Why Do You Have Turkeys? What Kind Do You Have?

[Mr.Bojangles]

I have 17 heritage breed turkey poults , so we are covered for all the holidays starting with this thanksgiving... Next summer I hope to have one for a Bar-B-Que on the pig cooker...

 

[thaiturkey]

Until the beginning of this year the only turkeys I had seen here were Butterball in Makro and Big C just before Christmas time. Then, one week after my first turkey Christmas dinner in this country, I spotted a stag (tom) strutting his stuff in front of a neighbour's house. Suddenly, everyone in the village knew about turkeys after three months of denial. You have to know the local word, you see (gai nuang).

There's seems to be no point in looking for heritage breeds here. Most seem to be bronze but there are also some other types. However, I doubt whether local breeders trouble with blood lines.

We have some land around the home and farm land elsewhere so I suggested to her indoors that we bought some poults from those neighbours and reared them at home. My idea was to breed and sell them oven ready to expats this coming Christmas. She was in favour and we had a coop of sorts quickly built. I ordered some books from Amazon, did some Googling and found BYC.

The five poults were about a month old when they came to us early in March. The ratio by gender is three stags to two hens. Not ideal! We soon acquired a mature pair and then bought two hens. Now we also have 15 poults hatched by our three mature hens, two coops and another one being planned.

So, we got into turkeys on a whim intending to breed and sell them for the oven. My wife has since reminded me that she cannot kill animals or fish. Having fallen in love with these creatures, I'm not sure that I could either. However, we have learned that there is a thriving market for live birds. We have low days when things go wrong, such as the loss of one newly hatched weakling and then another that was caught in a storm before we could get them to shelter. On the other hand, most days have highs as we watch the antics of the older ones foraging and sparring and marvel at the speed with which the poults grow and learn. If it were not for the exponential growth of the flock that we would experience, I would consider now just keeping them all!

 

[sonew123]

A.T. Hagan :

I have turkeys because chickens weren't making me crazy enough. White Midgets are what I have right now.

I sell poults.

me too-no eggs yet though-too young any fertility issues with these guys?? what age do they lay eggs-​

 

[pongoid]

I want turkeys so bad I can taste them...LOL.

I have a magazine that says you can't house Turkeys with Chickens because of blackhead and other diseases...but it would seem Turkeys are closer to wild and therefore hardier than chickens....anyone know the answer?

Also...how often do Turkeys lay eggs, can you have a weekly breakfast on Turkey eggs?