For years now, we’ve been wanting to raise turkeys at the homestead. We didn’t have the infrastructure, so we kept putting it off. After a fantastic work weekend with a friend from Tennessee though, we had ourselves a hoop coop, and we were ready!
I ordered 25 white turkey poults from Hoover’s Hatchery, and they arrived at my post office two days after they shipped. I’ve never had birds shipped from a hatchery before, so this was a new experience for me. And given my troubles with my post office, I was expecting challenges. Surprisingly enough though, everything went smoothly and we brought home a cardboard box filled with 25 noisy, hungry babies.
We have no experience with turkey poults, so this whole thing is a little anxiety provoking for me. I’ve heard all these tales about how turkeys are suicidal and they find the dumbest ways to kill themselves, so I’m prepared for losses. So far, so good though.
Because of a suggestion I got from Facebook, I had planned to brood the turkeys alongside some meat chickens. For now though, the poults are in a brooder with guinea keets that are probably a week old at this point. At the moment, that arrangement seems to be working out OK.
I know we have so much to learn, and I think we’re all looking forward to the experience. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more turkey tales to come!