly the two "tastiest" breeds according to taste tests.

I do not for a minute believe the "looks up at the rain and drowns" story. However, they are much more fragile than other types of birds and if they are chilled in the rain while they are young, they will die. Steve of Sand's Poultry always says "A cold, wet poult is a dead poult."

That being said, as youngsters they aren't very precocious. If you brood them, it helps to have a day old chick on hand to remind them to eat and drink at regular intervals. (Turkey see, turkey do.) It has taken forever for mine to learn the layout of their pen and how to enter and exit through the door. At about 12 weeks they are catching on to the fact they can't go through chain link. But in the last few weeks it seems their IQ's are starting to kick in.

They are very "personable" and talkative. I liken them to puppies. They want to be in the middle of whatever we're doing, and we are constantly laughing around them.

I'm still trying to figure the roosting situation out. Every night, they want to roost on the rail around the landing to our bedroom, and every night we shoo them into the chicken run, which has a special roost just for them. If and when they try to roost above our heads in the trees, who knows what we'll do. We have owls, but the turkeys are getting mighty big (midget --ha!) mighty fast.

I'll be watching to see what others have to say, I'm still learning.​

 

[ivan3]

Consistency is the key in getting them to roost where you want them to. The female poult is about 8wks old. She started heading for the trees/coop shed roof at about 5wks. One of us placed her on the roost in the shed, just after dark, so she wouldn't go back out to try the higher locations again. When we hear her `pweet, pweet, pweet' (`where's mama? I want to get under her wing!') call over the monitor, we know she's perched up on top of one of the shed doors. Now, when she sees us walking toward the run, she flies down and scurries into the shed and makes for the roost. The other three return to the run/shed on their own without prompting.

Just took this shot about an hour ago. I'm not even going to try to guess why her parents (Royal tom and Slate hen) have both eschewed the roost and are `setting' on nothing at all (and doing so with a will), the Slate tom has an excuse (poor eyesight).

With the heritage turks start out with one tom and however many hens you want; the `social climate' be `milder'.

Drowning? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=99573&p=1

 

[Lagerdogger]

Here's a question about the difference between the Broad Breasted and Heritage breeds ... I have heard that the BB birds are not too bright and need more care due to a lack of "common sense"? For example, they need to be brought inside when it's raining because they could actually drown? Are these stories grossly exaggerated? I didn't realize that they would be ready so quickly - even if they do need more care, it seems pretty manageable if its only for a few months.

Another question - the Heritage breeds prefer to sleep outside and like to roost very high up. Is this true for the BB birds too? I thought that the BB birds eventually get too big to roost and end up sleeping on the ground. And that can be true for large Heritage Toms also?

As far as taste, some people say that the Heritage breeds taste better even though they take longer?

I have had three people that raised BB birds tell me that they had birds drown in the rain. I don't believe it. It is more likely that the birds were too young to be outside and got hypothermia from being wet and cold. I have never raised BB turkeys, so I haven't seen that myself. The heritage birds seem neither to drown nor freeze in rainstorms.

My heritage birds like to sleep up high. But I also have them behind a six foot fence. To keep them there, I occassionally clip wings. Last night was a wing clipping night and they didn't realize that they would not be able to get to some of their favorite perches. Some crash landings ensued but no one was hurt. And yes, the big toms had the most trouble. But unclipped, the larger heritage toms can fly quite well.

Any home grown bird raised in a natural manner is going to taste better than any turkey you but out of the store injected with who knows what. I think a BB bird raised free range, butchered at 20 lbs, and cooked without being frozen first would be excellent. I just like the look and variety of heritage turkeys. I am thinking about trying some broad-breasted to have some fresh mid-summer turkey.​

 

[terri9630]

I have some BBW's and haven't lost one to drowning in our monsoon rains yet. They don't always get out of the rain but as hot and humid as it has been I don't either. The rain feels good. I do think I will have to butcher one early. She hurt her foot somehow. She wont put weight on it and is hopping around on one leg.