Anyone kept Turkeys?

[jono]

Hi folks,
I am thinking about getting 2 turkeys later in the year to plumb up for Christmas. Has anyone had any dealings with turkeys and advice???
Many thanks,
Jono

[lorna]

At our previous home each year we kept several turkeys to give to the family for their Christmas dinners. I will add we were completely inexperienced but we worked on the plan of giving them good food and keeping them in a quiet surrounding. Apparently turkeys can panic quite easily. Same as our own bred pigs they were delicious!!!!

[jono]

What are they like to keep?? How much space to they need?? I am very interested but want to know what i'm getting myself into first!!!!!!

[small]

We reared a batch of turkeys for Christmas sales one year, they were lovely birds, very easy, we kept them on deep litter with an outside run.  They make a wonderful bubbling noise, not like a gobble at all.....we didn't repeat the experience though, it was just too critical in the run-up to Christmas, OH was ill and I had to do all the preparation.  Just for yourself though, I'd certainly recommend.

[lorna]

I agree with small the turkeys were no trouble to rear. We had numerous buildings but if I remember rightly the husband kept 6 birds in a disused boar pen 12ft x 8ft which also had another open area same size which they had access to during the day. Not sure what the "official" area is required per bird. Go for it, great fun.

[growmore]

Get your month old turkeys about late July early Aug no sooner .Feed them ad-lib  on the turkey pellets which are sold specifically for turkeys . This way you should have no problems . Jim

[jono]

Is there any breed that I should look at?? And how much space for just 3-4??

[growmore]

You need the broad breasted variety( usually white) that are bred for commercial rearing .
The single breasted older breeds take quite a while longer to reach a reasonable size.

They grow fast  so need quite a bit of room .I have kept between 6 to 8 in an 8 foot by 6 foot shed. If they have a bit of room they have less tendency to fight or feather peck each other
I used the baled  treated wood chips for the litter on the floor this was cleaned out regularly .

If you do give them access to an outside run you need to be careful of them picking up certain diseases which they can catch off wild bird droppings and parasitic nasties from the grass and the soil..