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Sarah
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| Posted: Dec 09 2008 at 4:05pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone keep heritage turkeys? If so can we talk turkey?
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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lilac hill
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Getting 30 poults next spring, we can talk next year 
I have found a few yahoo groups that discuss them.
There are some articles on the American Breeds Conservancy website too.
I imagine that like heritage chiickens the different body shape will take some getting used to, but hopefully the flavor will surpass even the farm raised one we got this year.
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Viv
Wife to Rick (7/83), Mom to dd#1(6/87), dd#2(1/90), and dd#3(6/94) in central PA.
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nissag
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We're planning on raising blue slates - we're hoping for 35-50 this spring. Fabulously beautiful feathers, nice eggs for eggery, and BIG, meaty birds.
Blessings,
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Nissa
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Angel
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Not yet, but we're hoping to raise some next year. Not sure what we want yet, though. I like the looks of Naragansetts and Bourbon Reds.
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Angela
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Angel
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A question, though... those of you planning on raising 30-50... will you be selling some? Keeping a breeding flock? We were thinking that 15 might even be too many, just for us, particularly if we also raise meat chickens. I'm not sure they would all fit in our freezer.
I do hear that turkeys are a bit harder to keep alive than chickens, though... not sure if this applies to pastured turkeys or only to turkeys kept in confined or semi-confined conditions.
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Angela
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nissag
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We're going to be having quite a few prepared for our CSA shareholders. We'll try to keep a few hens and a tom back for breeding.
We lose about 20% of our chicks. It's a bummer, but you get accustomed to it and plan accordingly.
Both Brian's sets of grandparents were poultry farmers - One set did turkeys, the other did chickens. 
Blessings,
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Nissa
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Wendi DeGrandpr
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We just finished raising 10 turkeys - last year we did 12. We sold half and had one at Thanksgiving. I now have 4 turkeys in my freezer and cannot imagine more. We also raise meat chickens and a large garden so our freezer is full at this point.
We do not raise any Heritage stock but I am interested in seeing what others have to say. I think they are so pretty.
Also, this is the first year we have not had any die. Last year we lost 2 out of 14. We do have a new pen system for our meat birds which dh built this past spring. The flooring is raised so they are not walking around in manure which can be a problem if they are confined - obviously depends on your situation. For us this worked well. The only down side was they cannot go in the pen until they are big enough for their feet to be on the larger grating or they will have foot problems. Next year I hope to have an area in the pen with some smaller flooring to fix that. This year I kept them in the goats old pen in the barn until they were quite a bit bigger.
That is our experience - hope it is helpful in some way.
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Wendi
Mom to four blessings
"We can do no great things - only small things with great love." Blessed Mother Teresa
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Sarah
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We were going to get 15 bourbon reds this spring, butcher some and leave some for breeding. We are raising them just for us.
Haven't figured out the logistics of housing. They may be with the chickens. My number one concern is whether they will fly over the 5 ft. Fence and into the neighbors yard.
Then I wonder if we should pen them to prevent them from coming up by the front porch. They'd have to come about an acre to get there but that's probably no big deal. I think we'll pen.
Anyone have opinions on McMurray's hatching eggs?
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lilac hill
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The gentleman who is supplying my poults suggested getting 30 poults to assure 6 live birds.
Becasue I raise chickens, goats, sheep, and cows I have issues with the turkeys,at least until 11 weeks, not being as immunologically strong against diseases that do not kill other animals, especially chickens. To avoid contamination I will probably raise them in an entirely new brooder box.
I hope to use the meat and keep 1 Tom and 2 hens for breeding. The turkey meat should be nice for roasting and sandwich meat.
My search for a broader breasted heritage chicken breed is in the early phase and has not produced good sized fryers and roasters. I have decided against Brahmas and am growing Dark Cornish and Partridge Rocks this winter. Hopefully the turkeys should provide for most of our poultry meat needs.
I plan on raisiing the turkeys, after the brooder, in open bottomed , moveable pens that get moved daily through the orchard. In the winter they will free range with access to their pen at night. This is how we handle the chickens now. They stay down in the barn yard and cannot do much damage to the flower beds in the winter.
The local breeder has a flock of Naragansetts/Burbon Reds and wild game. He started 10 years ago with 3 different flocks and has now cross bred. He is breeding , in particular for meat quality and white colored feathers (nicer looking meat after plucking). I was going to buy Naragansetts but having a local supplier made sense. Also, was surprised how much better my hatched out flock of Brahmas, selected for size and shape, was compared to stock I got from the hatchery and that was only after one year of breeding. Hopefully I will be 10 years along in breeding success.
Of course now that I have figured out the turkey thing, I am looking at endangered farm breeds of ducks.
Since we already need to build a turkey tractor, chicken tractor and repair the other hen tractor--One more pen should not be too much of a big deal?!
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Viv
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Angel
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Have you all ordered your turkeys? We just put in an order with Murray McMurray today:
5 Naragansett
5 Bourbon red
5 Blue Slate
Not sure if we'll try to overwinter for breeding or not. We're planning on pasturing these.
Anyone else have turkey plans?
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Angela
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lilac hill
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lilac hill wrote:
Of course now that I have figured out the turkey thing, I am looking at endangered farm breeds of ducks.
Since we already need to build a turkey tractor, chicken tractor and repair the other hen tractor--One more pen should not be too much of a big deal?! |
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After much soul searching I have backed way off in hte meat department.
I unordered the ducks and ordered only a bird to eat for Thanksgiving, THIS YEAR.
Since we love our vegetables, I want to focus on garden production, extending the season as long as I can, and adding pasture rotation for the cows and sheep in the orchard.
Rick still needs to build a chicken tractor for the dark Cornish chickens we will be breeding and raising.
Keep us updated about the turkey project.
I did love the vocalizing that the broad breasted turkeys did when I kept them a couple of years ago.
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Viv
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missionfamily
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We are getting 15 Bourbon Reds this spring...we will freeze ten whole and have the other five ground for ground meat and sausage. I am looking forward to this endeavor...well dh is really, since I'll be too far along in this pregnancy to help much. Ours are coming from a local breeder, and they'll be a week old when we get them, so I'm hoping they're easier to keep alive that way.
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Colleen
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Angel
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I'm bumping this thread, because we got our poults from McMurray today!
We have 15 -- 5 Naragansett, 5 Bourbon Red, 5 Blue Slate. So far they seem feistier than chickens, and we didn't have any problems getting them to eat and drink, which some of the books suggested was common for turkeys. One of the Bourbon Reds has an eye that won't open, but seems healthy otherwise.
Wondering if anyone else has gotten their turkeys yet?
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Angela
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donnalynn
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I just thought I'd mention a book we just finished as a read aloud that made me think of this thread...
The Great Turkey Walk
We don't raise heritage turkeys ourselves but we have a friend who does - and I just can't even imagine what 1,000 turkeys would even look like!
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Sarah
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How are the turkeys coming?
We didn't end up getting any yet.
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Angel
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Well... We started with 15. 6 died in the first 3 weeks of mysterious turkey reasons. One had a bum leg and as it grew, the leg couldn't hold it, so we had to cull it.
That left us with 8 birds -- 4 Naragansett, 2 Bourbon Red, 2 Blue Slate. So we only lost 1 Naragansett as opposed to 3 Bourbon Red and 3 Blue Slate. After the 3 week period, they were pretty hardy. The problem we had was that they kept flying over the electric poultry netting (or going through it, even when it was charged) and unlike chickens, they don't come home to roost for the night. (Actually, their favorite place to roost was usually on top of the chicken coop -- about 8 feet off the ground!)
We didn't have a coop for them because we had read that they don't like to go into coops. So we were counting on the electric poultry netting to keep predators out. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to deter the racoons, and we lost 2 of the 8 remaining turkeys last week. So my dh spent a very day completely enclosing the frame of a larger chicken coop he had started in chicken wire to make a sort of aviary. The turkeys have been in there for a week now. It keeps them safe, but I know they would be much happier on grass. 
They are really beautiful, friendly, curious birds, though, and the noises they make are so much melodious than chickens.
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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Topic: Heritage Turkeys
