NH Homesteader- turkeys!

[NH homesteader]

@Bruce my husband looked it up. Killington's parking lot is higher than the top of his mountain.

And @Baymule my husband says it is less funny than it is cold. Although they do have a lot of fun sliding down the giant piles of snow after they make them.

This is how snow is made.

 

[babsbag]

So these are a few of my question. I plan on doing the broad breasted if I can get them at the local feed store, I don't plan on shipping any in.

• How many did you start with and how many made it to butcher? I have been told that they like to die.
  
• I don't want to stuff feed in them 24x7 so how long did yours take to get to butcher weight? I would like them small, about 12-14 lbs after cleaning.
  
• Can I let them live and free range with my chickens?
• Will they come in to roost at night or go climb a tree like the wild turkeys?
• If yours live with your chickens do you worry about them sharing diseases?

 

[NH homesteader]

Okay we've only raised them once but here's our experience. We bought 6 and all of them survived. I was very happy, after raising meat chickens and losing so many.

We raised them slowly, with feed twice a day and they took 3.5 months to get to around 15 lbs. They were in a Tractor and moved every day. They love grass! Oh, should mention we had 4 hens and 2 toms and the hens grew a lot slower, obviously.

Ours didn't even roost. I don't know if that's normal or not. Our heritage birds do but these ones slept on the ground and ignored their roost. They can't fly like heritage birds and I imagine their large breasts make it hard to balance?

We did not put ours with our chickens. I take that back, we brooded them with some chicks we got at the same time but split them up when they got larger. Turkeys need higher protein food, and I was also afraid of them beating up my chickens. You should find out if blackhead is an issue in your area, that's the primary concern with chickens and turkeys living together.

 

[Bruce]

My FIL and a friend owned the Yodler in Stowe MANY years ago ... before snowmaking. My wife's birth certificate says she is an Innkeeper's Daughter. Given the vagaries of snow fall back in the early '60s, an Innkeeper's income wasn't stable. He figured that could be a problem now that he has a kid to support along with a wife. He sold the inn (now known as the "Inn at Little River") and went into business installing gas stations.

 

[babsbag]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking 6 poults and hope for at least one. I am not sure about Blackhead but since we are hot and dry all summer it looks like it shouldn't be as much of a problem. It seems that I could put my chickens on a worming regime but I don't want to toss eggs all of the time so maybe worm a few times and then DE in the food. The problem with that is that I toss pellets on the ground more than I use a feeder.

They do have to live together as I just don't have another pen. They have about 1/2 acre to free range on so they have tons of space.

I feed higher protein to my chickens quite often as it helps with molt and egg production so the feed won't be a problem.

I think I am going to try this. I will have to look up breeds for broad breasted as I am not sure what our feed store gets in. They order from Privett Hatchery and will order in whatever I want as long as the hatchery has them. It is nice as I don't have to mess with a minimum order that way. I will have to aim for the last shipment of the season, they stop shipping when it gets too hot. I also need to see if Turkeys can get Mareks and vaccinate if needed. I have had that rear its ugly head in my flock so all birds I buy are vaccinated. The homegrown chickens seem to do fine without it.

 

[NH homesteader]

Sounds like it will work. I have a friend who raises her turkeys in with her chickens, they have separate houses but the same fenced in area. They do fine.

There are only two broad breasted types. White and bronze. We did white, they pluck cleaner and our feed store carries them twice a year and the bronze only once a year. I have no idea why.

I'm afraid I don't know about vaccinations. My husband might. I just order the birds and they show up. I've never asked for them to be, and I've never vaccinated birds born here either. I should look into the merits of it but I'm afraid I'n ignorant about it all

 

[babsbag]

I only vaccinate because I had Mareks in my flock years ago. This hatchery will vaccinate the chicks for .10 so it is worth it for me. If I had never had Mareks I would not vaccinate. I used to vaccinate ones that I hatched but most of them are sold before they ever leave my house so I don't do them anymore. The ones the broodies hatch seem to have no problems.

 

[Bruce]

You might want to plan on lots of freezer space or line up family/friends that would like to buy a well raised turkey for Thanksgiving. Get 6 expecting only 1 to make it almost guarantees they will ALL make it

 

[NH homesteader]

Yeah 6 was too many for us. One was for Thanksgiving and I'll probably end up giving one to my parents... Probably have another left over for next Thanksgiving lol. I don't love turkey so it'll be a rare occasion I bother with one.

 

[NH homesteader]

Well.... I'm a liar. Not really but turns out when the skiway wants to open on the 22nd, they make snow the night of the 21st even if it's not very cold. So DH has to work tonight and tomorrow night. So he hasn't really slept since like Sunday? He had to go get my shed today because the guy's going away tomorrow. He had to pretty much take it all apart because our trailer isn't big enough. But it's here! Won't put it up til spring probably. The guy gave us some metal roofing that wasn't on it even!

I have nothing else interesting happening. I'm actually looking forward to taking down decorations next week so I can have my living room back... But Christmas with preschool age kids is pretty cool too!