He is my biggest so far ... they say 8 lbs when mature .... this year I won't be incubating any ... next year I may ... I have a few broody type hens, so I will prolly let one raise some chicks for me .... should be interesting!
Good luck with the brood hen. I have yet to have one but that would be cool. The turkeys I'm getting should be broody and hopefully they will be. I'll be incubating chicken eggs next year though. I really like the idea of getting birds from the ones we have instead of buying them.
Got turkeys now. Well, 21 eggs in the incubator anyway. They just arrived and we put them in. Now, as long as I don't screw things up we will, hopefully, be on our way to growing, maybe selling, turkeys every year. These are Narragansetts. We do have 3 broadbreasted poults but they will be gone this fall/winter.
Thanks Bruce, keep us abreast (pun intended) of the turkey raising efforts how well do turkeys and chickens get along if in the same coop/pen? I am also thinking of adding some guinea fowl. I love them smoked but they are quite noisy and may need more room than a pen will allow.
It is my understanding that turkeys and chickens should not be kept together. Chickens can be carriers of balckhead disease and that can be fatal to turkeys. We will be keeping the turkeys separate from the chickens. I am building a smaller tractor so that I can keep the rooster chicks separate from the turkey poults and then I have a separate coop/enclosure for the turkeys once they are old enough to come out of the tractor.
Muzzy, This is what I have read as well.... go to Backyard Chickens. Com and they have all sorts of.great info on any fowl ..... there are many that incorporate both, but why chance it if space isn't an option ...
I would recommend this magazine to anyone with chickens. I have been getting it since the first issue and it has a great deal of very good information. http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/
Well we finished the nesting boxes... they should start laying very soon ... And we trucked almost 5 yards of river sand to fill the run almost 6" deep ... they love it ... i love it ... easy to clean .... they have all the grit they need .... dry and scent free... Vito ... on a side note, that rooster is really endearing himself to me ... he protects the young one s and rules the roost wonderfully ..... me thinks he is gonna stay ... Pro Obamacare or not
We put golf balls in the nest boxes. It helps give them the idea of what they are for. Maybe we didn't need them, I don't know, but they did lay eggs in the nest boxes.
Thanks for the info Guys, Ramona is going to shoot me if I take on any more projects. Currently I have work, house/yard/pool chores, fence upkeep, Zach's swim team (I am the team president), my swim training (20 miles + per week), running (10 miles + per week), gym (3 days per week), archery/bowhunting, fishing, on staff at church bi-vocationally, preaching/teaching/ gardening, and now I am talking about raising turkeys and/or some other poultry. I scratch my head sometimes but I just keep saying "I'd rather wear out my tires than let them dry rot!" Plus; I have been investigating finishing my doctorate. Anyway, I think maybe I will just stick to raising the turkeys and forget about trying to do both. Would it be okay to raise the chicks in the fall? It stays pretty warm here most of the year.
Would probably be fine. It is just the first couple of weeks that temp is important and needs to be warm enough.
