[WarescotFarm]

So I know the 'done' thing is to get your turkeys in and fattening up for christmas but this year has been our first go at playing 'farm garden' and the  with the got us  for our first ever go.

We had planned to back to back the pigs with turkeys but opted for saving more cash and doing some proper stock fencing in place of the rickety pickets we had and do pigs 'properly' next spring.

Now impatient as always I am wondering if many people do turkeys for Easter, (not the hard core turkey breeders who are set up for all year round breeding) just general folks.

I have heard winter pigs are hard work and need a concrete base so we were spring / summer pigging it.
Now wondering how winter / spring turkeys work. Is it too cold for them? When do people bring poults in for Easter dinner?

Also how many do people tend to do on a small plot? We did 2 piggies but 2 turkeys seems a bit low on numbers. Maybe 5??

Anyway just starting off with the research at the moment so wondering if anyone on here is super small scale doing 1 type of animal at a time like we do.

Also is stocket fencing suitable for turkeys if it is electrifed for Mr Fox?

Foxy came in during the day after our hens AGAIN yesterday! Fox proof chicken run still holding up (5 attempts made) and Bella our pygmy goat chased him off - she is a super star! 

[Hermit]

  We let our turkeys do as they will all year, we have just had one turn up with nine babies. We only use them for ourselves or barter but turkeys are all year for us ... not just for xmas. They need feeding during the winter, sure, but we prefer quality than cost. Ours are Wild American Bronzes, small but hardy so they free range all year.

[WarescotFarm]

What do you do for them at night time? Do you lock them away or do they roost? And any foxy problems?
Also how much space do they have?
Sorry to grill you 

[Victorian Farmer]

i breed a few blacks for November ,i dont keep them they seem OK for Easter 10 is a nice lot .i would do 10 geese as well .sell 5 and keep the rest .the march sales black stags make £50 to 70 hens 55 so a good prophit and they can be kept cheap bruised barley etc .

[WarescotFarm]

Thanks VF, do you keep the turkeys and geese in together? I know they are not good with chickens but is other poultry ok?
And what is your fencing / sleeping arrangements?

[Victorian Farmer]

2 sheds 1 with geese and 1 with blacks they free range all day geese dont eat much and a big return ,i sold a 100 at Huntley and they made £28 each .iv spent more money on geese this time pilgrim and sebastopol geese i dont think poultry is Worth the work .Iff we keep the chickins it will cost 1200 till march and food going up .You will always sell geese turkeys etc .I dont no where you live but getting ether is not hard some people hatch a few and some sell last week 3 turkeys blacks £25 a steal as they would be OK for Christmas .The other way get 2 stags and 4 hens and hatch the eggs best bet cost £75 young stock .pilgrim or west off England geese £75 eggs £10 each sebastopol £80 eggs £12 each .Turkey eggs £12 for 8 some think to think off.

[WarescotFarm]

Thanks VF that is really helpful.
We were building a new run for table chooks but the idea of dispatching, plucking and gutting for 1 small chicken was not filling me with joy. Maybe we will rethink our new patch and put some geese / turkeys in there. Never thought of it before!
We do hatch and sell chicks / ducklings and sell pig meat so the idea of selling bigger birds is really appealing.
Some more research needed then I will be back to pick your brain!
I am in Essex BTW, not much space either unfortunatley  need to work out square footage per bird etc...

[Victorian Farmer]

and a small shed