Author Topic: Turkeys (Read 4369 times)

holz306 · « **on:** June 08, 2012, 08:48:28 pm »

Hi guys, has anyone raised Turkeys for christmas? Do you buy them in or hatch them? How long will they take until they're ready? how would you say it works out, cost wise? Any advice and suggestions welcome....i'm considering some free range turkeys for this years christmas dinner

The Chicken Lady · « **Reply #1 on:** June 08, 2012, 10:43:41 pm »

I raised some free range last year - August. Hatched 6 out of 6 in incubator. Culled 1 because of deformed legs. 1 died - don't know why. I drowned in the duck pond. The 3 left grew well. They really need to be inside to finnish and then they will put more weight on. They tasted really good but don't think you will make a lot of money on a small scale. I worried as I had one and 2 friends had the others. I had visions of them just being all bone and no Christmas dinner for anyone! However they were fine.

sam.t · « **Reply #2 on:** June 09, 2012, 07:34:05 am »

we have raised turkeys for the table for the last 5 years (only do around 10 of them) for friends and neighbours , we always buy them in at 6 weeks old around the end of july ( up to then they tend to die for know known reason)
they are easy to rise but must make sure you dont have too many stags to hen ratio (stags fight over the ladies to the death )
they can be quit expensive to feed our 10 usally cost us for the 18 weeks ish we have them around the £100 mark add to this the cost of the birds we pay about £11.00 per bird (thats sexed) , but on 10 birds we usally make around £75-£100 (this doesnt include time to dispatch and table ready the birds me and my dad do them takes about 1 hour per bird so obviously no cost involved there)
we sell them for £2.50 per lb

oo and dont mix them with chickens or on land where chickens have been kept (chook clear for min of 2 years) chooks give turkeys black head which will kill your turkeys )

hope this helps any thing else just ask :-)
sam

holz306 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 09, 2012, 05:12:31 pm »

Hi, thats really helpful sam. I have 100hens, but i think i can keep them well seperated from the turkeys. Will normal stock fencing (rylock) contain the turkeys or electric poultry netting? I would only plan to do 10 at the most. I still have to find a source of poults!

manian · « **Reply #4 on:** June 09, 2012, 05:25:57 pm »

Turkeys can fly and jump............. very high. we have stock fencing and then another strip. its about 9-10 ft high. they get over that when they want. they also jump high into trees if you have any....

but don't stay there if mr fox comes by

i love the turkeys; we have a norfolk black stag charlie who we originally thought was gay

but he has proved himself with the girls.....

the poults are much braver than then chicks..... but they do tend to die at a drop of a hat!!! ours are kept away from the hens but they do tend to fly over and join them at times!!!! I give them orego-stem in their water to help prevent blackhead (not sure how true that is but seems to keep them healthy)

have fun they are great
Mx

holz306 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 09, 2012, 08:05:24 pm »

Ok, it looks like i need to re-think this idea. The area that i was going to put them is stock fenced, but also surrounded by massive trees.....
The place i got my christmas bird from last year has photo's on facebook of them outside, surrounded by poultry netting...i wonder did they have their wings clipped or something? The other thing i need to look into is different breeds...

manian · « **Reply #6 on:** June 09, 2012, 08:54:20 pm »

here are some in the trees
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.137386436378211.26939.100003205651558&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=137386713044850&set=a.137386436378211.26939.100003205651558&type=3&theater
the shed is 6 ft high
don't let it put you off...... they are great fun..... if not frustrating at times

HappyHippy · « **Reply #7 on:** June 09, 2012, 09:37:39 pm »

We had our first go at raising turkeys last year, I loved them (though, sadly so did Boris my big GSD $:-\$ ) We were left with one lone turkey who went to live at Lil's til Xmas

It was a norfolk black (I think) and quite little compared to the white one's Lil had (sorry, don't know the breed $:-\$ ) but we ended up with a really tasty turkey big enough to feed all 6 of us and a bit left over

They are bu**ers to keep in

but they are really interesting to watch and make lovely sing song type noises.
We got ours through the CSSA hatching scheme (just pm Andrew on here

)
Agree with others about cost - probably no cheaper than buying one oven ready, but with the advantage of knowing how they've lived and the fun of learning new skills along the way.
We'll definately get more, but not til we've either built a completely secure run for them or til Boris is no longer with us.
HTH
Karen

HelenVF · « **Reply #8 on:** June 10, 2012, 11:39:48 am »

We have turkeys, and hens living together. We just keep on top of worming them. This is our third year of keeping them. The first year, we bought them in and then last year, we hatched the eggs off. This year has been a disaster and we only have 2 chicks, which we are really hoping will be ok! They are pretty good at killing themselves. We do have a couple more sitting though so we shall see! We had one hatch in our incubator, which died and my brother took some eggs and didn't get anything. They were all fertile and my brother reckons they died at around 10 days old.

Ours are free range and used to roost in the tree. This year, we put them in the barn to lay their eggs and when we let them out, they have gone back in there to roost.

We never shut them in to finish them off, and get an oven read weight of about 13lbs.

I have no idea how much it costs to rear them but we feed them on layers pellets and mixed corn - chicken stuff and not the turkey ones. They are free range and get a lot of food themselves though.

Love having them around, and they certainly cause a bit of a stir with the walkers. There are a few photos floating around the internet that walkers have taken of them lol.

Helen

bigchicken · « **Reply #9 on:** June 10, 2012, 12:29:17 pm »

Had a go last year for the first time and I though it was a positive experience and the end product was the best turkey i,I've ever tasted due to being hung for 7 days, I will be doing it again this year. I got them as day olds in July at a fiver each the double breasted commercial type total £40, about ten bags of feed £100, bedding straw free shavings 5 bales at £3 a bale, sold 4 live at a poultry sale made £110, kept the other three for ourself. I restricked the amount of space they were aloud by penning them and moved the pen every week they eat greenery with relish. I will fine tune this year buy a dozen a couple or weeks later as they were finished well before Christmas, I have a contact for some cheaper feed half the price of last year and I will sell double the amount. They were quite silly but easy to rear, I kept them away from my chickens and they didn't eat that much till the last month. Hope that helps.

princesspiggy · « **Reply #10 on:** June 10, 2012, 06:23:41 pm »

we get hybrids every year as 6 week olds in sept and finish them for xmas, or new year if we want em bigger.
never had any problems except mr fox. they are funny but not v clever...

holz306 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 11, 2012, 11:22:42 pm »

So do you guys lock them up at night or happy to let them roost in tree's? we have foxes and Pine martins here, and possibly evidence of Mink in the area so i'm used to locking my poultry up at night.

manian · « **Reply #12 on:** June 12, 2012, 08:04:13 am »

we lock ours up as we have foxes. when they come by they don't stay in trees- seem to panic and jump down

we had someone open our shed one night and the fox got them

Mx

HelenVF · « **Reply #13 on:** June 13, 2012, 11:42:44 am »

Ours used to roost in the trees. When we had a fox attack, they didn't make a sound! Since putting them in the barn for laying, when we released them, they have gone to roosting in there.

If you have pine martins, I would shut them up.

Helen