Yey I have got my first turkey... but how old is he/she????

[teresa-78]

Hiya everyone...

Well I just purchased my very first turkey

.... believed to be a Royal Palm??

My question is how old is he/she?? I was told about 5 weeks, and that it is off the heat lamp...

Harold the turkey

I am new to turkeys so any ideas and things I need to know to gove the best possible care would be great

Thanks everyone

 

[animalbaby4everandalwyz]

Congrats to a new turkey!! I just got my first about 3 days ago but he/she is much larger than yours mine is about 3 mts old so yours is less than that... but i really dont know i am new to turkeys to!!

GOOD LUCK

 

[teresa-78]

Im so happy... they are just great.... people keep telling me they are ugly, but I cant see where they get that from, they are lovely in my eyes.... took me a while to talk my husband around

He soon changed his mind when we went to get some polish chickens and they had some just plodding around their land... Im sure its a Royal palm, the man said he was anyway.... just stunning his turkeys were... could not believe how much he sold me one for.... im in England and I paid £6.00 which im sure is very cheap..

Im so happy, and hope im doing things right to help him grow healthy and strong.. I do worry

 

[animalbaby4everandalwyz]

Quote:
Ive never owned one at all.. I have a friend and she is were i get all of my chickens ducks and any other bird from..she has grown turkeys they are goregous and she gave me the one i have now because he got attacked when he was younger and lost an eye so she gave him/her to me since the other turkeys peck his "eye" he is only about 3 mts old i cannot wait to see what he.she is!!!

 

[teresa-78]

ahhh poor turkey, but im sure he/she will do fine with you, I have chickens and ducks and was always impatient in seeing how they turn out lol..... but im loving harold the turkey,

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

It does look like a palm, on the pic it's starting to get some black coming in on the feathers. It's kind of hard to tell age but 5 weeks looks about right.

For care the first thing I would do is get rid of the newspaper shavings, it will eat them and when they get wet and soggy isn't healthy for the poult. I use pine shavings for starters (don't use cedar) and after a couple weeks switch to sand. The sand works very well as any spilled water soaks in and the top stays dry. A cold/ wet poult equals a dead poult very quickly.

I don't know what kind of feed you have in the UK but here I use a 28% protien game bird starter for poults, they love hard boiled egg yokes and is a good source of extra protien. Just don't give to much or that is all they will eat.

Steve

 

[teresa-78]

Thats great thanks very much, will change to wood shavings asap.... I am feeding it unmedicated chick crumb.. as they man who I brought it from said thats what they eat??? is that right?? I have been giving him some greens, ie grass, clover and dandilion leaves, and also mixed corn a handful or so a day, which is for all the young uns to eat. Thanks very much for the info, its been very helpful

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

They can eat chick start n grow but it slows their development and growth, higher protien is better but you may not be able to get it easy in the UK. That's where the hard boiled eggs will help they are almost pure protien.

Steve

 

[teresa-78]

Thats great I will get boiling the eggs up

thanks for all your help, I so love my little Harold the turkey

 

[ChurkLover]

We had 4 turkeys we raised from chicks. I would agree five weeks looks about right for your bird and it is hard to tell. Keep him/her warm and definitely do NOT use cedar chips for bedding as they are toxic and can kill your bird. Turkeys are a joy to watch grow...they are so ugly that they are cute. You will love to watch him run when he gets older...so cute! We fed ours poultry starter grains early on and did not add any table scraps to the diet until the birds were about 4 months old. Enjoy him!