June 17, 2022

The Turkey Poults are Growing Quickly

The turkey poults have outgrown their box in the house, but are still too small to turn loose in the duck turkey yard by themselves. Intermediate quarters were in order, so we decided to move them into the chicken tractor for awhile.

Dan's chicken tractor.





Dan has an extension for the chicken tractor that he can add to give them a little more leg room if they need it. Mostly they need to be large enough to be less of a target for skunks and 'possums, then we can move them into their new yard. 

13 comments:

Rosalea said...

They are beautiful little birds. Love Dan's chicken/turkey tractor.

Ed said...

A thought has crossed my mind since my last turkey question. How challenging is it to get the eggs from a fully grown turkey? This is an interesting experiment.

daisy g said...

Looks like a good fit. Aren't they precious?!

Jenn Jilks said...

What a lovely little home for them, for now!
(ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

Leigh said...

Rosalea, Dan no longer uses the tractor for chickens, but this seemed like a good intermediary housing for the poults. :)

Ed, I think eggs are easiest to obtain from the heritage breeds. Especially fertile eggs. The Jersey Buff is said to be a good egg layer, so (assuming we have at least one hen!) we should get enough eggs to try. They start to lay at a later age than chickens though. I seem to recall reading 7 or 8 months somewhere.

Daisy, babies are always cute, aren't they? :)

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Leigh, the only experience I have is with the wild turkeys here at The Ranch. Based on my (and my father's observations) the poults will grow quickly - in our case, sometimes it is hard to measure as the flocks are prey to coyotes and foxes.

In terms of numbers, we have seen up to 13 younger poults with a single hen. Average size is more like 6 to 8.

Rain said...

They're so cute!! I was wondering what the babes were called! I was joking with Alex that they were called turklets lol...

Leigh said...

Jenn, thanks!

TB, good observations. The Jersey Buffs are supposed to be good at mothering, so hopefully, we'll have some babies next year. They can raise two broods a year, so that could be a lot of turkeys.

Rain, all babies are cute -- and then they grow up! lol. I like "turklets!" What I'm clueless about, is how to call them. With chickens it's "chick! chick! chick!" For the ducks I call "duck! duck! duck!" When we had guinea fowl, it was "guineaguineaguinea." But somehow "turkey, turkey, turkey" is something of a tongue twister!

Retired Knitter said...

Wow, they do grow fast. I wonder what Turkey gets taste like. I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone buying or eating them.

Agent X, not said...

They are adorable. Ours came to "hear turkey-turk", expecially when combined with rattling their feed! :)

Leigh said...

RT, I'm curious too! I don't think I've ever seen them for sale, but, eggs aren't usually why people are interested in turkey. :)

Agent X, thank you! That actually sound mouth manageable. Yes, feed cues always help. :)

Annie in Ocala said...

I love turkeys! Will be following your journey. Hadn't heard of jersey buff so cool to see an learn! The last couple turkeys I had became fox dinner I suspect... They weren't so keen on going in the pen at night and once I started the night job about 6-7 months in they both disappeared.
And "Turk-turk-turk!" Was the turkey call....
My neighbor recently got a couple, at least a tom and hen. And in less that a month hen feathers were scattered around the lane between us.....

Leigh said...

Annie, that's so sad about the foxes getting your turkeys. And your neighbor's! We've only seen one fox since we've been here, and that was years ago. So I'd like to think it isn't a problem for us, but I know better than to be overly confident.

Thanks for the turkey call!