When will my BR start laying eggs and are they good to eat? Lots of questions!!

[kasiesmith]

When will my BR Turkey Start to lay her eggs? Are they good to eat? Will I be able to tell the difference between Chicken V Turkey? I am in the process of building my chicken coop with run, are there any special things I should build inside or outside the coop for my Turkey? Do turkeys need/use a Nesting box? I have 5 hens a 1 turkey how big should my coop and run be?

 

[Haida]

Turkey hens become mature at around six months... I saw my tom and hen mating for the first time last December... but she didn't start laying eggs until it warmed up in March. She's laid eggs all summer and is just now starting to taper off (from what I've read, they take a break in winter). I'm in upstate NY, so it gets pretty cold here.

Turkey eggs are HUGE. HUGE! We weighed one of our turk eggs against one of our chicken eggs and it was just over twice as much (I forget the exact weight). The yolks are massive, too. I love turkey eggs and prefer them over any other egg. I like their texture (they're fluffy when you hardboil them) and the yolks don't have that chalky taste that I think chicken eggs do. They are also a lot less fragile.. you can crack the eggshell but not have an eggy mess all over the place thanks to that inner membrane.

I used bales of hay for a nesting box this spring (like stacked up against each other, making a nice little cave, and I used a piece of corrugated plastic as a roof... then I filled it with hay) but she stopped using it a few months ago and now lays her eggs in a little pit she made in some bushes outside. They need a large nesting box, much larger than that of a chicken. Like, she needs to be able to stand up in it and turn completely around. That's the spacing that I used.

I have 10 turkeys in an old horse barn (about 22' x 30'-ish) with an outside run that's 22'-45' (ish). They have a lot of roosts, but seem to like to roost outside when its nice. Inside the old horse barn, there's a brooder for the babies as well. I wouldn't have more than 15 turkeys at a time in this space... next year we might be building a tractor of sorts, but I don't know yet.

I would say the more space the merrier. The hens like their privacy (or at least mine does) so keep that in mind.

I hope this helps! Turkeys are so much fun!!

 

[kasiesmith]

Thank you, yes very helpful..