Raising Heritage Turkey Breeds on your Homestead

If you have a homestead, chances are you have probably, at least once, played with the idea of raising turkeys. Raising Heritage Turkey Breeds was always a goal of ours on our homestead.

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In this blog post, I want to give you the pros and cons of raising heritage turkeys, as well as some valuable information you need before jumping into raising turkeys.

With good information and proper planning, you will find raising farm birds so rewarding!

What does “heritage breed” mean?

Heritage breeds retain historical characteristics of their parent breeds and can reproduce on their own much like wild turkeys.

They are notoriously healthy and hearty as well as quite full of personality!

Turkey poults are notoriously more fragile than baby chicks. You have to be more vigilant with your care and observation of your baby poults.

We have had heritage breed turkeys for 3 1/2 years. In that time, we have had a hen raise 2 rounds of poults.

Popular Heritage-Breed Turkeys

Since we started raising heritage breed turkeys, we have had Royal Palm, Black Spanish, and Blue Slates. There are also Bourbon Reds, as well.

Our favorite breed by far is the Black Spanish. They are a good layer, make a large bird, and are an excellent choice if your kids will be interacting with them as they are so docile.

How do heritage birds differ from broad-breasted turkeys?

Broad-breasted whites are raised for meat and grow very quickly while heritage breeds are raised for both meat and eggs and maintain a healthy weight with proper care.

Heritage breeds can be maintained on your Homestead for years with proper care.

They are hearty in winter and handle summers very well making them an all around great addition to your backyard flocks!

We process all of our turkeys that have been raised each year in the Fall. We always keep 1 Tom and 1 to 2 Hens for breeding stock. Letting your turkey hens raise the next clutch makes things so much easier!

There’s nothing quite like a Thanksgiving Dinner served with a fresh bird you raised with care! Those young big toms are so tender and delicious!

If you aspire to, you can start a production of heritage turkeys.

I am going to break this down into 3 parts. Poult care, Diet and Nutrition, and Coop care.

Interested in raising baby chicks? CLICK HERE!

Poult Care

Whether you order your own poults or get some baby turkeys from a friend, you will need to have a basic incubating infrastructure in place prior to bringing the day-old turkeys home.

You will be able to find turkey poults for sale in the early spring, generally.

The first thing you will needs is a brooder box. You don’t have to get fancy or technical about this. We use a big Rubbermaid tote like this: RUBBERMAID TOTE

There is the option to purchase fertilized turkey eggs and incubate them in an incubator as well.

Of course, it becomes so much easier the following year when you have a broody hen to raise them for you! Plus, turkey hens make such good mothers!

Next, you need a heat source. We use heat lamps like this: Heat Lamp but, you can also use a brooder heat like this if you are apprehensive of using the lamps: Brooder Light

Once you have your brooder box and heat source in place, you will need a feeder and waterer. These are the ones we use: Feeder and Waterer

You’re almost finished with your brooder! All you need now is bedding. We use pine shavings. They work great and very inexpensive at your local farm store.

I highly recommend cleaning the brooder at least every other day. Turkey poults are more fragile, and, in my opinion, thrive better in the cleanest of environments.

Diet and Nutrition

Turkey poults require a high protein feed. It’s also a good idea to keep the feed you start with the same until it’s time to change the type of feed they will require as adults.

We prefer an a non-medicated starter grower. We have been using this particular brand for over 2 years and have found it to be of the highest quality: Starter Feed

As poults, you want to give them free choice feed. Which means you keep the feed bowl full at all times. They instinctively know how much feed to eat daily, which is in contrast to meat turkeys that will eat themselves sick:)

We put chick grit in the feed to make sure they are able to digest properly, as well. Chick Grit

A turkey poults water quality is very important, as well. I choose to add molasses and apple cider vinegar to the water for added nutrition.

For one waterer full of water, I add 1 tablespoon of each and shake well. Also, I have found the poults do great with warm water instead of cold. But, that is totally up to you.

Be sure to add fresh water daily!

Coop Care

After about 6-8 weeks of age, your young turkeys will be ready to move to their coop! Having a coop with plenty of room for them to grow and roost is best. We use the same bedding as when the poults were in the brooder.

If you don’t feel comfortable building a chicken coop, there are pre-fabricated coops available at most large farm stores.

I don’t change their feeder/waterer set up until they are around 10 weeks old. Turkey poults are notorious for getting stuck in a water bowl and possibly drowning or catching a chill.

I sprinkle grit on the ground to encourage them to learn to forage for it. I find that is the best way to teach them to forage.

You will need a covered area for them to congregate when it is raining.

We choose to have the turkey pen covered with bird netting to keep the poults in and the hawks out.

Free Range or not?

It’s a personal choice whether you want to free range your turkeys or not. Consider the size of your property and weigh the risks involved.

While turkeys are very capable of avoiding attacks most of the time, it is never completely risk free to have them out on their own.

We prefer to have a large fenced in area around the coop to keep them safe and ensure they don’t bother our neighbors:)

Conclusion

While raising a small flock of turkeys can be a bit different from raising chickens, it is a very rewarding venture and one we have never regretted.

If you raise them for meat, you will quickly find that supermarket turkeys will never taste good anymore:)

And, keep in mind, turkey hens will give you eggs in the spring, as well!

I hope you found this article informative and educational and feel confident that will a little experience you can raise a healthy flock of turkeys on your Homestead!