Heritage turkeys, anyone?

[freemotion]

Free, my heritage turkeys free range. Course, they do like to sneak into the chicken coops and snatch treats of layer and scratch. And I give them black sunflower seeds, too.

Cool, do you feed them at all? I wonder what the wild turkeys around here eat when everything is so frozen, but they are still plentiful, we see huge flocks! Mine are used to pellets/mash, so I will give them 3-4 weeks to gradually develop crop strength to handle real food. They were also kept in pens, so had no opportunity to forage at all.

They also knocked their food and water over today!!! Aaarrgh! I will have to make that pvc feeder soon. I'm too pooped to think right now, I know it will only take 30 min to whip one up and hang it, I just don't have the energy....but at least milking is starting to take on a routine, and I actually got done fairly quickly tonight. Even with Liam climbing all over me....cute now, not so cute soon! Gotta take care of that, too. He just wanted me to make a lap so he could have his daily snuggle time. So I did. Could've stayed out there for hours. I love my little menagerie.....

 

[nightshade]

not having to incubate them in a bater is a big plus if you ask me. When we get ours I am already lined up that when I have little ones the neighbor is going to get some off me. He buys 15-25 butcher turkeys every year and said he mid as well get from me, rightnext door then ordering from the feed mill in town.

 

[freemotion]

I hope this project works out. Anyone out there have success with this? What kind of crop can be expected per hen? Average....and what are survival rates like for free-ranging turkeys with poults in tow?

 

[me&thegals]

Thought I would revive this thread to see how all you turkey owners are doing. We are probably going to order 5 blue slate and 5 Bourbon reds to start our turkeying adventure

I'd love to hear more about:

feeding

pasturing flocks with chickens/sheltering in same barn as chickens

brooding, nesting boxes, etc.

 

[freemotion]

I only bought one bag of turkey pellets, and have them on the same free-choice meals as my chickens, a feeder with soy, one with mixed whole grains, and oyster shell and grit.

I give them sprouted barley and lawn hay, but only have a half a sack left. No worries, the grass is starting to sprout here.

My two young hens turned out to be toms. One is gobbling now. There are some scuffles in the pen. I can't seem to find anyone to process them for me! My dad is gonna come down from ME this fall to do the poults, hopefully there will be plenty for both of us, but he is around 600 miles away, so he can't do the two toms for me.

I may have to put an ad on craigslist and either sell them, or try to get a trade going to process them.

So with just one hen, I have fewer chances of poults! And none with all those toms harrassing that poor hen! She barely pauses to lay an egg, nevermind making a nest. Gotta take care of this pronto! I may just move the toms into my brooder pen next week, on my next day off. I have to put the cover back on and clean the coop in there. Yeesh. More work that I hadn't planned on!

But I don't regret the turkeys.....yet.

 

[Beekissed]

I wished I lived close, Free! I would do the do for you....turkeys are easier than chickens, IMO, and I can process them quicker. Then we would have a big ol' turkey fry and knock you on your ear with the fine cuisine!

 

[me&thegals]

Bee--have you had turkeys in your adult life? Or while growing up? I'd love your opinions on raising them, too!

Free--thanks for the info. I read about Ussery using 5-gallon pails to sprout, but I think I read on another thread that you were trying to find a way to get green sprouts, right? Do you ever use sunflower seeds? Do they have a yucky coating, chemical or other, that would cause me to need to buy organic?

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

ok talk to me please about the sprouts?!

My turkeys just free range...completely...I don't feed them anything...not even over the winter did I put out any special feeds for them...Oh ok I tossed them scratch grains, but that's about it...and hay....

me&thegals, my chickens and turkeys were raised together and run together.

 

[me&thegals]

Quail--not to dig in old wounds, but I'm sorry for your tough time on here today. I always enjoy reading about your life with the birds, even if I don't comment in your journal.

So, tell me more about your turkeys! I'm in zone 4 here in WI. I really love the idea of as much foraging as possible and plan to have the turkeys and chickens together. We have a wildly thriving wild turkey population, so is it safe to assume we don't have blackhead disease around here?

What are they foraging for in winter? Our chickenyard is just that--a yard fenced in. The turkeys would not have access to woods with acorns to dig up or grubs or anything--just dead grass in winter. I'm assuming I could feed them what I feed my chickens for extras in winter: Sunflower seeds, food scraps, excess kale, chard, pumpkins, etc.

Quail--do you have opinions on favorite breeds that are good for foraging, brooding, and a decent sized eater--like 20 lb or so?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I'm still learning about turkeys myself, we've only had them for 2 years.

My turkeys are not fenced at all. They range across the whole property.

My favorite breed are my Royal Palms. Females get to 10-12 pounds and toms are 12-15 pounds. Narragansetts are the same in size, just brown and look more like wild turkeys.

My Gwen (RP) thinks she is people and likes to sit on laps. :/

DH likes Bourbon Reds, but our BR was much larger than my RP's and he was mean. I think it was because he was teased by some people that came to visit once. They were in a red car. He attacked anything red after that.

A local guy here (where I got my Geese) has a blue slate tom. He's gorgeous. He's a bit bigger than my RP tom but not as large as my BR tom was.

I have no clue what the wild turkeys forage for, but mine were eating the cherries and crab apples off our trees and we tossed them food scraps and scratch.

I am not sure on blackhead, but I think someone on BYC told me that if you raise them (chickens and turkeys) together, and never have blackhead, then the turkeys are Ok. They said if you want turkeys that will be healthy against Blackhead then buy (poults or eggs for hatching) from someone who is already raising their turkeys with chickens. I'll see if I can find more information on that, Ok?

ETA: I think all of the heritage breeds are good for foraging, but Broad Breasted varieties are not.