hi i was wondering if it would be ok to put my 2 mmonth old turkeys in with my ducks? they have a hundred square foot pen. there is only 5 ducks and five turkeys. the ducks have a kiddy pool to swim in. please let me know if it's ok to put them together. thanks cindy

-- cindy young (cin_sue63@webtv.net), May 09, 2000

Answers

Response to turkey?

Cindy, I think it would be better not to just yet. Young turkeys don't do well if they get wet, and young ducks (and grown ones) splash water all over the place. When the young turkeys are fully feathered it probably wouldn't do any harm to put them together.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 09, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Cindy, if the turkeys are already on the ground, you probably don't have blackhead. So if this is the best place you have, try it. You're going to have to feed all of them, that pen won't likely produce enough vegetation and bugs to get them through the summer. Be careful about feeds. The turkey feeds you buy will be highly medicated and ducks tend to be very sensitive to antibiotics and wormers among others. So you'll have to feed grains or waterfowl food to all of them.

Watch for bullying, and while there will be some at first while they work out territory, it may get severe enough that you have to pull the turkeys back out. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 09, 2000.

Response to turkey?

I've also got a question about turkeys, I love turkey meat and would be quite happy if that was my only source of meat. Keeping in mind that I'm almost totally ignorant about raising livestock and this is all theoretical until I can get the barn built next year (hopefully) . . . which is the best bird to raise for meat and eggs? Up here the winters are cold and long and they would have to be indoors in the barn for months at a stretch, do they need a lot of room, the barn is going to be big - but not huge and it will already have a horse and a tractor in it... Do they need more or less feed relative to their size than chickens do? etc

Are there any turkey experts out there? Or can anybody recommend a good book/website that I should reference, I'd really appreciate it

Thanks

-- Dave (AK) (transmach@hotmail.com), May 09, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Dave, turkeys can be a bit tricky. Also pretty stupid. Would you consider raising really big fat chickens and pretending? Best thing would be to read up on them and talk to any local people you can find who either raise them or have raised them. Turkeys seem to be one of those creatures you either do well with or don't do well with.

I think I'd go with chickens myself. Easier to buy feed for, easier to keep them going on grains and scraps. Turkeys aren't meant to be tough and resourceful, they're bred to get big, fast. While their eggs are perfectly edible, chickens have been bred to produce eggs over a longer part of the year.

Something else to keep in mind, are you going to be able to get turkeys there? If you have to pay to ship an order of turkey poults in from the lower 48, that will cost you far too much. Chickens you can find in Alaska. So I'd recommend chickens for you to start with. If you have a choice, a big hearty egg-laying breed, ideally with a rose comb. Although chickens can and do survive having their combs frozen off. A lot of folks will recommend a breed that has feathered legs and feet feeling that that helps keep the chickens from freezing their feet off. I've had very few chickens freeze their feet, so I don't happen to think that is especially important. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 09, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Several questions here! First, I would not let turkeys range unless I had them on medicated feed, especially if there had been any chickens on that range. Blackhead disease is a soil-borne parasite that is carried by chickens, but does not adversely affect them. It is deadly in turkeys, and once they have it, there's no "cure". Prevention is the answer. Take the turkeys off the medicated feed about 2 weeks before slaughter, and there will not be enough time for it to affect them. I know the medicated feed for chickens (different) is enough to kill ducklings, but I believe the turkey/gamebird feed is OK. What about it, duck people? Dave, where are you? We had a few laying hens in Juneau in a backyard converted rabbit hutch w/o problems. As far as meat birds are concerned, the winters are academic. The turkey poults you get in May will be in the freezer by Nov, and should dress up to 40 lbs. Cornish Rock cross meat chickens are even quicker. They'll dress at 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 lbs in 6 to 7 weeks. At 12 weeks they'll reach as much as 9 lbs. We generally butcher most at the 4# stage, and some at 6 and the remainder at 8. Here again, winters are no problem - they'll never see one. Layers? I'd suggest one of the heavy breeds. GL! Brad in Maine

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 10, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Shipping day-old chicks to Alaska isn't any harder -- or much more expensive -- than shipping them anywhere else. We had chicks come to Tok -- four hours drive from Fairbanks -- in March when it was thirty below. The mail truck driver brought them all the way from Fairbanks in the cab of his truck, and we had almost no losses -- though I think they about drove him nuts with thier chirping!! We didn't try turkeys there, but other people did, and had no problems with them. If you want to keep breeders, though, get one of the older breeds, not the double-breasted types, as they have to be AI'd -- can you imagine doing AI on a turkey!! Turkey's feed conversion ratio is better than that of chickens, but chickens are easier to raise -- and the smaller quantities of meat may be easier to deal with.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 10, 2000.

Response to turkey?

I'm rapidly becoming a "turkey expert", as I've had 3 little ones for about 3 weeks now. I started with 2 bronzes and 2 bourbon reds and lost one of the bronzes the first night. These are part of an order that a friend made, and they had a long trip to get to me. My friend lost several bronzes, so allow me to jump to a conclusion: the bourbon reds are hardier. They are also smaller, and rest in ridiculous positions with legs stuck out and quivering so you would swear they're dying. Turkeys are definitely more trouble than chickens, but I wouldn't call them stupid. They have a lot more personality. I decided to skip the medicated starter feeds. I feed them mixed coarsely ground grains and seeds (mostly oats, corn, wheat, sunflower, sesame seeds, oat bran), boiled egg (they eat about 3 a day now - chopped shell and all), and fresh greens (chickweed, clover, spring cress, dandelion, etc.). I sprinkle a little coarse sand on their food. I feed them 3 or 4 times a day, as they demand fresh & clean food (unlike chickens). They've been on the ground during the day for about a week in a moveable pen, moved back to their "bedroom" with heat lamp at night. I think the fresh greens are the biggest secret to keeping them healthy. If you've raised chicks successfully, try a few turkeys. Incidentally, for advice on poultry & livestock, I like the old ag books written before there was a chemical solution for every problem (1900-1940). I love COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING (forgot the author).

-- Sam in W.Va. (snorris@dnr.state.wv.us), May 11, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Thanks all for answering a lot of my questions, Brad; Im about two and a half hours north of Anchorage, between Anchorage and Glenellan on a itty-bitty 1.02 acre sub-plot that a Ak native friend of mine sold to me (from his 500 acre plot that was part of the Ak native land settlement). I dont really have any neighbors except a really cranky squatter about a mile away (not on my friends land, or he'd be gone), went over there one day to ask about septic stuff and all he did was scowl at me and say "aint got one, got a pit" and went back to splitting wood.

After reading a bunch about raising livestock, Im about ready to say "heck with it" and just shoot a moose once a year for my meat, not sure what I'd do with 500 lbs of meat at once though.... I guess I could just go down do Carrs and buy my eggs...

-- Dave (AK) (transmach@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Dave, if all you've got is an acre, you probably should forget raising any large stock. Feed is so doggone high-priced up there . . . As for what to do with 500 pounds of meat at once, well, first of all, get a pressure canner and a good canning book and lots of jars. It'll take a while, but you can do most of it that way. You could also make jerky out of part of it. And ask around (maybe your friend) for the recipe for jellied moose nose -- excellent stuff!! Also, you should be able to get a permit to dip salmon from the Copper River, or to share the use of somebody's fish wheel. Ask your friend -- and again, you'll want to can most of your catch, but can smoke some (I love smoked salmon, but once I realized the smoked flavor came from creosote, wasn't so enthused about it!). If you can salmon, you don't have to remove the bones, or even scale the fish, by the way -- it all cooks up in the long canning process. By the way, caribou is generally better meat than moose, and a nice fat bear isn't to be sneezed at. Make sure you cook the meat thoroughly, though, as they will all be carrying various types of parasites -- no wormers for them!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 11, 2000.

Response to turkey?

You could always try raising a few rabbits. You could put a bag on your lawn mower to catch the grass (in what little time you get to cut it), dry it and use as hay to cut feed costs. Maybe your friend has some areas you could cut for some more potential hay. Of course, this is if you like rabbit.

As for the turkeys, I wouldn't count on eggs or breeding (without special circomestances) from the double-breasted breeds. Here is a couple of web sites to maybe give you a few breed potions: http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/rare-heritage-turkey/sources.html & http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html Also, here is a poultry forum: http://www.ameraserve.com/chicken.html

I hope I've given you an alternative you might like, & that you find the answers you seek. Also, hope the web sites help.

Good luck

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (In) (jwlewis@indy.net), May 12, 2000.

Response to turkey?

Kathleen! There is NOTHING better than moose! Oh sure, if you like the little grubs under the skin as candy, the caribou are great! But having tried deer (blacktails), caribou, bear, elk,goat, and sheep, I would put moose #1, and elk #2. (My wife disagrees - she likes elk best!) And Cindy, the yearlings that only dress at 500 lbs or so are the best! But try a few chickens. Pretty cheap experiment, and I'll bet it will work! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 14, 2000.