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EJB
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raising turkeys?
03/16/03 05:47 AM
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Anyone here raised the thanksgiving bird?
We are now on out second set of chickens (which we so far just use for eggs), but now I'd like to branch out to turkeys...my guess would be raising turkeys is pretty much the same as raising chickens...
Question is, anything I should know about turkeys? I'd like to order some chicks soon and hopefully have birds ready for the holidays..is that enough time to fatten them up?recommendations of type of bird to get? type of feed? housing? etc.
Thanks guys! 
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: EJB]
03/16/03 06:20 AM
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I tried once, but had a terrible experience with stick fleas. It was awful. I don't think they would be hard to raise but need special nutrition as the grow very heavy very fast. Also they need to be well seperated from chickens.
http://www.cjmouser.com
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Fawteen
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Loc: Maine
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: EJB]
03/16/03 07:04 AM
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I raised turkeys for several years, and you're right, it's pretty much the same as raising chickens. The biggest difference is that turkeys are noticably more susceptible to disease, and your losses will be higher. I counted on losing 10% minimum.
DO NOT house turkeys and chickens together or pasture them together. They will swap diseases and the turkeys will come out on the short end of the deal.
I quit raising them because I got some sort of fungus or bacteria either in my coop or my turkey yard, and losses were 50% the last couple of years, and besides, we weren't eating that much turkey. The original plan was to let the coop and the pasture go through a couple of seasons in an attempt to get rid of whatever was taking my birds, but we found we didn't miss them that much.
By all means, try it, just be prepared for some losses.
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pitbill
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: EJB]
03/27/03 08:17 PM
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turkeys are easy if you keep them out of their droppings and away from your chickens. I keep my birds on wire in 8x16 pens. these pens have a roof but only wire sides. last year i raised 75 naraganssets and burbon reds and only lost 4 birds the whole year. the key to turkeys is keeping them clean!! also if you plan on raising the commercial turkeys (white or bronze) you will have more losses. they tend to be very sickly and not hardy. try raising some heritage birds (naragansset, burbon red, black spanish, even wild) these birds are very hardy, taste way better and if you sell them, the price is double (around here anyway 50 miles n of nyc).
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AndyF
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: pitbill]
03/27/03 08:54 PM
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>> try raising some heritage birds (naragansset, burbon red, black spanish, even wild)
Where do you get your birds from?
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pitbill
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: AndyF]
03/27/03 09:25 PM
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i raise some of my own (i keep some breeding trio's) and i sometimes use strombergs or ideal
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EJB
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: pitbill]
03/28/03 03:42 PM
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What do you feed your turkeys? For my chickens I buy 50lb bags of egg-layer food from the local agway, but never noticed a turkey-food...probably exists, but wondering if its interchangeable with the turkeys and chickens.
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Fawteen
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: EJB]
03/28/03 04:44 PM
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Always fed mine layer pellets.
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pitbill
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: Fawteen]
03/28/03 09:07 PM
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layer pellets are fine, but agway does carry turkey (game bird) starter, maintenece and finisher. they all work good- just keep the hopper full give them lots of water and they'll do fine. i've allways had the best luck when raised on wire.
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EJB
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: pitbill]
03/29/03 05:24 AM
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>>when raised on wire.
What do you mean? A wire floor that keeps them out of their droppings?
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pitbill
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Re: raising turkeys?
[re: EJB]
04/02/03 06:13 PM
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yeah, a wire floor (hardware cloth ect...) about a foot or so above the ground
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