What can I feed my pet turkey??

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iloveanimals73

iloveanimals73

Hatching
6 Years
Oct 16, 2013
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Just rescued a turkey, very friendly young male. I like to spoil my pets, he will never end up on my dinner table..:)) I love all of my animals for pets!!:)) any advice on what to feed him please??:))
 
Turkeys in my experience are mainly green feeders and if given a chance will eat more fresh green grass and herbs than anything else. But it's possible to keep them alive on a dirt floored run with just pellets if that's your preference.

However, all this depends on what breed he is. The closer to heritage or wild, the more natural a diet he will cope with. The closer to intensive commercial meat production breed he is, the more artificial and concentrated a diet he is bred to cope with and require. If that's the case he will need to be on a diet to survive, as if he's put on grower rations for example he may balloon to the point where his legs give way and he requires a mercy culling.

Since he's a male, and I don't know what breed or strain he is from, you should research that and make sure that if he's going to need a permanent diet then you put him on one. If he's a meat breed you may not be able to keep him alive too long. As a male, whatever breed he is, he is more predisposed to building up fat than a hen. On the same diet as the hens, my normal (mongrel mixes) turkey toms would still build up a massive chest cushion of fat, and they would jiggle when they walked. During breeding season they ate almost nothing and lived off this supply.

Anyway, there's many ways to keep turkeys and different things work for different breeds but it's all pretty basic to learn, so best wishes with that.
 
chooks4life said:
Turkeys in my experience are mainly green feeders and if given a chance will eat more fresh green grass and herbs than anything else. But it's possible to keep them alive on a dirt floored run with just pellets if that's your preference.

However, all this depends on what breed he is. The closer to heritage or wild, the more natural a diet he will cope with. The closer to intensive commercial meat production breed he is, the more artificial and concentrated a diet he is bred to cope with and require. If that's the case he will need to be on a diet to survive, as if he's put on grower rations for example he may balloon to the point where his legs give way and he requires a mercy culling.

Since he's a male, and I don't know what breed or strain he is from, you should research that and make sure that if he's going to need a permanent diet then you put him on one. If he's a meat breed you may not be able to keep him alive too long. As a male, whatever breed he is, he is more predisposed to building up fat than a hen. On the same diet as the hens, my normal (mongrel mixes) turkey toms would still build up a massive chest cushion of fat, and they would jiggle when they walked. During breeding season they ate almost nothing and lived off this supply.

Anyway, there's many ways to keep turkeys and different things work for different breeds but it's all pretty basic to learn, so best wishes with that.
Click to expand...
Chook dont mean to highjack post but there's not much info on diet for raising turkeys as pets. I have 5 toms,1 white holland 1 blk spanish 2 bronze 1 slate, and 4 hens 2 wild easterns 1 blk spanish 1 slate/burboun cross. They,re in two runs I let them out when weather and work allows. I'm keeping they're feeders full of 18%protien grower and give game bird booster scratch feed thats 8-12% protien I think. I've gotta attached to them and want to take the best care I can.
Thanks in advance for any help.
 
My white bird was suppose to be a royal palm but wound up being solid white with blue eyes, hatchery said he was a new holland. He's quite a bit larger than rest, he's my favorite and jus wanna keep him healthly.
 
mrclif said:
kuntrygirl said:
I feed my Bourbon Reds a 26% Gamebird Feed.
Click to expand...

Do you just let them eat as much as they like or give them portions?
Click to expand...


I let my turkeys and all of my animals eat as much as they want. They are on a 24/7 feeding routine. Although there is nothing wrong with portions I don't do it at my place. They also get all of the fruits and vegetables that they can eat. The local fruit and veggie guy brings over the leftover fruit and veggies from his fruit truck at the end of his working day and he throws it over the fence or sets is by the gate. They also free range every day. One of my feeders holds 400lbs of feed and that is filled when they eat everything. I also have about 7 other feeders that are placed strategically around the chicken yard because I have so many animals.

Here are some pics of the turkeys eating and free ranging.
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Thanks, I hope one day I can let them stay out all the time, I'm afraid something would get em. Came home yesterday and three of my toms were out (door got blown open) they did fine.
Sorta concerned bout the single digit temps they calln for next week hope theyll be ok, they wanna sleep in outside portion of their runs for some reason.
 
Wow, I love the pics of your flock kuntrygirl!!:)
They are all beautiful, & I think it's great they all seem to get along...you have gave me some great ideas on what to feed my pet turkey..
 
Quote: Kuntrygirl gave a good reply. Mine always loved watermelon. Many people feed them chicken food, or turkey grower, or gamebird feeds, so really just find what you feel is best for them. Something suited to their needs is best, rather than feeding them chicken grower feed or something specific like that. The only reason you'd need to restrict their portions is if yours look noticeably more "meat-birdy" than Kuntrygirls'. Hers are a good example of turkeys that don't need restricted portions; intensive commercial meat breeds are noticeably chunkier.

Judging by the sounds of the turkeys you listed you don't need to worry about their proclivity towards obesity. But letting them stay out of their coop all the time isn't a good idea, they should sleep in there for safety, but maybe I've misunderstood you and you only meant during the daytime. Mine would always perch low on fences at night unless I trained them to sleep in a coop, and many other people have said theirs do the same.

Best wishes.
 

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