I have Ducks and Chickens, but my question is, do turkeys eat the same food as the ducks and chickens i breed for meat eat.

I have just acquired 3 turkeys and not really sure.

Thx in advance

Hi I don't really know ? but I would have thought they eat the same :roll:

sarah

Sorry posted my previous reply as a new topic and so not sure where it went, I shall have to apologise probably.

Anyway, having redcently acquired 2 baby pet rabbits, which I have no experience of i looked on the internet for diet, care and toys and found some good information, mostly on rescue and specialist organisations plus Ehow.com is always fairly helpful.

Here is one link on the care of turkeys (didn't know they were so silly they can starve to death if they don't get used to where the food is !!!)

Here is one link you might find helpful and seems there are dedicated turkey foods which have more than chicken feed contains.

Good luck with them ...

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Hi Anglachanka, I looked for your topic, but could not find it anywhere, so is safe to assume it is not here anywhere, so no problems.

Turkeys have a different vitamin and protein need than chickens. Commercially made turkey food is available in Bulgaria, mine do very well on it. They also love to graze but will eat your veggies if you let them roam. Turkeys are best kept away from chickens in my experience as the chickens tend to bully them, and I'm told they're prone to picking up illnesses from chickens.

Good luck with your turkeys they can be very amusing but aren't the brightest of birds lol

You know your Turkeys from the sound of things, tell me is there a difference in the taste ? although I have lived there I never got to taste them, and to be honest I don't like Turkey :oops:

Home reared turkeys do taste different, but that's just my opinion.

Like anything else it also depends on what the animal has been fed on, how it's slaughtered and also how it's cooked.

We find turkeys are best eaten before they get to sexual maturity as they tend to get tough after that and male turkeys especially lose weight due to being more interested in the females than food. They spend hours strutting about to try and impress the female. They also tend to fight a lot if the proportion of males is higher than females.

We kept a pair of last years birds to breed from this year and managed to successfully hatch 2 separate broods so had 18 turkey poults in total. They are somewhat accident prone too, we've had a couple accidentally drown themselves after flying into water buckets, another kicked by a horse and some youngsters eaten by either cats or a dog.

They are quite good at flying and will wander off if not attended. Best to clip their wings. Ours are quite tame and follow me about most of the time. Unlike chickens they don't tend to go home to roost at night so usually need coerced inside their house, otherwise they'll roost in a tree or on a barn roof.

Thanks for the information Suzee I appreciate you taking the time to let us all know about this, it seems from what you say that there isn't much difference between a male Turkey and a Man :hilarious: :hilarious:

we have 13 turkies all fattening up a treat we make up a mash of chicken & turkey food from the animal food store we put chopped cabbage &bread with a small scoop of corn they love it I should have said we mix it with water in the cold weather I mix it with warm water nothings to good for our turkies the only trouble is I cant bear the thought of eating them I know one has to be practcal so will just have to be more realistic hope this has helped junenan

Just reading this and found it quite interesting about how you all feed your birds but I remember in the old days there was never anything given to them except water so what do think the difference is now with a controlled diet

Hi, we fed our turkeys on turkey food to start with then our chickens ducks and turkeys all got fed the same, and once they were adult they all lived in the same place. Our turkeys are now all in the freezer, one male weighed in at 19+ lbs and the other 18 lbs and the females were all about 10 lbs. We have decided not to have any more, cos as Suzee said they are a bit stupid, and I think quite ugly, but they were only ever going to be food for us ......

Can anyone tell me when do you start with Turkeys or should I say when or the chicks available

Turkey poults are usually available late spring time in the local markets. I'd expect that to be the same across Bulgaria. Although I only ever see them at markets for a couple of weeks.

You could also try asking your neighbours if they know anyone who might have some for sale, that's how we got our first lot and they were half the price of any seen at the markets.

Thank you Suzee, I will try and ask in the village first and take it from there but as you have said its a little early so I'll wait