what to get?

[Singlemaple]

I am thinking of getting a few turkeys to raise for thanksgiving dinner..

what breed would you guys suggest for my area ( southern NH) and they will live with my chickens i will need to know how much space do they need compared to chickens?

please let me know.. u gave had some friends raise turkeys before and i think maybe i could give it a try.

thanks Hanaah

 

[Singlemaple]

what brand feed would i use?
do they roost?
how many would i have to keep?
how old would they need to be for winter?
what breeds would you suggest for me?
are they hard to care for?

I will more then likely keep posting questions here.

 

[chicken pickin]

Im also In SNH and I bought 2(thanksgiving and christmas dinner) just a few weeks ago Broad Breasted Whites from a feed store. They are hybrids that are bred specifically for meat. They do not breed naturally and do not live long(mature between 4-5 months to process for meat). Perfect for me because I have a problem getting attached to everything lol. So if all you want is dinner Broad breasted Bronze or Whites is the way to go. I decided I like having turkeys so we are going to be buying Bourbon Reds which are a Heritage Breed they are a little smaller breed naturally and live long and make both good pets and good meat(though longer to mature for the meat part(8-9 months). This is all new to me also but Im glad to meet someone in NH that shares some similar intrests.

 

[Narragansett]

If you're looking to get Broad Breasted birds for Thanksgiving or Christmas, unless you plan to freeze them, it's still much too early. With the increased growth rates of today's birds, they will be much too big to easily handle and cook by Thanksgiving, and especially Christmas. About August 1 is an ideal time to get a decent sized bird. Go a week earlier if you must have them larger, but much more than that, and you'll have a bird that will take forever to cook, if you have a pan or even an oven large enough to fit it. For Standard breeds (so-called "heritage"), about 6 months minimum is what you want, if not more, so you're a bit late for them at this point.

 

[chicken pickin]

I did get my BBWs a little early. They had 4 left at the feed store and they were the last they were getting in. So I bought all 4 and gave 2 to our friends to raise. They are already 7 weeks old and we plan to process them in early oct and freeze them. I think July is a good time to get the BBs if you want to process right before thanksgiving and heritage breeds closer to march or april.

As for your other questions
Feed should be a turkey or gamebird starter 28% protein for the first 8 weeks I believe (medicated or not your choice) then there is a grower and then a finisher

Yes they roost and they like to be up high though BBB and BBWs dont roost as much as they grow very large

You can keep as many as you like I suggest just more than one as they need companions

Not sure how old they need to be for winter though I suppose the older the better young turkeys chill easy older turkeys are very cold hardy

SO far mine are not hard to care for but Ive only had them a few weeks. I hear they are hard to keep alive and are very fragile for the first 4-6weeks ish.

Im a newbie so I only know what Ive read I havent had much hands on experience yet.

 

[Singlemaple]

we are thinking of getting a heritage breed to have a few for breeding and keep them year around possibly... we also have neighbors who LOVE the hole raise your own food and whenever we have extra they come running...

the other day i was talking to my dad telling him that some of the toms can get to 50 lbs+ and we have decided if we ever let a tom get that big it is going to be cooked on a spit over a bonfire lol

they would be living in our chicken coop with are chickens, what would we have to do in the chicken coop to make it turkey friendly? our coop is 8 X 8 and has a slanted roof from 6 to 8 feet. how big would the door to the run need to be?

our run is 400 sqft so i think we have plenty of that for rainy days but they would free range in the yard.
I'm just trying to figure out if i do get the turkeys all adjustments ill have to have.. for there feed will i have to have it in a different place then my chickens? would my chickens be able to eat it?

thank you guys sooooo much for helping me out.