Narragansett turkeys. 1st timer questions.

[natyvidal]

Hi everyone. I am planning to acquire Narragansett poults to raise them and eat by Thanksgiving. But I also would like to acquire two unrelated ones to make a pair to raise some babies next year for us and for friends. I have several questions.
1. Will a pair be happy? Or at least 1 boy/2girls?
2. If they are with the heritage hens I have will they get along well?
3. Can poults be sexed from babies?

I was planning to get 5-6 and as I said before just keep a pair for future babies and process the rest of them.

I also plan to raise them with my hens, pair of African gueese and four guinea hens. Hopefully one happy family!

All information and advise is welcomed.

Thank you.
Natalia.

 

[007Sean]

@R2elk can help you with your questions.

 

[R2elk]

Hi everyone. I am planning to acquire Narragansett poults to raise them and eat by Thanksgiving. But I also would like to acquire two unrelated ones to make a pair to raise some babies next year for us and for friends. I have several questions.
1. Will a pair be happy? Or at least 1 boy/2girls?
2. If they are with the heritage hens I have will they get along well?
3. Can poults be sexed from babies?

I was planning to get 5-6 and as I said before just keep a pair for future babies and process the rest of them.

I also plan to raise them with my hens, pair of African geese and four guinea hens. Hopefully one happy family!

All information and advise is welcomed.

Thank you.
Natalia.

If you have four guinea fowl in with everything else, there is not going to be one big happy family once breeding season starts and the guineas begin their craziness.

1. Having a breeding pair of turkeys can be harmful to the health of the hen once breeding season starts. I try to keep at least four to five turkey hens with one tom. A single tom can easily handle at least 10 hens.

2. I assume that you mean heritage chickens. If they have sufficient "personal" space and Blackhead is not an issue, turkeys can be kept with chickens. There will be pecking order squabbles. My turkey hens tend to have it in for roosters.

3. There are some sex linked crosses that can be sexed as poults but pure Narragansetts cannot be sexed as poults. I did read somewhere that Narragansetts can be feather sexed as poults but never saw anything about the method used or how accurate it was.

 

[natyvidal]

If you have four guinea fowl in with everything else, there is not going to be one big happy family once breeding season starts and the guineas begin their craziness.

I am planing to let the guinea fowls to be free range and roost in the trees. Hopefully they will not be part of the happy family.

 

[natyvidal]

1. Having a breeding pair of turkeys can be harmful to the health of the hen once breeding season starts. I try to keep at least four to five turkey hens with one tom. A single tom can easily handle at least 10 hens. A: So my best bet is to acquire how Many poults? Seven? Hope for 1 male and 4 hens at least and process or sell the rest for thanksgiving? Keeping one for thanksgiving for me of course.

2. I assume that you mean heritage chickens. If they have sufficient "personal" space and Blackhead is not an issue, turkeys can be kept with chickens. There will be pecking order squabbles. My turkey hens tend to have it in for roosters. A: yes I meant heritage chickens. All nice layers and meat breeds. And eventually I am planning for them to freerange almost 4 acres.

3. There are some sex linked crosses that can be sexed as poults but pure Narragansetts cannot be sexed as poults. I did read somewhere that Narragansetts can be feather sexed as poults but never saw anything about the method used or how accurate it was.
A: so basically. It’s a matter of luck regarding getting the 1 Tom and 4 hens.

 

[natyvidal]

I really do not want that many turkeys. They might interfere with the rest of my happy family.

Question: if I acquire the poults now, let them grow till November/December. They don’t start acting up until next year? Right? They are still juveniles? Do they reach maturity and breed Around March? And then just buy a few babies next year again for the next holiday season.

 

[R2elk]

I really do not want that many turkeys. They might interfere with the rest of my happy family.

Question: if I acquire the poults now, let them grow till November/December. They don’t start acting up until next year? Right? They are still juveniles? Do they reach maturity and breed Around March? And then just buy a few babies next year again for the next holiday season.

Turkeys reach sexual maturity at 6 months old. They do not typically begin mating and laying eggs until the next spring but they do go through their "teenage" problems much earlier. Once they are bigger than the chickens or even equal size they may start challenging them for their place in the pecking order.

Here breeding starts in February followed by egg laying in March.

For most people, if they can avoid the attachment issues it is best to stick with broad breasted turkeys. Just get enough to process every year. Broad breasted turkeys are usually readily available from local feed stores. They normally are more docile than heritage turkeys and depending on the desired finished weight, can be processed at 4 to 6 months old.

 

[R2elk]

1. So my best bet is to acquire how many poults? Seven? Hope for 1 male and 4 hens at least and process or sell the rest for thanksgiving? Keeping one for thanksgiving for me of course.

2. Yes I meant heritage chickens. All nice layers and meat breeds. And eventually I am planning for them to free range almost 4 acres.

3. So basically. It’s a matter of luck regarding getting the 1 Tom and 4 hens.

1. You can keep just a pair or trio but it requires more work to make sure the hens don't get hurt or over bred by the tom. Once the hen is sitting on a nest, the tom needs to not have access to the nest. You can pen him separately or build an enclosure around the nest with an opening big enough that the hen can get through but small enough to prevent the tom from getting through.

3. If you purchased 5 poults, it would be pure luck to end up with one tom and four hens. I usually ended up with two or three toms whenever purchasing just 5 poults but it is possible (bad luck) to end up with all 5 the same sex.