I just bought 6 baby turkes. They are much noisier than baby chicks. My question is- will they ever quiet down?
NEWBIE TO TURKEYS
LOL Kathy- isn't it just so easy to go from a few
chicks to a few turkeys? Before you know it, you'll
have some ostriches.
i really want peacocks!
They are super noisy. I had a peahen, and she
was the sweetest. Great big eggs, too. One would
be a meal.
when are my baby turkeys gonna shut up
Bigger birds, bigger noise. LOL Make sure they
are warm, or not too warm. The chicken babies
get noisy when they need something, so may be
with turkeys. Are they in the house? How old?
Gonna give a look?
yeah, they are probably just cold. need 95 degrees and no draft.
would love to see a picture!
tf
A friend of mine has peacocks. They live on a 100 acre farm and it's a good thing cause the birds let out screams that sound like a screaming woman! Downright bloodcurdling! LOL Beautiful to look at though.
MollyD
Sometimes they sound like cats in heat, too. They
are said to be less noisy if in a cage. My peahen
was named because of her call, Cleo!Cleo! Not as
loud as the males. She liked to perch on the car. Big
poop there. DH not happy.
My friends are caged. Hasn't quieted them down at all. They have these huge pens they can stroll around in with a shed like house at one end.
MollyD
here is a couple. it's hard to get a pic. of all 7
I have never seen turkey poults. They are so cute, and
I looove turkey- do you know what kind they are? Bet they
are really going to be big around say, November? :o)
they are bronze. thats all the sign said
Kittyjo, They will not be quiet....they will follow you everywhere and beware of porch furniture, etc if you let them free-range. They coated my swing with so much "crud" that I still haven't been able to get it completely clean...this on a daily basis. When do you plan to butcher them?
I will tell you this from experience. Don't let them grow more than 18-20 weeks. They will be so big, you won't know what to do. Our first year we were told 22 weeks. They were so big and we had one that dressed out at 64 lbs. Each breast was 9.5 lbs and the wings were 4 lbs each. No one would buy it because no one had an oven big enough. We cut it up and shared it with a friend. And it was sad how big it had gotten because it couldn't hardly walk anymore.
Now, we raise ours for 18 weeks. So if you are just now getting them, you should plan to process them around the first week of September, if that's your intention. We don't usually purchase our turkey poults until mid to end June.
Also, they will stand out in the rain and catch pneumonia. You will have to physically put them in a dry house. They get sick very easy.
I'm not trying to be a downtrod, just preparing you.
Good luck with them,
Kathy
Kathy, thanks so much for the info. i didnt realize they would get that big. when they don't need their heat lamp anymore i plan on letting them run in the yard and a pen at night. i appreciate all you can tell me, as i never had a turkey befor
kathy
Oh people say chickens are stupid, I don't think so. Turkeys are STUPID! They literally will stand there with their mouths wide open taking in all the rain water until it suffocates them and drowns them. The one I was talking about that got so big was a standard bronze. He was stunningly beautiful but he was so fat, he waddled and we were ashamed that we let him grow so big. Not good for them. Usually we lose at least 50% of the turkeys due to weather, predators, etc.
This is one of our Blue Slates from last year. This is a heritage bird and, oh, are they beautiful. They dress out around 15 lbs. Your bronze should dress out around 22 - 25 or a little more. You have few enough that you can really baby them, but beware, they will think you are their mother and follow you everywhere!
If you have any questions please feel free to dmail me anytime. Have you read my turkey story yet? I'll try to dig it up and edit and post it here :)
Blessings,
Kathy
Kathy, what a beautiful turkey. thanks for all the help
kathy
Hmm, sounds like they may not all fit in your freezer-
you might have to send some somewhere...
Mistymeadows- Are they a good investment compared
to feed cost? Better, or not as good as chickens?--if
they are not free range--
Chickens are better; turkeys eat a lot more, of course and the loss ratio is much higher for turkeys. They are just harder to take care of.
Feed is so high right now, we are even considering whether it is worth it to continue raising chickens for meat. Our chickens getting ready to go to the processor (next week) weigh about 8 lbs. We'd like them to be around 6, but these guys were great birds and thrived very well (Mt. Healthy Hatcheries, OH) :) We tried to get them in last week (my DH miscalculated the weeks when he made the appt, either that or he wasn't able to get an earlier appt before May 7th), but these birds are ready. I think we are going to do most of them in cut ups and that will garner more revenue, but we really don't like them this big. They are starting to waddle like that one turkey. 8 weeks is optimum for chickens. We use Cornish Rock Cross for our meat chickens.
The speed in which we sell them and the resistance in price will determine whether we are going to do more, this year anyhow.
Poultry is a lot of work and the weather, while is conducive to how the crops go, also is conducive to how poultry goes. It's been a tough year. Out of 175 corn rock cross chicks, we have 142 left, which is a good ratio. The majority of them we lost in one night because the temp dropped so fast and they got cold.
I would say, if you can keep your price up there and I do mean a good price for fresh, natural, no antibiotics/hormones chickens, then one can make money. But will the market uphold the price, is the question and I will be able to answer that for you in 2 weeks.
Truest, we have 7 freezers and 3 refrigerators with freezers and we still run out of room!!! Between the beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, and occasional goat. In Nov. 2006, our farm truck (big Ryder type truck) burnt to the ground; my DH was on his way to the farmers market. 4 freezers were FILLED with: one with beef, one with pork, one with chicken, one with turkey. We lost everything.....we had almost 30 turkeys in that one freezer and almost 300 chickens in the other.... Insurance didn't cover a penny and it was a very, very tough nut to crack.
Have a great day,
Kathy
Kathy that is awful! To loose all the work you put into that meat! I am sorry.
MollyD
IT was hard, but because of the kindest of our church and so many friends we were able to start rebuilding. We lost all of our market supplies, i.e. tables, chairs, baskets, scales, bags, boards, you name it! Many from DG were so generous as well. :) We have great people that surround us. We bounced back...for the most part.
:) Kathy
Wow, that is so hard to go through, Kathy! I'm glad
all that was lost was replaceable. The goodness of
family, church family and friends can not be measured.
Even if this year is not as good as past year's, the fact
that you are here with foods to market is a testament
to your will power. I hope every year hence is better
for you.
I will be happy to have a few birds for the freezer. I am
not going to even worry about feed costs this year, as
it is all a learning experience this year, anyway. Some
things you can't know till you experience them, and we
have a lot to learn. I feel lucky my birds can free range
over the summer, this will help with costs. As things
develop with the economy and we find out in coming
months the true scope, I will have at least a beginning
idea of caring for and producing more of our own foods
here. Perhaps our efforts will be helpful to our family
and friends this year.
Kathi
I believe you may be mistaken with the turkey you butchered over 60 pounds. Could it be a broad breasted bronze that you raised? The heritage Standard Bronze is a natural breeding turkey that has a life span of 6 years male and 10 years female. If allowed to free range they can live a healthy long life. Even raised in a pen the Standard Bronze almost NEVER (record being 42 pounds) gets over 30 pounds. If it is a standard bronze, wow.
Jordan
I currently have several standard bronze (your turkeys) that are well over three years of age. They live in a 10Ft. cage at night and free roam during the day. Unlike the Broad Breasted Bronze the standard or heritage can breed naturally. Also, your turkeys are somewhat rare. Once the Broad breasted were introduced, the standards were not used after 150 years of being the favorite for Thanksgiving. They will grow up to look similar to rio grande turkeys and can actually interbreed with them. The Broad Breasted is a meat bird for mass production and can not breed naturally. Anyway, mine are pets. They make great yard art and even my doberman loves them.
Lance
This message was edited May 1, 2008 9:37 PM
This message was edited May 1, 2008 9:38 PM
Hello Lance, It surely was a Standard Bronze. Somewhere I will see if I can drum up a picture. I didn't have any on the computer, so it may take me a bit to get that. Ours was free range, and actually roosted on top of their house at night; some would be smart enough to go in.....but you must remember that we feed them feed with high protein as well to make them meatier birds. I don't know the percentage rate right now, I'll have to ask DH and he's in dreamland.
But he did weigh 63 lbs! He sure was beautiful and his tail feathers were unbelievable. But as I said, it was our first try with turkeys. We didn't plan on breeding them and our plan from the start was to raise them for meat. Ironically, that one was the largest and perhaps we should've put him in the book of records or something, but out of 35 turkeys we did raise that year, we only had 2 that were under 22 lbs and most were between 25 and 30 lbs.
A-mazing!
You must be feeding them super grain Kathy LOL
I m going to attempt broilers next yr with turkeys but i m going to do the processing myself and try the Salad Bar method and worm farming :) (yeah i know, but i can't spell that other word that starts iwth a V LOL even my spell check can't spell it ) . Alot of work but at my small scale i can do it. I hope. LOL
Im looking forward to reading your turkey adventure Kathy :)
sue
My experience with Turkeys. I got two males at about age 8mths. Beautiful standard Bronze Turkeys, wonderful to watch as they strut about the place. But after about two months they became very aggressive with anyone who came into the yard ( especially my husband), chasing folk and actually trying to attack them. I finally had to fence them in with my sheep, who aren't intimidated . I really don;t know why they became so mean, perhaps it is territorial, or maybe they just want a gal..... Just watch out when it comes to Turkeys.
Sue, did you mean vermiculture? I have a bin of red-wrigglers (the "cadillac of worms") and they are great! When I first got them I had them at my office at work--I put in too many coffee grounds, it overheated and the worms started escaping over the sides. Needless to say my colleagues were not amused--but I have them at home now and all is well.
Oh....I forgot to post that link, didn't I? What a crazy week.........is it over yet?
Here's the "unforgettable" story (at least to me)
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/514994/
I hope you get a good chuckle or have complete and utter sympathy for me.....LOL
Kathy
Kathy your turkey adventure had me breaking down in a fit of giggles!! What a day that was!!!!!!!
MollyD
Thanks for the feedback. That's was an impressive bird. I wish my vegetables would grow that big.
Too funny Kathy! Next time I order chicks it's
going to be from the guy who can't count! LOL
My Narragansett Tom Tom is only agressive with my husband. The dumb thing thinks I'm realy purty. And followes me around just begging for me to get down to his level. His hen is sitting on about a dozen eggs, so I guess he is frusterated.
I bought 10 bronze this year and am having a heck of a time with them. Always before I have found them super easy and have only lost one or two. This years batch has been miserable! I am down to about 6 heathy birds and half of them are wearing braces. I didn't do anything diffrent this year, so I am assuming that I just got a weak batch.
How are yours doing.
My poults are doing well. I raise them on cedar chips and only put them on wire after they are four weeks old. Then I put them outside on the ground after 10 weeks, in a cage of course. I allow them to free range, but slowly introduce them to it over time. I always keep them in the enclosure at night. But they keep sneezing. I have never had that problem before. I put the question on another blog. I agree with the advise, my garage circulation is most likely the issue. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Its just a light sneeze, almost unable to notice.
io posted for you on the other thread, tha twhatever is causing the sneezing, a boost to their immune system would be helpful. hope they are OK.
Lance123,
Might be the cedar chips.
http://jas.fass.org/cgi/reprint/58/4/1017.pdf
http://www.trifl.org/cedar.shtml
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/guineapigs/a/woodshavings.htm
they could be having a low level reaction to the cedar. Is this batch of cedar from a different source than you've used in the past? It might be dustier too.
MollyD
Cedar, how did i miss that? ;good job MD!
I would look into the cedar issue, too. I know that
you can not put chicken chicks on cedar, it is toxic
to them. Someone here mentioned an issue of poop
reacting with the cedar.
On another issue, Lance, you are fairly close to me-
have you had any reports of cougars in the Wimberly area?
The issue popped into news recently, and we had one
last winter photographed just a few miles south of here,
watching children play through the kitchen door.