Young turkeys

[crj]

Hi,
I have an opportunity to buy 2 young turkeys. I don't know what kind they are and the woman didn't know. Her husband knows more about them but he wasn't home. The young turkeys are brown for the most part which I liked better then the white ones.

My question is. Should I get a male and a female, or 2 males, or can 1 turkey be alone? I would really like a tom. I don't know what I would do with eggs if I get a female. I suppose I could sell any offspring. I do have chickens and some runner ducks.

What do turkeys eat? They are on wet feed right now. The woman said otherwise they won't eat. Not sure about that. They look healthy to me. They are pretty big but I really don't know much about turkeys other then they can be harder to raise then chickens. My guess is that the turkeys are close to being teenagers. How do I tell a young hen from a tom at a young age?

I'm sure I will think of more questions later. This is it for now. Thanks.

 

[onthespot]

Two males alone would ordinarily be okay. They may tussle and establish dominance order, but should be able to sort it out. Rare occasions, they will continue to fight. One male one female, you get the bonus of possibility of babies in the spring.

 

[chicks4kids]

I have a pet turkey that lives and sleeps with the chickens. She lays her eggs in the spring and summer and eats the layer feed that the chickens get. She LOVES apples and all other scraps that the chickens get.

It sounds like the turkeys that you're looking at may be bronze turkeys if they are brown and a male and a female could breed for you. It's really hard to tell whether they are tom or hen until they either start gobbling or laying eggs...and turkeys don't lay in the winter.

I had a palm turkey that went broody for me last year, so I gave her chicken eggs to hatch because her own eggs weren't fertile....21 days later, she hatched out those little chicks!! And she was quite a good mother! Incredibly protective!! It may just be a "pick two" and hope for the best situation!! Good luck!

 

[Olive Hill]

Knowing what type they are as well as your intentions for them would be most helpful.

"young" and "pretty big" makes me wonder about them being broad-breasteds. In which case, they may or may not be suitable for you depending on your intentions.

 

[crj]

I'm really interested in having them as pets. To me they are very cool and I just love the sounds they make. I don't know if having 1 turkey would be a good idea so I would go with two. If there is a market for turkey eggs I would sell them. I've never heard of anyone using turkey eggs for anything other then hatching. I'm really not interested in selling baby turkeys either. Not sure if I would raise them for meat. For now I would love them as pets.

Maybe I can go back and get pictures of the turkeys. That might help with the breed and maybe the sex of them.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

If you get a hen or two, that's O.K. You can eat the eggs. Scrambled or baked. They are too thick to fry like a chicken egg. I've eaten ALOT of yummy turk eggs.
It's very hard to tell toms from hens at an early age, but the toms legs will be longer & thicker than the hens.

 

[Olive Hill]

If you're wanting them for pets I, personally, would caution against the broad-breasted varieties. While they aren't known for the health problems due to growth like the cornish x in chickens and the bronze are reportedly better than the white for "keeping" neither is necessarily a good choice for a pet turkey. BBB will grow larger, faster and eat more than a heritage bird increasing costs for feed, facilities and management and the health problems potential is there even if uncommon or unlikely. I'd definitely find out what kind of turkeys they are before making a decision.

 

[alanb]

To all on the Site , I'm looking for Midget-White hatching eggs in the Spring , very hard to find !!! If you have them to sell and ship to Southern , CA. Advise me please , on the site or E-mail to [email protected] , THANKYOU , ALANB.