Does your farm feed your whole family year round? Thanks for the video. I am not a homesteader but I do try to buy all my eggs and chickens from local farmers. And I love a good pasture raised turkey!
I have been raised on a Turkey ranch all my life and I'm sorry your wrong. On the turkey ranch we have five Bruder houses that we prepare before we get our new truck loads of baby turkey's. To prepare our brooder houses first we walk through the buildings to make sure that the corners and along the sides of the buildings have been scraped off all wood shavings & stuff we use our tractor with a ground scraper to remove all the wood shavings and reminisces of the turkeys that were there before after we use push brooms to make sure that there's nothing left and improve your houses and take down the spider webs and so on we like to have our beautiful houses thoroughly clean next we make sure that all the warming brooders we have eight brothers in each building we make sure that the propane lines to them are in good condition no leaks and it's a burners are all working and the adjustability of them are safe next to prepare the building for a new shipment of turkeys we put down wood chips throughout the whole building until they come up to the border of the building then we put chicken wire it has been made into wide circles so the birds are all I'm not gathered up there are 12 chicken wire circles to separate birds and in them we have our watering dish you make sure all of them or filled up you got your feeders you make sure every one of them have been cleaned and filled with your turkey feed you make sure that your buildings are set at a nice one cozy temperature you don't want it too hot we keep ours at 75°. So when the birds come in and unloading them off the semi it's no problem. You never put baby turkeys in anything that is not been prepared and clean
I used to raise turkeys, both the large breasted ones (purchased) and Bourbon Reds (mostly hatched). Turkeys have a different personality than chickens do and I found them relaxing.
If there are many species of turkeys... how do you know which ones are best at foraging and surviving? Many people with times how they are now would favor a breed that is hardy and able to forage for itself. Also there isn't good knowledge about turkeys because so many people go after wanting to do chickens. This leaves immense knowledge gaps for things like turkeys and geese that don't have very many people putting out how to raise them. In theory you could do many videos on turkeys alone.
@@noahriding5780 Personally, I believe the traditional or heritage breeds would be much, much better to pasture, field raise or raise in general. The large breasted ones are like the Cornish Cross chicken, bred only to make a lot of bird in as short a period of time.
Thanks. We raise chickens and ducks for eggs and rescue roosters. We won’t kill our turkeys, I like them for alarms...no one gets out of a car with pissed off turkeys waiting for them. People are more scared of them then dogs. They make wonderful loving pets, mine would demand lap cuddles, like dogs they don’t understand how big they are. They were raised by a silky mom...it got pretty silly looking. When temps got up to 112 in our area the turkeys were the only ones smart enough to beg for a cool hose shower, then go in circles and fluff their feathers to get a good soaking. Love the deep bedding. I can’t figure out why turkey breast is so sought after, it’s the least tasty part of the bird. A small farm turkey is less likely to be packed with hormones and not bred to develop the deformed looking body of a bird created to have a hideous large chest. Lots of yummy dark meat. My grandmother survived selling turkey eggs during the depression. They are good to eat. I’m now hungry for scrambled duck eggs and fried potatoes.
Neat! I've been thinking about raising some turkeys since I prefer their meat to chicken. I've heard that they are, indeed, much different than chickens and quite fragile when they are young poults -- So this video was very timely and helpful for me. I hope all ten of your little guys survive and thrive!
We raised 100’s of thousands of turkeys on my parents farm for market birds. I miss the sound of the birds. It was fun watching them grow from babies to adult birds. They aren’t very smart several times we had to go out in a rain storm and literally push them inside the brooder house. When they get scared they pile up on each other and if we weren’t there to help them then they would suffocate. They don’t like loud noises like thunder or even a gun they start running and they end up piling on a fence or the barn. 😢 My favorite thing to do was pick tomato bugs and then throw them one at a time in their pen. Those turkeys would chase each other around trying to steal the bug 🐛 from each other. 😂 I miss those days.
I give my turkeys 20% protein feed, and they also love the rooster mix which has all kinds of seeds in it, they especially love sunflower seeds and corn, and I also give them All Flock. Thanks for the video.
Fantastic explanation on your keen integration of your turkeys. Very well explained and very honest in your presentation. My concern is like you with chickens and turkeys, but your video helped me. Skol from an American Hansen! Love your videos. They help all farmers like us. Thank you!
We recently found some people close by who sell free range chicken eggs. You can see their chickens just roaming around the property. They are honestly the BEST eggs I have ever tasted!!The yolks are bright orange and they are full of flavor. Other eggs now taste flavorless to me after those.
Very interesting to learn about the differences between raising Turkeys and Chickens. I prefer Turkey meat over Chicken and we always have it at Christmas, we always get a farm raised bird but we can only really get them at Christmas which I don't mind as it's nice to look forward to.
@@golden.333 - you only clip one wing, and then they can't control their flight. If you clip both wings they can still fly - it's harder for them, but they can still do it.
I have turkeys I have a hen that's been laying a egg a day free range . Is that normal I bring them in right before it gets dark with food otherwise they sit and just act dumb like you said cool video again
We have about 30 chickens (free range) that fly into a tree at night.. A mate gave me two turkey`s about a month old..They escaped from the enclosure and ever since are up in the tree with the chooks at dusk every night. I also notice that when it rains the water kind of runs off of them like it does with ducks.. Live and learn!
Although its bit older, but we are great full ,and sir I did have question or two, I can see that you just introduced the to their feed without giving them water and glucose, may you have reason for that.
Anyone have tried and tested advice for preventing turkey piling when they are a little older, say, maybe 3 weeks old and fairly feathered? Basically, right before they are ready to go outside. For whatever reason, this is my biggest challenge with turkeys, otherwise I love'em and am quite successful with raising them. Last year I lost about 50% of my flock. I'd come check them in the morning and there would always be one squished. It was not a heat issue, by the way. I was able to crank it up to make sure they weren't huddling to keep warm. They just seem to love to sleep in a pile and the weakling always gets buried under. I also rounded the corners of the brooder. Didn't help much. So any other advice before this season begins??? Thanks!
Dry, warm bedding...clean water with a bit of sugar and apple cider vinegar in it. Teach them to drink and where the food is. Let them get a bit hungry and then introduce chopped greens.
Getting 5 turkeys next week to add to my flock of chickens. Well not in the same run but still lol. You said chickens die randomly but ive been blessed. Got 2 batches this year for my first time 38 for the first order and then 26 for the second. I had to cull one so far because of health problems. Butchered 31. Another 11 next week.
Fat turkeys = sunflower seeds, flax seeds, hazelnuts/acorns, berries and lots of bugs. We farm crickets and meal worms but this is their preferred diet in their native range..and staghorn sumac Cheers from Canada
Sorry Flair but those Turkeys are all hens. My dad was a turkey farmer for 35 years and I’ve had to go into the pens and cull the hens from the toms before market. I’m talking about looking through 100k or more birds to pick out the hens and put them in their pen then do the same with the toms. A Tom has a larger head and about a 4 times bigger waddle. The toms head turns bright red and blue when he struts and he will open up all his wings. They do this if you confront them or when mating. See link below. www.google.com/
As long as you keep them dry when their little your good but the biggest problem is a fox and coyote. It works to set traps. Keep the turkeys in a good big pen that is coyote proof or have them out, their smart
You said that when they get older they don't die anymore yeah right They just kill each other I had two Tom's gang breed a couple of my hens. Now I have one tom per five hens only and in pens of five only
Interesting and well timed. We just had a discussion about expanding from chickens to get some ducks and turkeys. I´ve not raised turkeys before so it was interesting to hear the differences. Also, we are experimenting with French Bresse chickens. It seems to me that they have a very differnt personality then the Brown Lohman and Austrolops that we are used to. Frankly much dumber and more skidish. I wonder if this is something that is a breed chacatcristic or if we just got a group with bad genetics. They otherwise seem quite healthy and happy and have just started laying. Keep up the good work! Maybe if it is ok with you we´ll take a little road trip and visit your homested in the future.
Good afternoon Am raising some turkeys they started laying eggs but I only see them mating once but it is continuous laying eggs up to 15 eggs is it ok?
Simeon, maybe you could use plastic panels for the roof of the tractor for the turkeys. Or take a look at the tractors Lumnah Acres is using. They're more like a hoop greenhouse and can also be used as greenhouses. They're also very light. I know you'd appreciate that.
Great upload Simeon, I was raised on a UK farm that as a sideline produced 1000 turkeys as an addidional income for xmas. As a kid I hated turkeys as they were aggressive but loved to eat them lol. Still one of my favorite meats. Turkey slaughter time starting 2 weeks before xmas was a great time. As a farm laboring family we had the pick of the 2 heaviest. The 33 pound turkey lasted us a week after xmas, yummy :)
Around 1:25, " They just try to find a new way to die, pretty much." I think that just about sums up young turkey poults. Makes you wonder how they survive in the wild. Great video. Thank you so much for posting it. I enjoyed listening to you tell the process and give advice on what to look for.
Turkey is my favorite poultry. Neat to know that you celebrate Thanksgiving. If everyone in the US celebrated, and were truly thankful for our country, it would be a better place to live than it is now. And it doesn't hurt to spread the celebration to other countries. Everyone should be able to be thankful for where they live.
Touches bedding.. then touches hair “fungi can live in here..” clean that shit man. It looks festering no wonder your turkeys die. 🤢 or, “find new ways to die” as you put it.. probably trying to off themselves to get out of that dirty ass pen!
Thunder Ridge Homestead It seems they are a bit difficult to raise. How do you prevent them from dying. I raised mine but at two months, they started dying in large numbers until I remained with just a few.
This is my first turkey video. I got three chicks today. Now I know i have to keep an eye on them. Chickens are easy; turkeys not so much. Thx for you vid efforts!
So many people have chickens and that's why I picked to raise bourbon red turkeys. They are totally different when it comes to weather but you can tell they are much more intelligent. Great video!
Anthony I have a bronze turkey and he suddenly has gotten so big that his breast is completely bare and has no feathers but it never used to stick out before but now it's really easy to see that there are no feathers in that area is that normal when they get really big
Forgot to tell you that you're doing an awesome job both farming/trying out ideas at the homestead and documenting/teaching people at the same time. I know that it takes quite a bit of extra time. It is very appreciated. Thank you so much.
From Africa - Uganda indeed it was helpful once tried turkey's but failed cos of constant death of Little ones but want to get back to them again thanks 💯💯💯💯🇺🇬
I would prefer baby age cuz I’d love to experience the baby stages! But I understand the death problem! 😢 it seems to me that this is harder than taking care of a young child!
Let me tell you what I found because I lost a bunch apparently they got to have at least 22% protein that's a good point to shoot for once I found that out I was grinding Blackoul sunflower seeds with scratch scatch in a blender get to a Mash I added alfalfa meal. Now I bought some 30% wild bird starter and it's working real good I think for the first week when you got babies probably really keep them on that high protein stuff and I noticed you better keep about 95 degrees farenhieght I usually check them a few times I usually try to change their water couple times a day if they get it dirty the big problem I found is if they get themselves wet there instantly cold if you got them in a small cage or container I found a heating pad might work better than a hot light because they can lay on it. I also found if you get a baby wet dry it off with a paper towel hold it by the heater for a while get warm set it on a heating pad makes sure they got fresh water if they are usually alright if you just let them go are almost certain to die. I can't believe how much a turkey is different from a chicken I raised white Royal Palms Heritage turkeys and now I'm doing they call it a gold Artisan but it's a black Heritage turkey is what it is they just call with that to make more money on it. Heritage turkeys are better than the only gets about 20 lb supposed to taste better breed itself on it's own you can use little banty chickens to sit on their eggs. I don't raise my birds to butcher I might butcher something when it's old or about to die all my animals are moreless like my pets I raised up for eggs or to sell fertile eggs or sell live Birds for breeding. This year because of CovidI think the price of turkey is going through the roof I see gobblers going for $100. I have fresh spring water at my farm and I also grow live Watercress and comfrey plants that my animals eat and I grow sunflower seeds.. They all range free and are protected at night so they get whatever they want they are clean or pens are clean so I don't get diseases. That's what is wrong with corporate Farms itsbecause they can't take care of their stuff or don't care. I farm because it's my passion and I enjoy it. Im more less retired so farming gardening is my hobby. I'm only interested in raising the best Quality Foods I get good eggs off my chickens even at 5 years old because they eat higher protein all the time with a black oil sunflower seeds everybody else like the Amish they replace their chickens every year to get good thicker eggs I don't seem to have to do that but Watercress is loaded with vitamins. I don't buy much feed a lot of times I just buy the wild birds seeds mix.. I tried to buy a little bit of fish meal for plants and animals because it's loaded with amino acids oh, and I can't feel the protein difference in my eggs I don't have a stomach from cancer so I have to have protein. That's why I try to raise the best quality food that I can whether it be animals or I grow it everything is okay and I don't use any chemicals at all if you learn some microbiology you learn how to combat bugs bicroy eat your plants right Etc . Compost cheese with comfrey Office contact as a natural bug repellent to because they changed the flavor of the stem or so the bugs don't recognize it stay off of it plus to add fertilizer naturally. They say the quality of our food in USA is 40 to 50% less than what it was in the 1950s and I believe most of the stuff you buy in the store is garbage compared to the Natural sweet stuff I grow but I went to Advanced going courses with microbiology I raised Michael r i z i use things like God asthma test allows plants to take up the sugars in the ground etcetera some of my strawberries are so sweet they taste like you already rolled them in powdered sugar.. what you want to be successful as a one-man or small farmer duties to do your research I used to have a book that was a fruit tree farming book from the 18 hundreds I used to call the Bible of farming it told you all kind of things how to cure diseases in plants did I had never heard of it was pretty funny because her grapes it says enter the Great Salt and burn them and then fall of fuel under and you may plow the field with a team of 5 oxin and a 3 bottom plow and I was like what the hell when was this book published it was like 1825 I thought that was pretty funny but I tell you what that told you everything how to layout a farm how to layout Orchard how to grow fruits berries everything unfortunately got burned up in a fire still looking for another one I call it the farmers Bible . It was called the fruit tree Farm book or something or other. . This year I have some French lebresse chicken white ones black ones with blue ones. In France they can go for $250 for the meat they are different. I want to sell the fertile eggs.
I have been bringing my turkeys into a shelter every night since I let them out of the brooder. They just stay in the cold. I think what you said about not liking the dark is true.
In the Caribbean we raise our turkeys and chickens together(as he mentioned)so the chickens teach the turkeys how to survive and eat and the mortality rate is much lower.
Hi sir.. I have questions I have 3 Turkey 1 make 2 female when they had chiks many of them are die couse of chicken fox what is the remedy for that? Thanks in advance..
hello guys I am from Nepal I need some information about turkey because I start turkey farming in the Nepal hilly area so best temperature for turkey farm please give any ideas
Hello . I've been raising turkeys for a year . I think there's something wrong with them . They walk , then sit suddenly . They can't stand . Have you ever had these problems ? If so , how to treat this disease ? I'm looking forward to your answer . Thank you !
You said turkeys eat a lot of grass... can you raise turkeys entirely of forage and grass? Or is it like chickens and ducks where you must have feed for them or they don't thrive? Geese can grow of ... grass and forage only, and its hard for people to know where in the spectrum turkeys are,... like are their feed requirements closer to chickens or closer to geese, or somewhere in between and at what degree. I'd heard rumors that turkeys are easy to die. But the people that said that didn't raise turkeys and were only repeating what others said. So their logic may be flawed.
Turkeys need more animal protein and thus more insects and/or more expensive feed than chickens. industrial hybrid turkeys are very sensitive until week 4 and die easy. I have found them to do best when they have access to a lot of insects.
