Heritage turkeys, anyone?

[me&thegals]

My favorite breed are my Royal Palms.

I LOVE the looks of the RPs! I really love the BRs, too. My neighbor friend has some. Her 3-yo son harrasses them, so it's a constant battle between him and the turkeys :/

A local guy here (where I got my Geese) has a blue slate tom. He's gorgeous. He's a bit bigger than my RP tom but not as large as my BR tom was.

This is the variety my husband originally wanted. I talked him out of it because in the online picture they looked really dull. I'll have to reconsider that!

Thanks for all the information--me&thegals

ps--Since reading Farmer Boy, my 9-year-old son wants a breeding pair of his own, kinda like Almanzo had his own set of oxen calves

 

[freemotion]

I wished I lived close, Free! I would do the do for you....turkeys are easier than chickens, IMO, and I can process them quicker. Then we would have a big ol' turkey fry and knock you on your ear with the fine cuisine!

Take a drive, Bee! We will eat like queens!! Better, really....

Thanks, Quail, for all the great input! Very encouraging.

I sprout in buckets like Harvey Ussery does. Learned from his site.

It works out just great. I have an Amish basket hook above my sump pump in my cellar and I rinse daily and move the buckets up the hook so I know to use the top one.

I plan to switch to trays with some to get to grass. Next winter. Winding down, now, as the grass is sprouting in the field. I found a restaurant supply place about 10 minutes from my office, so I will check out their used stainless steel asap, and look for some pans that will make good sprouting trays that I can drill holes in for drainage. The other option is plastic storage totes, but I try to recycle first before purchasing more plastic. I have to admit, I love my storage totes, though. Don't want to drill them!

As for chickens and turkeys, someone on byc said to check with your local ag office to see if blackhead is a problem in your area. I called the ag university department and they said no.

Others said to keep the poults off the dirt for about 7 weeks. One option was to put flakes of hay or straw down, like tiles, to keep them about 3-4 inches from the dirt. That is when they are supposed to be strong enough to deal with germs.

I plan to let mine range with the chickens as soon as there is enough interesting stuff growing to keep them home!! That should be pretty soon. I don't think my BR tom could make it over the fence, anyways. He is pretty darn big, and rarely goes up on the three foot high roost, where the hen goes to get away from all the tom action....poor girl!

 

[justusnak]

Wow, how did I miss this thread!? I have a RP tom and hen...but my hen can not lay anymore. Last summer...well..not to be too gross, but her female parts just fell out! It was the wierdest thing ever. I have pics, but they are pretty graphic so unless someone wants to see them, I wont post the. Anyways...She lived..and is now just a good pet. I just cant eat her. So I have a blue slate hen in there as well. She is currently setting on I think a dozen eggs. WOW are they MEAN when they have babies! She got me 3 times yesterday, while I was trying to set up a temporary wall to keep HER and the babies safe from the tom. ( ingrate! ) I also have 7 eggs in the bator....Chocolate Turkeys. I know I will have to sell some..but not sure yet which ones. I really want to stick with one breed....but cant afford to have another pen built. I cant let mine free range because of a man that lives just up the road, lets HIS range, and they come over here harrasing MY tom all the time. I have to run out and shoo them off. I am worried about disease more than anything. When I talked to him about it, he just said.... : they are predators to your farm, shoot them" UGH! I really DONT LIKE this person! So how is your hen doing Free!? Did she lay?

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

You have chocolate turkey eggs in the 'bator?!

 

[freemotion]

She is laying an egg every two or three days. I provided nesting materials, but the toms keep her moving constantly with their own chest-bumping. On byc, in the thread "Give me the dirt on turkeys," (at least I think that is where I read it) someone said that turkeys will lay 20-30 eggs before they get broody, so she has laid about 10 since I got her, I figure I have a little time (not much) to get those toms out of there.

We've been eating the eggs. I have to crack them on a sharp knife, boy, that membrane is tough!

 

[me&thegals]

I second Quail's drooly face over the chocolate eggs!!! I haven't heard of chocolate turkeys. Is that their actual breed name?

Yes, free, I read about clutches of over 20 eggs, too. Do the eggs taste like pastured chicken eggs?

My son is getting so excited over the idea of buying a breeding pair and then selling eggs, eventually selling their raised turkeys for meat. I was trying to gently remind him yesterday that first he needs a market of people willing to eat turkey eggs

 

[freemotion]

Although my turkeys are not free-ranging yet, I bring the range to them, so their eggs....or, should I say, HER eggs....taste the same as the chicken eggs. My customers mostly don't want them, though, just one European lady who is so cool.

The eggs are just a little bigger than my biggest chicken eggs, they don't allow the carton to quite close, so selling for eating would have it's challenges....but a dozen turkey eggs would be a great deal!

 

[justusnak]

These Chocolate Turkeys look alot like the Naraganset(sp?)

Very rare breed approximately the same size as the Black Spanish. The history behind these birds is very sketchy. They were common in the Southern U.S. and France before the Civil War. Large numbers of breeders were lost during the war and never made a come back. Chocolate describes the color of this breeds feathers, shanks and feet.

I am in LOVE with thier coloring!!!