Rural Gardening: A big fight!, 1 by ladybugsabound2

ladybugsabound2 wrote:
Granny......the tom with the color is a royal palm. The others in that pen are the jumbo whites. He is the one that we couldn't figure out if he was a he or she for the longest time....he wouldn't puff out or make any noises while we had a more dominant Black Spanish around. After the BS was gone he started acting like a tom so we called him Mr. Big Shot. He was quite a bit bigger than the jumbo whites, but with him being the only other turkey (his lady hen was sitting on eggs) he was lonely and would spend most of his day outside the jumbo white pen, so we put him in with them.
The jumbo whites are pure white and grow a little bit like cornish cross chickens. So fast that their feathers can't keep up with their skin.

Tia....we haven't raised near as many turkey's as we have chickens, but I have not noticed any of them being mean or spiteful. In fact they are VERY friendly. When we let them out of their pen to graze, they love following you around everywhere. It can be pretty funny to watch.....it looks like a parade going through the yard.
I think raising them is a good idea, but I will warn you........there seems to be a learning curve on them, a little different than chickens.......in my opinion and limited experience. I don't know everything about them of course, but I know they can be very 'dumb'. When you first get them you have to put shiny stones or pebbles in their water and food and keep a very close eye on them to make sure everyone is eating and drinking..........some can't seem to find the food and water and instead of looking for it, they'll wonder around and starve themselves to death and die. The shiny stones seem to work really well though. To me it seems that they can get breathing problems more easily than chickens, like colds, and it can kill them if not caught and treated. With treatment though, they seem to recover quickly.
I think they are for sure worth raising, and there was never better tasting turkey!
On a side note.....our little black spanish hen has hidden in the tall grass across the road with her nest and we are waiting on pins and needles to see if she has babies soon. They would be a Black Spanish/ Royal Palm mix.....I'm wondering what that would look like.

a pic of the hen.....she makes a quick dash out of her nest once every other day to eat and drink.......I was lucky enough to catch her this day.