Chickens, and things related

[Tororider]

Fencing the back yard for chickens. Not sure about yours but mine can make it to the top of the outdoor run (covered ) and that is 8' up easily!

Not the whole backyard as a run, but if I fence in my backyard, I could use the whole section behind the garage as a run, just put aviary netting over the top. That would be in place of planting a hedge of arborvitae.

Stopped on the way home from Harbor Freight at the pet store and got two dozen crickets, they didn't have meal worms. First couple I threw in there they ran the other direction. Pretty hilarious. After they figured out I wasn't trying to kill them but feed them, they went crazy trying to catch them all, which was even more hilarious.

 

[Tororider]

Bmac,
I think there is a place in GA called K & L poultry, you may be able to pick up less than 15 rather than have them mailed.

hoovershatchery.com has a minimum of 10.

Not sure about sandhillpreservation.com

Not sure about www.welphatchery.com

Looks like no minimum for Townline Poultry Farm -- Your hometown source for chicks, ducks, geese, and turkeys!

Estes Hatchery

Chicken Hatchery Poultry Hatchery Cackle Hatchery Chick Hatchery Egg Hatchery will let you use turkeys and chicks to get to your 15 if that helps you at all.

Try this for more hatcheries
The Poultry Connection Hatcheries and Suppliers Index

 

[bmac]

Bmac,
I think there is a place in GA called K & L poultry, you may be able to pick up less than 15 rather than have them mailed.

hoovershatchery.com has a minimum of 10.

Not sure about sandhillpreservation.com

Not sure about www.welphatchery.com

Looks like no minimum for Townline Poultry Farm -- Your hometown source for chicks, ducks, geese, and turkeys!

Estes Hatchery

Chicken Hatchery Poultry Hatchery Cackle Hatchery Chick Hatchery Egg Hatchery will let you use turkeys and chicks to get to your 15 if that helps you at all.

Try this for more hatcheries
The Poultry Connection Hatcheries and Suppliers Index

Tororider,

I really appreciate the effort you put into this. Sadly, I've looked up most of these. K&L is apparently out of business - disconnected phone.

Hoovers minimum is 15 for Eastern Wild turkeys which is what I'm looking for.

Welp has a 15 minimum.

Townline, Estes and Cackle - no wild turkeys.

I may have not been clear in an earlier post. But I'm not really interested in raising turkeys for food. Rather, I want to raise and release wild turkeys to populate the woods in my area. This is just something that's come up since my daughter started the 4H chicken project when my 16 year old son asked if he could raise turkeys. I only agreed to raise wild turkeys for release as I didn't want to be responsible for long-term care when he tired of the chores.

Again, thanks for the help. I'll keep looking.

 

[Tororider]

Sorry, totally struck out. How about this, have you thought about hatching some?

6 Eastern Wild Turkey eggs - eBay (item 120240517605 end time Apr-04-08 14:30:35 PDT)

6 EASTERN WILD TURKEY EGGS - eBay (item 230237777690 end time Apr-05-08 08:51:33 PDT)

12 Eastern wild turkey eggs - eBay (item 120240996145 end time Apr-05-08 15:42:31 PDT)

 

[EddieWalker]

bmac,

From what I understand, the secret to repopulating Turkeys is that the more, the better. I saw that 15 is the minimum too, but was thinking about ordering 24, but since I've never done this before, 15 is probably a good number.

I figure that if I can get two sets per year of 20 or more birds, I should have enough out there in three years to have a chance.

Eddie

 

[bmac]

Sorry, totally struck out. How about this, have you thought about hatching some?

6 Eastern Wild Turkey eggs - eBay (item 120240517605 end time Apr-04-08 14:30:35 PDT)

6 EASTERN WILD TURKEY EGGS - eBay (item 230237777690 end time Apr-05-08 08:51:33 PDT)

12 Eastern wild turkey eggs - eBay (item 120240996145 end time Apr-05-08 15:42:31 PDT)

That may be the way to go. I have one breeder (KC Gamebird Farm) I e-mailed tonight who makes no mention about minimum sized orders. If I don't get a reply soon, I'll call him. If that doesn't work out or if I can't find another source, I might just get eggs. That would be fun.

Thanks for the links.

 

[bmac]

bmac,

From what I understand, the secret to repopulating Turkeys is that the more, the better. I saw that 15 is the minimum too, but was thinking about ordering 24, but since I've never done this before, 15 is probably a good number.

I figure that if I can get two sets per year of 20 or more birds, I should have enough out there in three years to have a chance.

Eddie

Eddie, I'm sure you're right. I bet the attrition rate is quite high once they're set free. For me, its a space issue as much as anything. I've committed to the 20 chickens and I'm sure it would be a disaster for the bantams and turkeys to share a pen. And I really don't want to make another large pen for the turkeys. I'm going to try to keep the numbers down on the turkeys. And Tororider's suggestion about hatching eggs might work. I'm sure if I ordered 12 eggs I wouldn't get more than 6 or 7 surviving turkeys. Maybe make a turkey egg omelet with a couple of eggs before incubation to get the numbers down a little.

Have you decided on a hatchery yet?

 

[EddieWalker]

I think Strombergs is about as good as any. I like their catalog, but otherwise, don't have a valid reason for them over anybody else.

Eddie

 

[dooleysm]

If it's anything like around here, once you get a few wild turkeys established, their population will really take off. 20 years ago when I was first getting into hunting it was very rare to see a turkey. Now when I go out I'm more likely to see turkeys than deer. Not that it's hard to spot a deer around here, but there are just turkeys everywhere.

 

[tony123]

bmac, I realize that space is your concern, but I've been amazed at how the chickens act as a unit. I don't know if it would be any harder to take care of 50 than it is the 6 I've got. Just bigger pens and more fertilizer.

For anyone concerned about brooder accomodations, cardboard boxes have served me well for two weeks at least. I don't see any need for a fancier brooder unless its to make you feel better. I'm in the process now of converting my boys baby crib into a brooder. It should be large enough to house the 6 girls until they're ready for freedom.