Raising Turkeys

I make no claims to being an expert.  Just sharing my experiences.

Of the poultry I've raised, turkeys seem to be the most sensitive, but you just can't beat the personality of these big, beautiful birds.

Last year I bought my poults from McMurray Hatchery.  I ordered 15 of them, which is the minimum, and lost only three during brooding. (Now, if you are thinking about buying turkey poults be warned.  You are talking a big investment up front, as poults average about $10 each.  You loose even a couple and it makes your overall average climb.  If you've accepted that up front, you'll be miles ahead.)

This year of course, the poults are now grown and laying eggs of their own.  Although heritage breed turkeys such as the Bourbon Red, Chocolate and Narragansett breeds that I have will hatch their own eggs, you are always in my opinion, miles ahead to hatch them in an incubator if you have one.  The reason for this is simple; a brooding hen does not lay.  If you can hatch the eggs, your hens won't loose the 28 days of brooding plus rearing time and will continue to lay throughout the season.

Incubating turkey eggs is not like incubating chicken eggs.  Turkey eggs expire much more quickly (get them started before 10 days as opposed to three weeks for chickens), and are far more sensitive to temperature fluctuations.  My best hatch rate to date has been only about 50%, whereas chickens are usually 85-90%, if that gives you any indication of the differences.  Temperature and humidity requirements are the same.

Regardless of where you get your turkeys, they all should start out the same way.  Brood them on pine shavings covered by newspaper for the first day to day and a half so that they don't eat the shavings and learn where the food is.  Despite many people online who will tell you this causes leg problems, I have yet to see any.  Food should be an actual turkey starter of 28% protein if you can find it.  My feed store orders me a turkey/quail starter, medicated, at 30% for about $16.  This is not an area you want to skimp!  Chicken starters are not advisable for turkeys as the protein count is much lower and the medication is not labelled for turkeys. 

For the first few days I also add a couple teaspoons of sugar into their water to give them a little boost.  I do it with chicks as well and have seen a much more robust couple of days than when I've brooded without.  When you put the turkeys into the brooder make sure to dip their beaks into the water just a little bit.  Sometimes they will start drinking; sometimes they don't.  I usually scatter a little feed on the paper for them and have never had a problem with poults learning to eat.  A lot of online resources will tell you that they are slow to figure out food and water, but that's not been my experience.

Manage the brooder temp just as you would with chicks.  Watch for signs of huddling (cold) or panting (hot).  Don't be surprised if you lose a few in the first week, this is normal.  Not all little ones grow to be big gobblers!

At about a month to six weeks I put my poults out into mobile pens outside.  By this time they are feathered and will begin to grow pretty rapidly.  I continue to feed them starter, as they will not be able to meet their nutritional needs on grass and bugs alone.

By two to three months, I begin mixing the starter with adult feed (layer pellets and cracked corn), or if you can get it a good turkey grower.  We feed the mix for about a month before moving them onto the adult feed, which we feed out until butcher time (unless you can get a finisher).  If you have access to a TURKEY grower or finisher, follow label recommendations.  We can't get it, so we do our own thing.

Of course, we keep our birds in mobile pens throughout the growing season, and return them to the turkey house for the wetter winter months.  The birds still have access to large outside runs.

Despite what you may have heard, turkeys are fantastic in the home flock with a little management.  They are big, friendly birds and enjoy being talked to.  Our toms have been hand raised and because of this are not aggressive, even during the mating season.

**A note about mating season: this is the time of year that your toms will drive you nuts!  Any little noise will set them to gobbling.  This is a natural response and their way of attracting mates, but you might be a bit unhappy when they gobble every time you open a door, talk, close a gate, etc.  They will also gobble when roosters crow, the dog barks, the donkey brays, etc.  It will die down after a few months and they'll return to a more occasional gobble.