When is he going to gobble? And other questions

[cashela]

Ok I still have my pet turkeys, the white ones, the meat birds that are pets. I love the darn things they are the greatest. I have done very well at keeping them from getting too fat. They are healthy birds with the exception that the tom has crooked toes that I fear will one day be an issue. I noticed that he is starting to get a beard, I saw this black thing on his white chest and was like what the heck is that? I grabbed him and felt it and figured out he is growing a beard. Anyway my question is when is he going to gobble? I'm just dying to hear him gobble.

Also this is my first year with poultry. My parents owned chickens and ducks and guineas but I've never had turkey's before. Do I have to do anything special for them in the winter other then food, water and shelter?

Also can I put lime in their cage to reduce the smell? We have gotten a lot of rain.

Do turkeys have to have something to roost on, mine don't and their cage isn't tall.

I have a chicken question too. I got that free chicken when I got the turkeys. It had issues but it is now better and living outside in it's own cage. I thought it was a hen but now I am questioning that. It's comb might be getting bigger and it is aggressive! It has pecked me twice now. The turkey's are docile compared to this thing. It also went up to my tom and squatted down in front of it and fluffed its neck feathers out and looked like it was going to attack him until the tom backed away. I assume this is Roo activity and not something a hen would do? But it also does a lot of the bock bock bock noise, and is very vocal. I didn't think roo's were that vocal other then crowing? I'm so new to all of this still. Sorry for all of the stupid questions.

 

[jenjscott]

Your meat turkey tom will be too big to get up on a roost, but will appreciate a 4x4 laying on the ground to roost on. The hens may be able to roost, but you will have to keep it low, but they will roost if you give them a chance. I'm not sure where you live, but my meat turkey tom was roosted on the ground during a freeze and got frost bite on his chest because his feathers were so much more sparse than normal.

 

[cashela]

I'm in NH so winter will be cold. I will give him a 4X4 to stand on. They have access to a shelter that I put shavings in and they seem to go in there and set down. I have found them on rainy mornings in there hanging out.

 

[boxermom]

Quote:
I have 5mo roos that cluck along with crowing. I went our the other day because I heard the clucking (sounded like the egg song)under the lilacs and thought a hen was laying under there. Just turned out a roo was clucking a warning as there were 2 strange dogs on the property. I learned something new that day.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

As for the gobbling, my two turkeys are both toms, and they're over 3 months old (I think) and the only time I heard something resembling a gobble was when they were posturing for a guy trying to fish by our house. They had their tails up, feathers fluffed out, just like a big tom, with a persistent low gobbling. They stopped once the guy got back in his truck. Haven't heard a gobble since, and it's been a month.