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ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

Old 03-11-2004, 07:19 PM
  #1  
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Default ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

A BUDDY OF MINE JUST BOUGHT 9 TURKEYS TO RAISE. HE HAS TO KEEP THEM IN A BARN AND UNDER HEAT LAMPS FOR 8 WEEKS. HAS ANYONE OUT HERE DONE THIS THING BEFORE? I HAVE NOT DONE THIS JUST HUNTED THEM. HE IS GOING TO RELEASE THEM WHEN OLD ENOUGH. HE IS JUST TRYING TO GET SOME TURKEYS ON HIS FARM. HE ASKED ME TO ASK YOU IF YOU HAD ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT TO DO AFTER THEY ARE READY TO BE RELEASED. HE IS GOING TO KEEP FEEDING THEM AROUND THE BARN. WELL I WILL TELL HIM ON ANY INFO I RECIEVE HERE. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
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Old 03-12-2004, 04:22 AM
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Default RE: ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

Too Start , Not a great Idea ! released birds can start disease that can travel in Wild Flocks. Blackhead is the number one that kills off birds faster then any out there. In some States I believe he can be Charged for this. He would be better to keep the birds Penned and learn what he can with them, they can become great pets. Do everyone a great favor and ask him to not release them...BT
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Old 03-12-2004, 04:51 AM
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Default RE: ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

Another thing to add to Adrian's post is I doubt seriously the newly released poults would survive2 months in the wild with predators and the elements- they have no survival instincts what so ever- He would be doing a great in justice to any existing Wild turkeys with the possibility of diseases and to the poults beacause they would end up being coyote or Bobcat bait.

He could learn alot more about Turkey habits/ Vocalization by penning them up and listening and playing with them-
Talk him out of realeasing them- It's not a real good idea
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Old 03-12-2004, 09:18 AM
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Old 03-12-2004, 11:34 AM
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Default RE: ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

I’d tell him to pen raise them and when the time comes sell them or have a great Thanksgiving Day dinner. But please don’t release them into the wild for the reasons stated above.
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Old 03-12-2004, 07:24 PM
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Default RE: ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

hi,
i raised and reared , wild turkeys, pheasants, quail, and chukers for six years.one thing check your laws about releasing them.
its not a good idea to release them in the wild, because they don't have the survival instincts. when rasing poults must keep them off of ground, so they don't eat their droppings.
i keep them on wire until six weeks old with heat lamps.
they will begin to fly about three weeks,feed them medicated feed until six to eight weeks.when i bought the eggs, i incubated them in a small incubator. then went to a large one. i had 15 gobblers , and 30 hens for breeders.when raising them ,they just like rasing kids. alot of work.
eggs will hatch in 25 to 28 days.make sure they have plenty of room when they get older.when i raised them i had to get them blood tested to be released.but now you don't have to, since your not allowed to release them.turkeys are not hard to raise if you keep the pens clean and have enough room. i gather eggs and incubate them.
about evey year, i hatch about 200 poults a year and sell them to sportsman clubs.lots of fun. please keep out of the wild and enjoy them at home.
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Old 03-12-2004, 10:14 PM
  #7  
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Default RE: ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

I raised 24 white domestic turkies last year, if I was smart I could of done the same thing and call them piebald turkey and charged big bucks, Bobby
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Old 03-15-2004, 06:58 PM
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Default RE: ANYONE RAISE TURKEYS

HEY GUYS THANKS FOR ALL THE GOOD ADVICE. I KNEW YOU WOULD PULL THROUGH. HE IS NOT GOING TO RELEASE THEM TO THE WILD. JUST GOING TO KEEP AROUND AND IN THE OLD HORSE BARN!!!! THANKS AGAIN GUYS..
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Old 02-13-2020, 12:22 PM
  #9  
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I've got six turkey chicks at the moment and another 7 eggs under a hen. Getting the poults to start eating was tricky -- I'd read it was tricky but I didn't believe it. I tried crumbles in a chick feeder. I tried crumbles in a bowl. I tried crumbles on a piece of foil (they tried to eat the edges of the foil :sigh. I tried putting marbles in the food bowl. I tried picking up food and making momma hen bop-bop-bop-bop-bop noises. All without luck. I ended up making up some of my emergency crop tubing (baby) bird food up, offered it to them on a spoon and they went nuts for that. After that I wet the crumbles and they're happy with those too. But even at a week old they will not touch dry crumbles.

They're very like chickens, but more stupid (if you can believe it...). Much slower in their movements. We did start with 7 poults, but lost one yesterday to what appears to have been getting stuck in a part of the cage that should have been impossible to be stuck in. These things are seriously stupid, and terminally stupid in some cases it seems.

Other than those two things, not too different to raising chickens in a brooder, though you'll probably want a different food for them. Apparently they need high protein food. I'm using meatbird crumbles (20%) with added nutritional yeast to get the protein up as I haven't been able to find a gamebird starter food (or any gamebird food for that matter). And as it's an unmedicated feed I'm on permanent poop watching duty just in case I need to treat for coccidiosis.

In terms of raising one for a Christmas meal, I presume you're not going to want a 14 month old bird on the plate, which is what you'll get with a spring hatched poult. So far as I know turkeys have a limited laying season, which may make it difficult to get hold of fertile eggs/poults at the right time to be able to butcher at 6-8 months without needing to freeze the bird before eating.
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Old 02-13-2020, 12:57 PM
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I fully agree with the first to respondents. Pen raised turkeys are not a good idea. in addition to the disease issue they are nothing but trouble when released. They wind up in people's yards, the gobblers are aggressive and chase and spur children, roost on house tops. You are better off with no turkeys than with pen raised mostly tame turkeys. Our game commission on several occasions had to go out and shoot tame wild turkeys that people released because they were causing problems such as everything I mentioned and more.
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