Can adult turkeys eat layer feed?

[emartin]

When ours get older (as big as the adult hens) can they eat layer pellets?

We feed BlueSeal Layer Pellets.

Blueseal layer pellets have 16% protein.


Right now they and the pullet chicks they are with are eating BlueSeal Chick N' Game Bird Starter/Grower Crumbles which has 22% protein.

More info on the feeds we use here: http://www.blueseal.com/livestock/poultry/


Is the extra protein percentage really that necessary? Should we provide black oil sunflower seeds when they are ready to go outside and are able to eat sunflower seeds? Or should we switch them to the medicated turkey starter feed that has the 28% protein?

Right now they are doing very well and are getting their wing feathers in pretty fast... They are probably about 1.5 weeks old now, as they were shipped from the hatchery (Cackle Hatchery) last Monday and arrived on Wednesday at the feed store where we bought them.


Thanks,
~Ed

 

[Nava]

i feed that to mine.

 

[OmaBird]

I know alot of people do feed the same food the feed there chicken to there turkeys. I do the oposit. my chickens get turkey food. This is from the manual on the ALBC. http://www.albc-usa.org/EducationalResources/turkeys.html#manual

Do not use chicken layer diets for breeding turkeys:
turkeys require higher vitamin and trace mineral
levels and have a different calcium-to-phosphorus ratio
in the diet than do chickens.
Vitamin or mineral supplements are necessary as part
of turkey feed formulas. If there is no turkey feed readily
available at the local feed store, game bird diet
may be substituted provided it has adequate vitamin
levels. Custom mixes allow producers to tailor their
feed to their birds’ needs. Producers can purchase feed
together, sharing the cost to get specific blends for their
birds. The feed formulas given at the end of this chapter