Poultry Questions (calling ALL turkeys, and geese people)

[Wannabefree]

Mornin' Youngun! Headed to work, see ya when I get home Have a great day!!!

 

[BarredBuff]

.

 

[freemotion]

Turkey Steve answered my question about chickens/turkeys and blackhead disease a few years ago. He said to call your local ag university or extension service and find out if blackhead is in your area. If it is not, then mix those birds at will. If it is, use the blackhead precautions...keeping the poults off the ground, etc.

We don't have blackhead in this area so it wasn't a problem.

Yeah I need to do that if I get them. What are other blackhead precautions?

I don't remember since I didn't need to worry about it....

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Last year I raised BBB and BBW turkeys with good success. This year I hatched turkeys from eggs I bought at the livestock auction, so I now have 2 slates and 6 buff turkeys. I'm thinking of keeping a pair or a trio as breeders, though I'm still not convinced yet (just because I'd have to house them over winter).

I love turkeys though! They're cool birds, and they're pretty "smart" in turkey terms. Mine know now when I come out at dusk to follow me because I open the barn door for them so they can go roost. Although these same birds get "stuck" in the small sheep pen every day and forget how to get back out.

I've had issues with blackhead. Two years ago we had 2 BBB turkeys living with the chickens. They died when they were about 3 months old because I didn't recognize the signs. Last year I had a few look "off", so I got some Metronidazole and treated everyone and they were fine after that. This year I'll be ready to treat again if I have to. I just don't have a way (an inexpensive way) to keep everyone separate, so the chickens free range and so do the turkeys until they range too far. Once they start roaming too far they'll have to stay in the sheep pasture.

 

[Ohioann]

1. Whats the breed for me? I want a large heritage breed thats hardy and will raise their own young. I like the Standard Bronze most of all. Do they meet these qualities?We raise Midget Whites and like them but then we want a sized for two people and these guys butcher out at 12-16 pounds. MW's will go broody but I incubate the eggs to insure as many as possible.

2. Can chicks and poults be brooded and live together as adults?I incubate chicken and turkey eggs in the same incubator and raise chicks/poults in the same brooder (in basement) for the first three weeks or so. When they are feathered out enough to go to the outside coops I separate them. Turkeys are raised in a barn stall with outside run and chickens are raised in coops. We can't free range because of predators.

3. I know they can catch blackhead from chickens, do you allow them to mix? Blackhead comes from raisng turkeys on ground chickens have been on since the organism has to be in the gound for part of the life cycle. We raise in separate areas and do not free range.

4. Do home raised, heritage birds have a different taste than storebought hybrids?
YES YES YES

5. Are they primarily self sufficient with their feeding?
Since ours don't free range they depend on us to deliver "3 square meals a day".

Any other turkey tips would be appreciated.
Start them on 24% starter. Turkey poults seem to be less hardy than chicks for the first week but then grow fine.

Now to Geese! Sorry no help here, I still have nightmares of being eaten by geese after a traumatic childhood experience LOL.

 

[PamsPride]

I have Bourbon Red/Narragansett mix fertile turkey eggs for sale if you would like to try and hatch your own! They are a heritage breed and my hens go broody!

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I think you've already gotten most of the answers I would have given.

I wouldn't necessarily write off the geese. I can say that different flocks are different. I raised Africans and Chinese alongside chickens and ducks before. They all had separate night quarters, and I fed them all separately, but they ranged the same pasture area. It was very large and they mostly kept to themselves. I never had any major issues. One Indian Runner drake terrorized my first batch of goslings, and they remained afraid of him long after they grew much larger. And one day a hen apparently made one of the geese upset and the goose latched on and refused to let go. I had to release the hen, and she wasn't injured (beyond losing some feathers).

I have a MUCH larger area here, many fewer chickens (less than 20 ATM), no ducks, but the llama and the goats are in the main pasture, and two flocks of geese. My geese are mostly Emdens, and some Pilgrim and Toulouse. Everyone got along fine until breeding season. The geese started attacking the goats, so I quit letting them in the pasture. Really, there have been very few problems between the chickens and geese. The geese bully them at times, but the only problem was when a chicken wandered into the setting goose's coop and was trapped there. The goose called for reinforcements, two ganders responded, and the chicken likely would have been killed if not rescued.

But except for separating the geese when they had goslings less than a month old, no special precautions were needed. Now that the goslings are about two months old, that flock is back in with the goats. The pasture is about an acre and a half, so they mostly keep distance. When the geese want to hog the main watering area, they chase the goats away. Oh, I have a broody with three chicks I've been placing in the pasture every day too. No problems so far there either.

As for aggression, for the most part it is controlled, even during breeding season, by facing the geese (don't turn your back!), being confident, moving slowly, not disturbing them unnecessarily, and I started up again carrying the white pole I used to herd them (as an arm extender) when they were goslings. I did get bit once this year, by my Pilgrim in fact, when I turned my back and wasn't paying attention to him.

The Pilgrims are wonderful parents. Toulouse is good too, and the most docile of my breeds. I don't have a Toulouse gander though. The Emdens are pretty fair parents too, and along with Toulouse, a larger-bodied bird than the Pilgrims.

I just love geese. They are fun to watch, the babies are cute, the meat is good (honestly more like a red meat than poultry) and they produce a lot of good grease. They keep the grass short (which I don't have a problem with anyway, but helps some), don't need much in the way of feed, are less vulnerable than chickens (I lost most of my chickens to hawks, snakes, and cats -- none of which bother the geese), and are very alert to danger. They spread a lot of fertilizer too, and are very hardy. I'm also thinking goose-down when I process this year's goslings.

I have nothing against turkeys. In fact, I really want some! But I've raised geese for several years now, and have learned to really appreciate them a lot.

 

[BarredBuff]

Thanks everyone! I only want a pair of geese and a trio of turkeys. So hopefully I can do turkeys. I could do geese if I had an extra building for breeding season.

 

[Farmfresh]

Good advice all around.

As for breeds, Bourbon Red, Slate and Spanish Blacks are all a good meat bird. Royal Palms are a bit smaller since they were bred as an ornamental.

We have raised the Broad Breasted Bronze a few times which have gone OUT of favor commercially many years ago. Since then they are much smaller and not nearly the problems of the BB White, but they are still probably sterile and will not brood.

I do have one question. Why are you planing to pinionate?

I personally would not do that on a ranging bird because it lowers their chances of escaping a predator AND it is a VERY permanent procedure. I would just let them do what they do and if you have problems of flying over the enclosure or roosting in trees you can simply catch the birds and feather clip them at that point. You only are talking about a small number of birds, so maintaining a feather clip on one wing (which needs to be re-done a couple of times a year with feather regrowth from molting) should not be an overwhelming task to preform.

Most of the turkeys that I have had were happy to roost in the coop I provided for them and pretty much grounded during the day. Being a heavy fat bird tends to make you not want to fly.

As far as geese are concerned... I am just partial to Africans. We have had geese (Embden) , turkeys and chickens all ranging together at my aunt's farm for several years with few problems. The geese DID have their own shelter and nightly lock up pen. The turkeys decided to roost in the rafters of the calf shed - and it worked - so that is what they did. This left the chickens their coop on their own. It just worked out that way. They each made their own little troupes (even though the chicks and poults were brooded together) and every one gave the other troupe space. (They were ranging on about 5 - 10 acres by the way). Maybe they were all just very polite??

 

[BarredBuff]

They are gonna have a fenced in lot, very large lot. I dont want them to mingle with the wild ones. So I need to have some precaution, but you also make a valid point. Can the toms fly when they are adults?