Our free range turkeys

[herb girl]

Just wanted to inspire you all with how easy it is to raise a few turkeys for the holidays.

We are doing Broad Breasted Whites, but hope next year to try an heirloom breed. If you want them ready for the holidays, you need to start them in mid July.

Turkeys are friendly and easy going. They do like to range but adapt well to a tractor. Although some don't recommend it, we keep ours with our chickens.
It works out great and we've never had any problems at all.

People say they are hard to "start", but we've never had a problem with that either. I think they say that because when they are in huge flocks they get easily crushed. Ours have never been "dumb" as some claim poults are.

And WOW, have you ever tasted the difference in a fresh free range turkey?
It really can't even compare to the supermarket variety.

I would think you could even raise a few in the "burbs" if you had a proper tractor. We generally do 15 at a time as we have about a 1/4 fenced in for them. We let them range out almost every afternoon and they eat pounds of bugs! They get more food from forage than chickens do ( they eat a lot of grass).

Anyone here tried raising them? I'd especially like to know if there are any "covert" raisers in the burbs.....:)

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

You've probably not had problems with your turkeys, as they have been raised for slaughter...

However, since this information is going out to everyone, even those who may choose to raise turkeys for the longer duration... I have to chime in and say that turkeys and chickens should not be kept together.

Blackhead disease is a common ailment of turkeys and they should not be with chickens... even for the short term. You are right though, they do well confined, or as free ranging birds.

Some of you may be now scratching your head... Blackhead? It's caused by a protozoan parasite. It can, and is often, found in both turkeys and chickens. The chickens may show no symptoms and also, even turkeys may not actually show the blackhead traits, that doesn't mean it isn't there.

Chickens rarely suffer, but the turkey popolation will suffer in their intestines and liver. IF it happens to your turkeys, mortality can be as high as 50%.

Watch for thirsty birds, reduced apetites and watery sulfur-colored droppings. Other symptoms are the same as with any sick birds... fluffed feathers and lazy acting or weaker than normal posture and gate.

Every poultry expert will advise against putting chickens and turkeys on the same ground.

Sorry....

And do check out the ALBC list of heritage turkey breeds, they are lots of fun to raise, not to mention beautiful!

In short... chickens can be carriers.. turkeys often die from it.

[gardengirl72]

Now that is really interesting. I have raised turkeys in my system. There is a picture in Andy Lee's Chicken Tractor book which shows him raising them together which inspired me to try.

I have only raised Eight turkeys so far with only one loss(I child grabbed my thanksgiving chick by the throat and crushed it's wind pipe during a tour, you should have seen me fake that it was okay and that I wasn't pissed).

Now I must admit the time the Turks and chicks are together is during the brooding period only and after that I seperate them.

Fred is that disease a large farm thing?

Home raised Turkey is the best tasting thing I have ever done. I cross my heart and hope to die. The problem is that they are needy and too easily to be attached to and thus hard to slaughter. The other problem is their size. I think you really need an acre of space to manage the waste properly. I had mine get out of control once.

[herb girl]

I think that turkeys and chickens raised on the homestead together, all free ranging and intermingling is not a problem. It's been done for eons on small family farms worldwide. They all roosted in the barn together at night I'm sure.

I probably wouldn't put them in a tractor together though. I think most of the disease problems comes from larger scale operations. Birds under stress are always going to present more disease susceptibility.

Your right about them being harder to slaughter because they are too friendly.
But just keep them till about 6 months old and then you'll be ready for them to get "the ax".

My daughter begged to keep a hen and a tom (her favorites) from the butchering day. When the tom was 6 months old he,previously very sweet, turned into a monster. My kids had to carry a baseball bat around with them when they went outside. When we butchered him he dressed out at 47 lbs.!!
Amazingly tender and very tasty. We had to cut the 32 lb. breast in half with a saw!!

[Sinfonian]

I'm not trying to weigh in here, because there's an expert that's already done that. I'd say it only takes one sick bird to infect another for it to occur. Course I could be wrong. I just read these posts for enjoyment.

I think what Fred was saying is that it's common enough that he wouldn't recommend it. Great if it works for you, he just wants folks to know the risks, risks he doesn't take himself.

Boy do I wish I could have birds. /sigh

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

Ok, I've read the follow up comments...

Without going into a complete history lesson on poultry of the past (I study even the beginnings of rearing poultry in the U.S. as far back as the 1850's). I know, I know, poultry have been raised in this country much farther back than that, only I don't have thier Poultry Science Text Books. I do have in front of me, Practical Poultry-Farming L.M. Hurd, part of the Rural Science Series 1934. They describe in detail, the problem of black head disease in turkeys.

It may be interesting for some to know, yes, chickens and turkeys were ranged together in the past... This practice is exactly why we know what happens. In some cases, it was considered "normal" to lose 10-25% of the flock annually, due to diseases... coccidiosis, blackhead and a miriad of other ailments.

True, the more concentrated/stressed the bird populations are, the more quickly they may have health issues. Commonly known as flock density.

You asked if I am talking "larg scale"... no, if we talked "large scale" turkeys and chickens may not be kept on the same premises at all, period. At least, these are the regulations here in Pennsylvania and I can't imagine them to be much different in other states where meaningful health practices are in place, regarding the rearing of poultry.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, only serving to inform as to the current practices and risks. I've heard every argument... the science (not Fred's opinion) is solid.

Some people like to have every sort of bird roaming about, because the diversity is fun. I completely understand that... I just ask that we learn from the past and benefit from current science.

[herb girl]

Oh dear,

All I really wanted to talk about was the joy of raising your own turkeys,
not a controversy of raising them with chickens, soooooooo.........
Let's go back and just erase that comment I said about raising them together and talk about raising just a few for the table and freezer.

[gardengirl72]

Fresh turkey is the best! We can all agree on that! I am thinking about raising some wild turkey breeds next year.

[herb girl]

Okay, tell me what breed you have in mind? Did you mean heritage breeds?
I'm thinking of trying a heritage broad breasted bronze. My friends have some and they are BEAUTIFUL!!!