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Turkeys
Jan 12, 2011 4:05:06 GMT -5
Post by daylilydude on Jan 12, 2011 4:05:06 GMT -5
I have the wild turkey on my property, but was wondering how hard is it to raise turkeys?
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Turkeys
Jan 12, 2011 9:03:27 GMT -5
Post by bluelacedredhead on Jan 12, 2011 9:03:27 GMT -5
If you have wild turkeys on your property, I would check with the wildlife/game department in your area before you consider bringing in turkeys. I've known of a few situations where folks have had to confine their birds or face fines due to the possibility of domestic fowl breeding with a wild strain. I raised turkeys for 14 years. Originally, I ordered in the large commercial whites because they were readily available in reasonably inexpensive as poults. Some years we had terrible losses due to unexpected cold snaps or disease. I found the commercial varieties to be aggressive, and not terribly bright. Then I began to source rare breeds. The pair of Bronze that we tried to overwinter were shortlived. They roosted on the door of a pig pen one winter night and while we were trying to feed the sheep, a hog reached up and snatched the male turkey off the stall, killed it and ate it. We cleaned and roasted the female shortly after. Next, came the Nicholas Whites. As whites go, I loved them. They took longer than the commercial ones to get up to size but I found them to be easier to train. With grain bucket in hand, I walked them out to their day pasture in the morning and back to their SunPorch house at night. We never overwintered them though. While picking up some show birds from a breeder, we asked after a pair of Bourbon Red's that he was housing. Seems he was taking them to auction for someone that week. They never made it to the auction but instead came to live with us for several years. They were intelligent, lovely to look at and great mothers. We hatched at least a dozen poults per year in an incubator and I usually let her hatch a few of her own as well. The biggest problem we encountered with them was that every year I lost at least one hen to a fox. A hen would wander off during the day while they were out on pasture to sit on a nest in the field. One year, the fox got braver and we lost our hen and the tom just outside out back door while they protected their babies from attack. The main differences I found between raising turkeys versus chickens is, when feeding the young, chicks can be taken off medicated feed by 6 weeks or not fed medicated at all. Turkey poults, although larger birds seem to have a much more fragile immune system. We fed them aprolium laced feed for 8 weeks and cut our losses considerably. Yes, I know it's not a totally chemical free existence, but this was what worked for us. Poults also need a higher temperature in the brooder during the first weeks of their lives than chicks do. And they benefit from grass clippings in their feed and sparkly things like cage bird mirrors to prevent them from picking at each other which sometimes results in cannibalism.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Turkeys
Feb 5, 2011 20:34:40 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2011 20:34:40 GMT -5
My 2 male turkeys were raised with my chickens. My momma hens taught them to eat and how to drink water when I got them at 2 weeks old. I have Red Bronze. They also go into the henhouse at nite when I let them all out to free range. They do make alot of noise when there is a stranger at my place...lol..
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Post by daylilydude on Jul 4, 2011 7:38:42 GMT -5
WHOO HOO!!!! The turkey flock on my property has grown to 67 birds, give or take, they came really close to the house so I was counting them while looking thru the kitchen window!
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