Turkeys - Can they free feed?

[bkuhn]

A friend recently gave us 2 fully grown turkeys (just pets, the Thanksgiving timing was just a coincidence). We have chickens and ducks and both free feed. But apparently our friend has been feeding the turkeys once a day with 3 cups (total) of scratch). I'd prefer to put a chicken feeder out there full so I didn't have to feed every morning but I wondered if there was a reason not to free feed turkeys? Any thoughts or opinions on this?

Thanks all!
Brad

[bee_pipes]

Short answer, yes.

Don't know where you're located, or what your local predator population is like. We started with 4 turkeys last spring. The poults were raised with chickens, so they were exposed to the diseases normally around chickens. Black head is a deaseas fatal to turkeys. They can get it from chickens, who can have the disease without showing symptoms. How long have you had the turkeys? Are they living with the chickens? I don't know about feeding them scratch as a sole ration, either. We feed ours layer crumb - higher protien in the colder months, lower in the summer when it's hot and there are a lot of bugs 'n such in the yard.

The turkeys live and roam around with our chickens. We even got a duck a few months ago that somebody gave us. Don't know how they sort it out, but they all get along. Last summer, the turkeys started roosting in the trees and fence tops with the guineas. I didn't think there was any harm in it, we hadn't lost a guinea yet. One morning a turkey was missing, and there was a trail of feathers leading from his roost back to the end of the property. They are now locked up with the chickens at night.

The chickens and turkeys are trained to come when they are called. Every evening we call them back and give them scratch. When they all come back, we lock them up in a covered pen attached to the chicken house. The guineas can be herded back into the house, and we used to do that, but it is too much trouble.

Every morning the poultry is let out, every evening the poultry is locked up. All day they roam around wherever they will and it has done wonders to keep down the bug, reptile and rodent population. They eat bugs, mice, lizzards, snakes and almost anything they can get their beaks on. So far, no daylight attacks by predators. The dogs have been trained to leave the poultry alone and their scent around the property may be helping.

We keep feeders in the chicken house. Used to keep waterers in there too, but the turkeys are so big they wind up spilling the water. We have a small creek next to the chicken yards where they get all of their water when out during the day. We had plans for letting the birds reproduce themselves, but the chicken house is just too crowded and too dangerous for young birds. We have since moved to incubators, brooder boxes and a special pen for babies. Turkeys, in particular, get big faster than other birds and can trample or injure the others, so they have to be removed earlier.

Mind you, this is our first year, and our experiences with turkeys so far. We do have wild turkey in the area, so I don't know how they will react to an encounter with wild turkeys. Ours are royal palms, a smaller turkey. We did have a broad breasted that someone gave us, but she's in the freezer now. The broad breasted breeds are incapable of flight, and they don't seem to have a very good life. The freakishly large breast is a deformity for commercial meat production. It interferes with their ability to move and can often result in leg and foot troubles.

I'm no tree hugger or vegan, we have the poultry to provide us with food. I do believe in treating them humanely and giving the best life we can before they are butchered. They seem happy. We have a few cockerels that seem to have slipped through the cull and will be headed for the freezer soon. The rest of the poultry are layers, two resident roosters, and a pair of turkeys for breeding next year.

Deberosa, the moderator of this section, raises red bourbons, a larger breed. She helped me a lot by telling me how they live on her property. I can see why the birds are so popular - they do grow fast and will contribute a significant abount of meat. We have plans to raise a dozen next year. Don't know how many turkeys we can eat in a year, but any excess meat and eggs are excellent for barter with neighbors.

Hope this helped. Best of luck to you.

Regards,
Pat

[Deberosa]

The heritage turkeys are real easy - mine roost in a small fir tree in their fenced area and they have free access to food at all times. They actually will not go inside because I have a nice shelter for them too.

If you have extra heritage turkeys they are very profitable. I wasn't even trying to sell mine and someone left a note on my gate. I called - they wanted a hen and I really wasn't liking parting with a hen so I made up an outrageous number - $50 and he paid it without a moment's hesitation!

Had really bad luck with babies this year - I think because I had too many chickens and ducks mixed in and they all got goofed up in their nesting so next year they will have their own fenced off area. Going to get rid of the ducks, they are a pain. They mess up the water and lay eggs all over the place that you can't find.