Wanting to get turkeys, but I'm at a toss up.

[omegorchards]

Have you thought about Midget White turkeys? They are not an APA Standard breed so I dont believe you could show them unless in the "open" class show. But they are a wonderful breed. Mine are very busy (not wild or hyper) and curious birds. I like that they arent huge and I understand they make great mothers, but I havent let any "do it the natural way" with poults. They are very good fliers and mine roost high in my oaks at night. But they dont tend to wonder outside of my 1 acre community pen. They like to stick with the chickens. Just a thought.

 

[Marty1876]

If your picking turkeys for show, no matter what breed you choose, be sure to look at their parents. If you want to win, yours breeders have to be the best you can afford. There is a considerable range in quality of feather, evenness of color, stance, etc... I personnaly now have chocolate turkeys and am expecting midget whties for the Easter hatch-a-long. We did have bronze and Bourbon.

Nice Turkey pics.

Also glad to see I'm not the only ones dealing with messy turkey babies!

Have a good day

 

[orumpoultry]

I ended up getting some Blue Slates Friday, to get me started. But votes are out and it looks like I brought home three toms, and one of which is a whatchacallit... not a Blue Slate.

I threw them together a pen when I got home, they're now ( crammed, I believe ) in an 8x16 pen. They can't figure out how to use the roost and want to stay on the top of the nest box I built.

I've done very little research on Midget Whites. I don't even know if they're available in my area. I am hoping to stay as far away from hatchery stock as I can get on my chosen breed. But, around here, that may be hard to come by. Once I get to hatching, there's a good chance my broody game hens ( which, if I sneeze wrong, will sit...) will be raising some poults for me. Are midget whites easy to hatch? Do they have a high rate of making it to adult hood? To my understanding, any breed of turkey has the potential to die off at a younger age... By doing such as forgetting to breath while drinking from the waterer. The few I've dealt with in the past, I don't remember this happening but I was just a kid. So I'm not sure.

Either way, I know I want to end up with two hens and a tom at some point. A good started trio if I can find one.




This is the pen I threw together for them. It was halfway complete when I took these pictures... still needed to put a curtain along the bottom, and needed to finish wiring to the top. The side furthest away closes up at night, it's where the roost is. It's too high, I know that now. It's completely surrounded by hardware cloth and another thickly gauged wire on the bottom. The door is spring loaded, so it slams shut. The feeder was already hung, as they were 'starving' little children and I'm a sucker. As of right now they don't have a real waterer, just a dish. Also, that box with a 'sun roof' is what I'm hoping they'll use as a nest box.. counting on hens for that one.


This is the whatchacallit. He was trying to strut when this picture was taken, he was upset because he broke the nest box in the hold pen. I was TOLD he was a black blue slate... I didn't think they existed, but HE was also supposed to be a SHE. That became obviously incorrect when I got home. HE immediately started strutting. I now think I ended up with three toms... time will tell.

These are the heads of the hens. I hope they're hens. I'll have to get better pictures tomorrow with a real camera, not my camera phone. The black in the above picture is the only one strutting. These two make a different sound completely, do not answer or react to gobbles from youtube ( I tried, the black exploded and started strutting like a mad man. ) They're supposed to be around six months old, maybe a month or two older. I can't remember and she's no longer answering my texts.

Any ways... I ended up driving almost two hours one way to pick up what I thought was going to be a beautiful trio. Don't get me wrong, I think they're pretty, but they're far from exhibition in my opinion... Which is what they were advertised as. It wasn't until I went to pick them up that she informed me the parent stock was actually hatchery stock. Again, I know I was lied to all along... but, it's a start.

 

[Marty1876]

Give them some time to grow out feathers again. Somettimes when they are dirty, and their feather tips worn, they don't look as promising. How is their basic conformatation?

 

[Wayne&Kim1963]

I think the dark one is a hen and the other 2 are males. I am not 100% sure but is what I think I see.

Turkey eggs hatch best under broody hen and usually to decrease death loss with turkey poults I put tylan in their water and give them save a chick additive to their water with teaspoon of sugar for first few days. Turkey poults will get weak from low blood sugar first few days I have found.

Anyways there is many ways to raise baby chicks and I am sure many ways to raise turkeys. I just found that to work best with me.

 

[orumpoultry]

The two blues have AMAZING stance, based on what I've seen compared to other birds. No crooked breast bones, tail carriage seems to be correct. And, given the fact that they rode 110 miles in one day, 88 of which were in the back of my truck in dog crates exposed to the elements ( it was POURING rain when I started home. But, they stayed dry thanks to the trap ) and pooed all over each other, I think that they made it home pretty in tact. Generally perky birds, too. Were very excited to see me with the feed bucket this morning and all three started talking, the black started strutting... which he looks funny doing right now as his feathers are all junked up still.

I'm not seeing any crooked legs, any deformities. None of the typical flaws I've read to look for.. but I can't find any SOP for them, so I'm basing them off of a generic rule of thumb. Even meat distribution as well, not getting to heavy on one side or the other... Like I said, I'll try to get better pictures of the trio in the morning. Right now it's dark out, and I have the LGD's on duty so I don't think good pictures would be available right now, haha. But, they are really good natured birds. Don't seem to mind me petting them, which tells me they were handled regularly. They just don't want me picking them up. But, for meal worms and fresh bugs, I was able to feel all over. No weird bumps. Again, all around decent looking... but right now, idk if they're going to live up to the pictures I received of the 'parent' stock.

 

[FarmTillURdead]

Hens "pip" a lot. Just making one high note peep - at everything and especially while grazing. Toms don't ever seem to do this. That might helps some. I'd love to look at more photos! I have seen my hens fluff up from time to time when they are irritated.

 

[FarmTillURdead]

BTW! Those are ~beautiful~ blues~~!!!

 

[orumpoultry]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6176509/user_id/119437

More pics taken off of my phone. I wasn't able to get better pictures, I can't find my camera! I also got a few video's, but I haven't uploaded them just yet.

But anyhow. I was off today, and was able to spend most of the day stalking the trio instead of going off of DM's word. The black does not gobble, but she does strut when she sees the chicken hens. Gets all irritated! She did NOT like them. I'm going with she, because today the other HEN laid me an egg and they were fussing over the box. Contacted the breeder, the mother to the black does the same thing. Fluffs all up but doesn't gobble. Definite hen on her end unless it starts gobbling I guess? They are very inquisitive over my other animals. Not to keen on my moms retired mare, who came up to check them out today and set off a fluff fest. Got all three upset. LOL - I got a good chance to handle all three as well. They've definitely been bred well, better than the hatchery stock I'm used to seeing. But still not sure if they're EQ. Straight chests, no crooked bones. Evenly built. I really like them. I had to move the roosts down about two feet, will check on them at dawn to see if they're roosting on it or still trying to roost on the nest box.

Considering everything they went through to get here, I'm just glad they let me in their pen to fuss with them! They're very sweet in comparison to my game birds. My laying hens don't even get this close to me from time to time! Someone ( the breeder ) obviously spent a lot of time with this trio. Still praying for two hens and a tom. Named the definite gobbler Tom Tucker. The two 'hens' don't have names yet. But, I'm in love. Wish I could eat one... but I'll just wait to see! Also, I think the tom has an infected sac above his tail. Looks like his oil sack? It's swollen and red, or is that normal? None of the turkey's I've dealt with in the past ever reached maturity so I don't know if this is normal. I did manage to get aholt of the breeder, she promises to bring me a hen if one turns out to be a tom. Said, "You purchased a trio with ONE tom. If you get TWO toms, I will make it right!" So, I'm glad. She's been busy herself, guess that's why it took so long to get an answer! Tom Tucker is a def. flirt. I'll try and upload video's for everyone as soon as I can.

 

[omegorchards]

Midget Whites make good mothers and usually have high fertility. I recently culled my flock to maintain small size and vigor. But regardless natural mothers are almost always better than a brooder when it comes to poults. Chickens can raise turkeys but the poults often get bigger than momma can handle before they can be truly independent. But since Midget Whites are smaller they can be raised to independence by most chickens. But game hens are a bit smaller than most hens so I don't know how this would work. I can say that once poults reach three weeks of age they are very robust when brooding. Before that they are glass figurines. Hen Midget Whites also like to set FYI.