turkey basics

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I just recieved two full grown turkeys M&F We need to know everything about turkeys we have chickens never raised tuyrkeys any help appreciated?

-- Jody Hatch (chitina@alaska.net), February 05, 2000

Answers

If they are full grown, freeze one and have a big meal from the other

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 05, 2000.

I have my turkeys in with the chickens. If they're full grown, they require pretty much the same care as chickens. Plenty of fresh water & feed are the basics, with proper shelter for your area.

-- Wendy (weiskids@nalu.net), February 05, 2000.

I am guessing that you are hoping to keep them as a breeding pair. You are technically supposed to separate chickens from turkeys because they can swap diseases. I recall a devastating turkey disease called blackhead that your turkeys would all die from, etc. That being said, I raised an free range all of my poultry together.

Turkeys shouldn't eat medicated chicken food, the starter kind. Mine prefer larger food anyway, like cracked corn, compost, and the sheep/goat pellets.

I have bronze-breasted turkeys, and they are even dumber than the chickens, so, for example, they will fly over a fence or sit atop the gate, but forget how to get back in. At sun-down, I have had to go gather up several, once in the rain, because they forgot that they could fly back into the barn. You can't underestimate your turkeys.

Keep water and chest-height roosting places near to them. If their beaks have been clipped, (the upper bill is much shorter than the lower) then their food must be in a pan deep enough for them to get it into their mouths. I barely clipped their beaks, so I throw the feed on the dirt.

Good luck. I know you will enjoy them.

-- Rachel K. (rldk@hotmail.com), February 05, 2000.


I was hoping that I could breed them. They are both really big and spoiled. The lady who had them only fed them cracked corn as far as I can tell. They are very sweet and calm. Do they need extra light like chickens to start egg production? I don't have a light on in their shed and they aren't with the chickens. I can't just throw them together, can I? I thought I would have to keep them separated. Thanks for the help. Jody & Chris

-- Jody Hatch (chitina@alaska.net), February 06, 2000.

Yeah, you could throw 'em together. The turkeys are too slow to mess with the chickens much, and the roosters will be intimidated by their size.

She'll start laying in the Spring when the days get longer. If you were to add artificial light now she would be setting a nest in February or March anyway. They need something like 10 or more daylight hours, or a certain number of footcandles of light by artificial light.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), February 06, 2000.



Hi Jody.

We raised our first turkey's last year. Made a wonderful thanksgiving dinner. Next year we hope to eat more turkey than our chicken! I also have heard never let your turkeys and chickens together but we did. Our critters free range and we have never had any disease problems. At night we locked our turkeys up with the chickens in the coop. They were never any problem until sexual maturity hit and they tried to mate everything including dogs and small children. THat's when they moved to the freezer.

They are beautiful and fun. They never did learn to roost on their own, we had to carry them in each night. Overall we learned a lot - we had always been rather intimidated by all the problems we read about and found them rather easy!!! Have fun. Kim

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), February 06, 2000.


A word of warning! Get educated about blackhead disease! I had grown turkeys for many years without problem. I had them in the barn right next to the free range chickens, 'tho' the turkeys were always in the pen. A couple of years ago, I decided to let the turkeys free range as well. Disaster! I had always put the turkey poults on medicated feed for 2 - 4 weeks, depending upon when I ran out of that, and then switched them over to the slightly cheaper unmedicated grower feed. A few weeks later, as they reached 10 - 15 lbs, some became lethargic, heads down, and died. I contacted the cooperative extension service, and was directed to do an autopsy. The dead turkeys has yellow spotted and enlarged livers. The diagnosis was "blackhead disease". This "disease" is actually a parasite. It is carried by chickens, who are not susceptible to it. Turkeys are. When turkeys are raised on litter (shavings, inside) they rarely are infected, even though chickens are nearby. Another pertinent factor - they (turkeys) are MOST susceptible to the parasite whrn they are young, ie. less than @ 3 months old. The parasite is a "soil-borne" problem. The solution is simple. If you free range your turkeys on the same ground that is accessible to chickens, keep them on the slightly more expensive medicated feed. You must take them off the medication for at least a week before you slaughter, but the parasite needs over 2 weeks to have an effect. As far as you "adult" turkeys are concerned, they're PROBABLY old enough to be able to fend off the parasite. However, in my very limited opinion, unless you are limiting yourself to turkeys and no other fowl, you'll probably be better off making a whole lot of turkey soup from these mature birds and buying poults for next year. Good Luck!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), February 06, 2000.

Hi! I raised my first half dozen turkeys last year. I bought them and a dozen chicks at the same time, kept them together without knowing about "blackhead" or any other diseases communicable between species. Needless to say we had 3, 40 pound toms, and 3, @33 pound hens. I would say it all depends on the quality of the birds, the history of the ground you keep them on (i.e. if there were infected birds kept there in the past), and the cleanliness of the pens. I must also say that my aunt got 6 turkeys the same day and place that I did, kept them away from her chickens(thats a no no), and lost all six! Well go figure!! Good luck, I'm looking forward to doing turkeys again this coming year! cara lewis cnllewis@email.com

-- cara lewis (cnllewis@email.com), February 06, 2000.

The turkeys are doing great in spite of the curious Aussies trying to get a good look at them. If they are together will they figure out the nesting arrangements? Will I have to keep the chickens out of the bigger nest? And how big does it need to be? This hen weighs about 25 lbs. They are still getting corn and seem to be happy about it. So far so good. They are a lot of fun. Thanks for all the help. I've already learned a lot.

-- Jody Hatch (chitina@alaska.net), February 06, 2000.

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