The broad breasted variety are not going to sustain their own population, you will have to perform that function manually. Why not grow a larger flock of smaller turkeys?

Well, that is what I was thinking. I know the BB turkeys don't mate naturally and I sure wouldn't tackle that myself so had been looking at some of the other breeds who do. Lori

I love the standard bronze, been raising them for 8 years, beware though they look so much like a wild turkey, LOL. Had to convince a game warden that they were domestic, for one thing bronzes dont fly, They are prolofic layers as far as turkeys go, and the eggs are good to eat. They are not prone to set much, but we just set the eggs under a broody hen who happily hatches them and raises them (its funny watching babies who are bigger than thier mother happily running after her) They make a fine medium sized delicious turkey.
josh

Josh, that is exactly the info I was looking for, thanks a bunch. I have a broody hen or two at any given time who would be glad if I left an egg under her. I think I have to order 10 turkeys at a time from Ideal, whom I like to do business with. I may give it a try and see what happens. I thought the Red Bourbon turkeys were pretty too. How do your bronzes pluck out for the table? Lori

Be aware that turkeys will feather-out in two weeks and the kinds that can fly, will fly, sometimes off into the woods never to be seen again. You also have to teach each bird to eat and drink.

rockguy, your partialy right, I live in Purdue turkey country over here, and neighbors have barns with tens of thousands of turkeys, literaly, so luckily you only have to teach a small percentage to eat and drink and the others will copy. To teach them all you do is dip thier beaks , same as chicks, into food and water. Put marbles or stones into base of water fount so all they can get in it are thier beaks. As poults turkeys are dumb, and they will drown thierselves. Also make brooders round, use bent cardboard, or you will come out one morning and half your flock will be piled in a corner dead. They panic so easily, this will pass in 2-3 weeks, then thier brains kick in.
Bronzes pick out easily if you get hot water, with some dish detergent mixed in, and you swish them in it. Type in featherman.com, they have videos showing the processing of some bronze turkeys, you can do all they show without the equipment, but the methods are identical, instead of a tub plucker you use a hand plucker, aka fingers :.)
josh

Thanks guys, all good info to know. I may be trying those bronzes on your suggestion and definitely need to watch a video or two on how to dress them. Lori

featherman.net

Hi gardengalrn
I've raised a lot of different breeds. The bronze definitely are a good size. The whites will have a cleaner pin feather pluck and all you have to do is singe the little pins that are left. One of my favorites were the Bourbon Reds and the Toms got quite large and "breasty" but they donÂt always produce fertile eggs. ItÂs sort of hit and miss with them. Royal Palms are pretty but not too large and flightier then most. Narragansett are a nice in between. The solid blacks (old timerÂs disease the breed name escapes me at the moment ) are quite heavy birds too. I quite often crossed a bronze tom with Bourbons, NarragansettÂs or Black ?? or white (not broad breasted) and got nice table birds out of all. As for the flying, just clip the wings once in a while, usually just on the hens. Once the toms get bigger they get to heavy to fly for the most part. It takes several months for the feathers to grow back. I know you can clip the first "digit" on the wing when you get them as hatchlings but I never did. I too just hatched them under chickens for the most part although I did have a couple of white hens that would set pretty well. IÂve gotten out of turkeys until I can rebuild my whole coop and 1 acre run for the birds. Just a few chicken right now. But if I get into them again IÂm seriously thinking of getting BB hens and breeding with Bronze to see if theyÂll grow a little faster then the Heritage birds. I believe itÂs the broad breasted tomÂs inability to breed not the hens. Word for the wise however. Make sure you keep the spurs clipped short on a regular basis. The toms can tear a hen up in a hurry during breeding. Ask me how I know.:-P

I want to get a few of the Blue Slate turkeys, just because they are so beautiful. Any thoughts on this breed, or what other breed might be fun to raise. They would be more like a pet( if a turkey can be petted????). I was told this breed can not fly as it gets too heavy. Any other breed that you could suggest? Eventually they will be released into the barn yard, which has a 6 ft. fence around it.

Good Idea Mike, I had never thought of that, it is the BB Toms inability to naturaly breed, due to the size of breast. I will try that, lets see if we will get a good table bird.

Southern, turkeys in my opinion are wonderful pets, if you get just a few they so easily attatch themselves to humans. You have to be careful, they will follow and want to follow you everywhere, even into the house. They will see you in the morning and start strutting and cutting and gobbling in greeting. They love to be petted on the head and talked to. Ive known folks get a couple turkeys for the holidays, and then not be able to butcher them, and the turkeys are still there LOL :0)
josh

I have really enjoyed the input of this thread. After some thought, I have decided to wait on the turkeys until next year. In years past, I would start getting worked up about this time of year for gardening and seed selection. Now it is bird selection, LOL! I just put in my order for my new layers and decided on 20 white Plymouth Rocks for my meat birds. I chose those because I really was balking at the Cornish Cross and really, cost effectiveness was over-shadowed by the higher likelihood of healthy, clean birds. The white rocks have yellow skin so should look good in the end. If this goes well (it will be my first try at trying to put chicken in the freezer) I will order some turkeys next spring. Thanks again for all the valuable advice. Lori

The blue slates are wonderful, but they aren't particularly huge breasted and they can absolutely fly...in fact, ours can pretty much 'hop' right up on a 5ft fence without so much as a running start.

They do make excellent 'pets' though if that's really what you're looking for - that's how we got ours in fact - the people who had originally raised them found that they just couldn't butcher them. Actually, the only turkey breed we've found without a wonderful personality has been the Royal Palms - yep, gorgeous, but flighty is putting it mildly...they wanted NOTHING to do with us and had even less instincts than other breeds.

We haven't found turkeys to be dumb at all, btw and have found nearly all of the well-meaning advice that we've gotten about all of the ways they will manage to kill themselves to be ridiculously exaggerated - even with the commercial whites. What is different with these birds is that they are just not born with the instincts that other poultry are - they are made to be raised by their parents and they learn from watching.

Not very conducive to being raised the same as chickens - but it can be done - it's just easier to do some modifications.

For instance, we've had the best luck starting our poults with keets (baby guinea fowl) - we've also done it with chicks, but the keets worked better. These babies ARE born with instincts, and the turkeys will follow their lead.

Also, the suggestion above about making things round is a good one if that's practical for you (it really hasn't been for us past when they are brand new and we keep them in a stock tank with a light) - they definitely seem more comfortable in a round space than an unnatural square one. Though even in a cornered pen, we have never lost them due to them piling up in a corner...the only time we've ever had a problem with piling up has been if we haven't made sure to keep it warm enough at night. That's when they start piling too tightly together - and that will happen with any kind of baby.

Another quirk we've found unique to turkeys is that they really like to keep to a schedule - you don't have to be super strict about it, but it really helps to do things around the same time frame. If you get good about it everything will be easier. We raise them in tractors through the Spring and most of the summer - when it's time to move, they are almost pushing on it excited about the new grass they're going to get...if you use that to your advantage, it makes them MUCH easier than broiler chickens.

If you want to see our little flock of Blue Slates that we kept for breeding, you can visit our page below. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Guthrie Gator Farm and Gardens

Help Some of my turkey babies are dying about two to three days after they are hatched out. What am I doing wrong