Getting our turkeys today!!

[Eco-Chic]

You sure they aren't Ostriches?

Look at the size of their feet

I think I'd be a leetle intimidated if they were to near me and downright terrified at what they might be like in December.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Turkeys are notoriously difficult to sex - it comes with experience and by now we would know but by around 12 weeks you will be getting an incling - 16-18wk slaughter is true but will not make them very big with a traditional bird but you have a, the british white isn't actually a breed its a hybrid of sorts specifically bred for the specialized poultry market cos they are broad brested as such they are faster growing - nothing wrong with that just syaing! We have two breed the standard bronze and the Slate Blue, our bronzes are approx 10 weeks now and our slates are around 13 or 14 weeks, they are just coming up to small table size now so by christmas will be a nice size.

Turkey poults should never be put with chickens or on ground where chickens have been, internal parasites in chickens cause blackhead in Turkeys - almost certainly fatal. Adult turkeys are usually ok but not poults.

As for size - they are tiny yet - our stag quite happily stands there looking at us over his 3ft high fence panel, by the time you slaughter them they will easily be up to your hips if not a little bigger (especially if boys)

[Nicos]

From the Guinness Book of Records.....

Heaviest turkey
The greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lb) for a stag named Tyson reared by Philip Cook of Leacroft Turkeys Ltd, Peterborough, United Kingdom. It won the last annual 'heaviest turkey' competition, held in London on 12 December 1989, and was auctioned for charity for a record £4400 (then $6,692)


It'll be interesting to see what weight your's get to!

[frias]

I'm such a woos, I just know if I had a turkey to fatten up for Christmas it would end up eating the dinner with me and be around for many more Christmases too.

[Eco-Chic]

From the Guinness Book of Records.....

Heaviest turkey
The greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lb) for a stag named Tyson reared by Philip Cook of Leacroft Turkeys Ltd, Peterborough, United Kingdom. It won the last annual 'heaviest turkey' competition, held in London on 12 December 1989, and was auctioned for charity for a record £4400 (then $6,692)


It'll be interesting to see what weight your's get to!

Cor, imagine the amount of tin foil needed to wrap that

[MaureenHall]

Cor, imagine the amount of tin foil needed to wrap that

And imagine the size of the oven that'd be needed too!!!

[lettucegrow!]

So I guess you're not naming them.Good luck, they're going to be really scary, sounds like they get huge!!

[OverWyreGrower]

Thanks everyone! They are like baby emu's at the moment! Apparantly, they'll get to between 16-20lbs, and it doesn't surprise me, the amount they eat!!

They were only in with the hens and ducks whilst we finished off their enclosure, so only 48 hours. They are now living in the polytunnel until December, which has been retrofitted with mesh inside, so they don't damage the plastic.

Will keep you updated on their progress

[Bramble-Poultry]

Poly tunnel is a great place for them - free manuring of the ground too!!

I know what you mean about food we get through a sack every other day - they are funny creatures and as dumb as a box of rocks love them to bits though!!

[Eco-Chic]

OMG, the Turkeys must be depositing manure mountains compared to the chooks 20 poos a day

[OverWyreGrower]

OMG, the Turkeys must be depositing manure mountains compared to the chooks 20 poos a day

Since we've got 17 other birds anyway, 3 more lots of poo is nothing!!

[Hilary B]

Only way I know of telling boy turkeys from girls is when the boys' heads get red. Happens noticeably earlier than with girls, but you need to have both to tell. I think it is usually about 14 weeks, so not much time to see it with yours.
Also you won't have problems with the stags getting randy and damaging the hens, as you might if they were kept together a few weeks longer........ (only happened once, with some few hundred turkeys [in total] reared over about 7 seasons)

[Bramble-Poultry]

Theres loads of ways to sex turkeys and if you spend enough time and have enough experience with them - it is quite apparent quite early on.

The heads of both boys and girls will go red. But if you are running several together the difference are obvious, behavoiur is different, legs are different, size is different, snoods on the noses are different, wings are different. generally they are just different!!!

However with only 3 spotting the differences may not be so easy as the comparisons are not there and you of course have to actually observe the birds regularly to spot the behavour.

Never yet had a boy mount a girl young usually alot older than slaughter weight, but we breed heritage turkeys not commercial hybrids so they are more natural and therefore easier to sex.

[Hilary B]

Theres loads of ways to sex turkeys and if you spend enough time and have enough experience with them - it is quite apparent quite early on.

The heads of both boys and girls will go red. But if you are running several together the difference are obvious, behavoiur is different, legs are different, size is different, snoods on the noses are different, wings are different. generally they are just different!!!

However with only 3 spotting the differences may not be so easy as the comparisons are not there and you of course have to actually observe the birds regularly to spot the behavour.

Never yet had a boy mount a girl young usually alot older than slaughter weight, but we breed heritage turkeys not commercial hybrids so they are more natural and therefore easier to sex.

'Shooting the red' (as our neighbour called it) is good with a largeish flock, and with bronze (and perhaps other colours, but not white ones) the feathers are different. Most of the easy-to-describe differences you can only be sure if the flock contains both sexes.
We were keeping Norfolk Blacks (still my favourite breed) and planned on keeping back a trio for breeding. A neighbour who wanted one for New Year asked us to keepthe smallest one for her, and of course it was that one that the stag mounted and damaged (not badly, but too much to sell to our neighbour).

[Bramble-Poultry]

Isn't that just sods law though Hilary - the only one of ours that died this year was one I'd hatched to order!

We don't have Norfolk blacks - yet!! Mikes sister (who lives in Norfolk) does and we are currently planning on swapping a trio of hers for a trio of our slates so we each have a different variety. We currently have Slates and traditional Bronze. I have to say I love my Turkeys thet are sooo comical if a little on the stupid side!!!