Turkey Behavior or How I'm Loosing Faith in Books

Turkeys are seasonal layers. That means they lay in the Spring/Summer. I know this because the books and goodness knows how many websites tells me so. So how does the books explain this picture? In short, they don't. The four top eggs in the basket are turkey eggs. The other three are various chicken eggs. I put them in so the difference in turkey eggs is more obvious. Turkey eggs are off-white and speckled. They're also much pointier on one end.

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I really don't know why my turkeys are laying now. I phoned a turkey lady I know and she is clueless as well. But she did say she was impressed that I was getting eggs from my turkeys. I don't know if I'm all that impressed, I think I'm more worried. Is it good for turkeys to lay off-season? Does it hurt them? Does it make them weaker? Will they lay in season? The turkey lady hazard a guess that they may be laying because I have lights in the coop. But other than that, she had no other information.

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Poking around the Internet did get me some interesting heritage turkey facts. Did you know heritage turkeys lack the broad-breast gene that all commercial turkeys have? And that has something to do with why heritage turkeys can breed naturally while commercial turkeys can't. I'm not quite sure, though, how those two things get connected.

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I am going to keep looking and see what I can find out. For the time being, I'm hoping the turkeys are ok and are not hurting themselves laying. May-be they're just confused...like me.

New Turkey

As it turns out, my two turkeys are both females. I really wanted a trio because I'm hoping to raise turkeys for the freezer next spring. So I contacted the lady who gave me the turkey eggs. I knew she raised them to sell at Christmas time. I asked her if she would sell me a tom just not butchered, I needed it live. She was happy to oblige me and so now I have my trio of Beltsville Small White Turkeys. I had no idea what to call them. P, teenage son, came up with Snap, Crackle and Pop. That works well.

Introductions were a little difficult. I had the tom separated for a week or so. He could see everybody and everybody could see him. I was hoping that they'd get familiar and comfortable with each other so there wouldn't be any problems. False hope on my part. I put him in the main coop. The chickens couldn't have cared less. The smaller turkey was fine with him. The larger hen was not. She went over and started yanking on his wattle with her beak. So I separated him back to his quarantine area. Then I decided to put the hens with him so there wouldn't be the territorial thing going on. That worked much better. She grabbed him by the wattle, he grabbed hers then they both quit it. In five minutes everybody were buddies. After a few days, I put the three turkeys back in the main coop with no problems at all.

I think the world would be a better place if its leaders had to pull each others' wattles for five minutes and then decide whether the argument was really worth the effort.

Pop showing off!

Two Months Old and Going Strong!

My little turkeys are almost two months old now. They're finally catching up to the chickens in size. At first, the turkeys chicks were much smaller than the chicken chicks. As they developed, they showed a different body type, longer and narrower (and that famous turkey neck thing going on). Now they are about the same size as the chooks and I'm thinking the two will start outgrowing their coop-mates shortly.

Not surprisingly, I have no idea if they are toms or hens. They both look identical so I'm thinking they might be the same sex. The lady I got the eggs from told me to look for differences in the head, neck and tails. Male turkey heads are a little pinker than females. Right now both my turkeys have beige - light brown heads. Male turkey necks will have a little more hanging skin. I'm not noticing that yet. But they are small and it's hard to see under their necks. If I'm holding them, they are more interested in cuddling or talking up a storm than obligingly stretching out their necks in an upside down position so I'm not even trying. The biggest 'tell' apparently is the males will start fanning their tails while females never do this. No fanning yet that I've seen. So I'm thinking, may-be, perhaps, there is a chance, that these two are hens. Which would be the best case scenario because I might be able to get a tom this fall from the seller. So I would have my trio for over-winter.

They're both still are sweet and personable. If they are not grooming themselves, they are grooming the chickens, especially the Delawares. They get along with the other birds. In fact, one little turkey managed to get out of the chick area and spend the night with the adult chickens. I found him there in the morning, fitting in like a dirty shirt. I was thinking of just putting the two in the main coop since they'd get along with everybody but I really want the turkeys to be on grower crumbles for the next three months or so. They still run over to me, usually blabbing away in that unique semi-musical chirp they have. You can always tell when there's a turkey around, their voice is one-of-a-kind.


Ever curious, a turkey will stop whatever he's doing to see what I am doing (that or he's just mugging for the camera). The Delaware chicken, on the other hand, couldn't care less and continues to eat.

Well, no tail fanning, no hanging neck skin and no pinker head, indicating a hen. But what do I know? (not much according to the chickens).

And Then There Were Just Two...

It started out all so promising. I had managed to get six Beltsville Small White Turkey eggs. I had wanted at least a dozen but the woman I got them from had turkey hens not quite co-operating with her and she only managed to collect five over ten days. Then she called the next day and said she found another egg after we left. So we went back and got the last egg and popped them all into the incubator. We were surprised to see that these eggs were not much bigger than our chicken eggs. They were a lot pointier, though and were a creamy off-white colour with speckles.

After two weeks in the incubator, I decided to candle them. Candling is simply shining a bright light in a dark room at the egg to see what is happening inside. The light can't be too big, usually just an inch or two. A high powered flashlight works well. I used a spotlight with a box over it. I cut a small hole in the box for the light. Out of the six eggs, five certainly looked like there was something in there. I could see veins floating and a really big black spot which I hoped was the turkey itself.

Turkeys take a lot longer to hatch than chickens in two ways. Chickens generally hatch in 21 days, turkeys take 28. A chicken will pip a hole in the egg. After that, cracks start appearing and when the cracks get wide, I know a chicken will be breaking out shortly. Turkeys, not so much. They pip a hole and crack the egg and then wait all day before doing anything more. Drove me crazy. I worried they had died or were too weak to get out. But since I didn't have any experience with turkey hatches, I decided to wait and see. Five of the eggs hatched, they took their sweet time, but they hatched. Seems like I'm getting the hang of this candling thing. One had an issue with his bottom, it was bloody. I left him in the incubator for a longer period of time, hoping the issue would resolve itself. When it looked like there was no new blood, I took him out and carefully washed his bottom with warm water. He was as right as rain. The last turkey hatched was over a day late and it was clear he wasn't very well. He couldn't walk even after a few hours. Turkey poults lurch and wobble a lot at first. They take one step then stumble for two or three steps and fall on their little chins. After a couple of hours, they gain their feet and manage to walk a lot better. This guy just couldn't get his feet under him, saying he had a drunken gait is being very kind. So I separated him until he got a little strength. I hand fed and watered him. Unfortunately, he died two days later.

So I had four strong, happy little poults (turkey talk for babies). I kept them by themselves for a few days and then put them with the baby chicks and all was well...for a while. As recommended by the woman, I fed everybody turkey starter. Four days later I found one of the turkey poults dead. He hadn't seemed sick. Two days later, I noticed another poult not doing well. He didn't seem ill, he just wasn't holding his own very well. So I gave him his own little brooder. He was quiet the first day and mostly slept. P, teenage son, started calling him Yoda. The next day he was perkier. He ate, drank and sang. I was very encouraged! And then that night he died.

I asked and googled and referred to my books and I couldn't find out what on earth I was doing wrong. One thing that repeatedly showed up in my search was the comment that while turkey eggs are fairly easy to hatch, raising young turkeys is difficult and high losses are not unusual.

Since then, I have had no more deaths. The two surviving ones are doing famously. They are growing, they are bright and alert. I like turkeys. These two guys are so friendly. When chicks are young, they tend to run away from me screaming in terror. You know those old cartoons where when some character is frightened out of their mind, all you see is a mouth with the tonsils vibrating as they scream? That's what I'm reminded of with chicks. Their little stubby wings flap uselessly, they trip over their own feet in an effort to get away and then they all huddle in a corner, quaking. Not turkey poults. They see me coming and look at me curiously. I talk and whistle and they answer in bright little chirps. When I put my hand in the brooder, they mosey over to say hi while the chicks huddle in the corners. Poults love being picked up and will even settle down for a nap in my open palm. Really nice little birds from the start, not like chicks who take a few weeks to figure out I'm not Freddie Kruger. Poults are also different looking. They have day-glo orange, over-sized feet and their eyes are buggy at first. As they grow, they tend to be leggy and they have a little bump right above their beaks. But they are sweet.

These two hatched on June 11 and are two weeks old now. I have no idea if they are hens or toms (turkey talk for male). Best case scenario is that I have a pair. But I'm not going to worry about that right now, I'm just going to enjoy these two charming creatures and hope they continue to do well.

Beltsville Small White Turkeys

I think this whole raising my own small livestock is getting addicting. Started with rabbits and then with chickens. I pretty much thought that would be that. Granted, I kept keeping more and more of them so the original number of both have doubled at least. (Isn't that a sign of addiction, needing more and more?) Then came the Guineas. Then the worms. And now it looks like turkeys are on the horizon. Turkeys, how on earth did ever get to the point where I'd be considering turkeys? I think I need a 12 step program here.

Not just any old turkeys, of course, that wouldn't do. (Oh, lookit, I'm a snobby addict.) These little turkeys are heritage Beltsville Turkeys. I saw a local ad for the fertilized eggs. The name intrigued me, I'd never heard of them, so I googled them. Beltsville Turkeys are smaller than normal turkeys and they are reputed to be the perfect homestead bird, as far as turkeys go, anyhow. One of the advantages of the Beltsville is that they can breed naturally. I was absolutely amazed to learn that now a days, most turkeys need to be artificially inseminated. I don't know, that just seems wrong. Turkeys that can breed all on their own are the only kind that would work around here, thank you very much.

Then I did some research on the general care of turkeys and what it entailed. I think raising turkeys would fit right in here. I found out that turkeys are seasonal layers, I never knew that. I guess the geniuses-that-be haven't yet figured out how to breed/genetically modify that out of the poor things yet.

Yesterday I contacted the lady with the eggs and it looks like in mid-March or so, I'm going to be getting some Beltsville Turkey eggs to incubate. I'm hoping to get a dozen but it all depends on how many she can collect in a given time. Originally, I thought I'd raise these Beltsville turkeys mostly for our table but now I'm thinking may-be keeping a trio over winter. That way I could have the two females hatch their own eggs the next spring. So I can feed both the family and my own livestock addiction at the same time!