Truscifi Posted March 29, 2013 Posted March 29, 2013 My feed store has some baby turkeys right now.... Quote
jenangelcat Posted March 29, 2013 Posted March 29, 2013 we did. They were expensive and most of them died. Thanksgiving dinner was great but not sure it was worth the expense. I've heard lots of stories about how fragile and stupid turkeys are and found them to be accurate. Quote
TracyP Posted March 29, 2013 Posted March 29, 2013 I used to work on a turkey farm, so technically I've raised several hundred thousand. I'm guessing that is not the input you are looking for. :D My brother had good luck with them a few years ago until something killed them. He decided it wasn't worth the hassle to try again. Quote
Mothersweets Posted March 29, 2013 Posted March 29, 2013 Yes! We raised 8 turkeys several years ago. It was just like raising chickens. We let ours get too large before slaughtering them - easily over 23 pounds and it was a tight fit in our oven. Our kids would imitate the "gobble" sound and the turkeys would gobble right back at them. :) Quote
Dory Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 I have never raised them myself, but my grandma raised two every year. They had a small pen that she could pull to a new spot in the yard every day and let them have fresh grass. Her turkeys were always HUGE and she often had troubles fitting them into the oven. I never heard of her losing a turkey to predators or the elements. Her small enclosure always had a good half mesh, half solid, ceiling though. Quote
WishboneDawn Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 We did 9 last year and will be doing a dozen or more this year. They ranged all over the property, were friendly and entertaining, were easier then our CornishX's and tasted delicious. :D The only thing that I wish ours did was go to the coop every night. They tended to find a place to hunker down outside and cuddle together and we'd have to shoo them into the coop. This summer we'll see if we can't train them to a routine a bit better. But we loved them and found them easy to care for. I should add that we bought them as 2 week old chicks, not day olds. We didn't have any deaths. Quote
xixstar Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 Oooh, might have to look up how much space a couple turkeys need... could raise a couple in the chicken tractor now that the chickens have their own yard. Wait - wait - no! Chickens have a yard because the chicken tractor was a pain to deal with. Quote
Melinda S in TX Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 We raised turkeys one year, and they were STUPID. In spite of everything we tried, they insisted on roosting on the rottweilers fence. The rottweiler would jump up and pull their tail feathers one by one. After he ran out of tail feathers, he would just jump up and knock them off the fence. The turkeys would shake themselves off and hop back on the fence. The dog never hurt them, but the turkeys never learned anything either. Quote
Χά�ων Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 Turkeys have great entertainment value. I do not eat meat but I am told they are yummy. The dog certainly thought so. Quote
skeeterbug Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 Am I the only one who looked at the title of this thread and thought, Well, yes, but I try not to call them that when they are within earshot? :D Quote
amy g. Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 We raise turkeys every year. As babies, they are more fragile than chicks. They can be hard to keep alive. Once they are grown, they are pretty low maintenance. Quote
MrsJewelsRae Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 We've done small groups of turkeys a few times and had good success except for one group that all died of blackhead disease. Turkeys are otherwise fairly easy, they are sweet and inquisitive and gentle- but incredibly stupid, kind of a "bless your heart" type thing. ;) Our birds were very tasty! Quote
Kalmia Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 I have read that heritage breeds like Bourbon Reds are much easier to raise than the standard white turkey you'd find at the feed store. Hardy, less likely to succumb to disease, can forage well, and more attractive. http://heritageturkeyfoundation.org Quote
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