What to feed a baby turkey?

[curtismom]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, chickens and turkeys and I must say first how thankful I am to have come across this wonderful, informative site

After discovering many, many ticks while putting in a garden this spring we decided to get some chickens; after a trip to the feed store we found ourselves with 4 bantams - and that was just the start

We now have 19 more standard and bantams on the way plus one turkey. My question is can he eat the same starter scratch as the baby chicks (they are eating a medicated start and grow by Purina)?

Thanks!

- Curtismom

 

[BeccaOH]

Yes, the turkey can eat the same as the chicks. The chicks should actually help the turkey learn to eat and drink as turkey can be rather dense. I use Purina Flock Raiser on my turkeys (and chicks) instead of medicated. Turkey are drawn to green, so it would also enjoy tiny pieces of grass as it grows, and they need a good boost of protein, so you might offer it boiled egg occasionally. I raised 3 turkey with 8 chicks last spring, and they all did well together.

 

[curtismom]

Thanks for the reply!

How often, and when should I begin to supplement the turkeys diet with the boiled egg?

 

[BeccaOH]

Quote:
I think I was doing that by their second week. This year I've been selling the poults and haven't had any get any older than a week before they are gone.

 

[medan]

yes you can feed chick starter but its better to feed high protein wild game bird starter if you want them to have a real good start I use manna pro gamebird show bird feed its 24% protein

 

[Struttn1]

Highest protein medicated gamebird or turkey starter you can find.

 

[chicks4kids]

All I can suggest is to Read, Read, Read....put a few key words into the search engine in the upper right hand corner.....there's so much to learn....

 

[farmerlor]

I was sick when my husband got our turkey starter and he came home with 24% protein starter. So we've been feeding them boiled eggs almost from the beginning. At first I would peel the eggs but now that they are a couple of weeks old and have had some grit added to their feed I just grind up shells and all and feed it to them the same way I do for the adult turks when I give them a treat. I wouldn't feed your baby poults any greens or grass until they get some grit in their crops, but that's just me.

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

We start them out with Nature wise 30% turkey starter. Same thing we feed our Quail so it's really convenient.

 

[curtismom]

Thank you all for the responses!

We are going to keep our turkey as a pet - do I still want him to receive so much protein?