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How to Raise Turkeys

Turkeys can be a fun, profitable addition to a small farm or homestead. They are usually raised for meat, although some people like to keep a tom (a mature male turkey) around as a pet. Before you decide to add turkeys to your farm, here are the basics on raising them the right way.

Choosing a Breed
Broad-breasted Whites are the "modern" eating turkey, similar to the ones you find in the supermarket (but even this breed, raised on pasture on a small farm, will taste far more flavorful than the supermarket variety). Standard Bronze and White Holland varieties are also popular breeds for meat production. Broad-Breasted Bronzes and Whites are not actual breeds, just a non-standardized commercial strain used for meat, while White Hollands and Standard Bronzes are recognized breeds. Heritage turkeys include Bourbon Reds and Narragansetts, which are striking, medium-sized birds that excel at foraging and pest control. Royal Palm turkeys grow to a smaller finished size of roughly ten to sixteen pounds and are beautiful, different-looking birds.

Raising Turkeys From Poults
Typically, you will be starting with day-old turkeys in the spring, called poults. You will need to set up a brooder area (link) just like you would for chickens. There are lots of do-it-yourself ideas for brooder areas, from a feeding trough to a kiddie pool. Just like starting chicks, you will need to keep the brooder area between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week, then slowly lower the temp by raising the lamps, cooling it by 5 degrees each week. Many of the same places that sell chicks also sell turkey poults.

Housing and Fencing Turkeys
Many farmers let their turkeys live outside on range in a large fenced pen with a movable roost assembly, much like a movable chicken coop. The best range for turkeys is short grass, four to six inches long. Red clover and Kentucky bluegrass are especially good grasses to have on the range. For a flock of a dozen turkeys, plan to build a pen of roughly 75 feet square, or one-eighth acre. Make sure your fence is secure from coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and even bears - all of whom would love a free-range turkey dinner. Woven wire fencing is a great choice, as is electrified poultry netting.
Keep the pasture fresh by moving the portable roost to clean ground weekly. You can also rotate the location of feeders and waterers to prevent manure buildup.

Feeding and Watering Turkeys
For a dozen turkeys, you'll need at least 2 gallons of water every day, so consider an automatic waterer connected to your outdoor water spigot. A four-foot-long waterer will suffice for 12 birds. Many turkey farmers build a wooden range feeder with a little roof on top to hold the feed. A feeder that holds about 100 pounds of feed is a good size for 12 turkeys, as by the time they near maturity they will each eat a pound of feed a day.

Preventing Turkey Problems and Diseases
Learning how to prevent health problems before they arise - with clean pasture, movable roosts, and fresh, clean water and food - is the easiest way to handle raising turkeys. Still, sometimes things happen and you'll need to know how to take care of them. Give turkeys enough roosting space and pasture. Make sure to raise them separately from chickens. Ensure your turkey house has good ventilation. And protect your turkeys from predators.

Processing the Turkeys on the Farm
If you're keeping turkeys for meat, the time will come to slaughter and process them. The steps are much the same as slaughtering chickens. You will simply need a bigger killing cone and make sure the scalding pot is big enough for your largest turkey.

If you want to try to breed your own turkeys, keep one tom for every 10 hens. In the spring, your turkey flock will naturally expand. If you end up with extras, you can sell "trios" - a tom and two hens - to other local farmers and homesteaders.

Things you can do to help save bees

If we do not save honey bees what happens when all the honey bees disappear?

  If the honey bee disappears we will lose much of our world food supply.

We should help save honey bees because while grains do not require honey bees to flourish, virtually all of our non-grain foods are dependent on honey bee pollination to a large degree. Worldwide, there are 90 different food plants that depend almost exclusively on the honey bee. In the USA honey bees are considered critical pollinators of many fruits, nuts and vegetables. Your own diet will be changed dramatically if we lose our honey bees. 

What you can do to help save honey bees.

1. Stop using insecticides

2.  Plant Bee-friendly plants

3. Create natural habitat gardens

4. Find out more about bees

5. Support your local beekeepers
6. Make you own 'Wild bee' house

7. Become a beekeeper

8. Sign petitions banning pesticides

9. Encourage your local authority to do more to help bees

Silkie Bantam Chickens

Of all the ornamental chicken breeds, the Silkie Bantam is one of the most popular and beloved, and certainly one of the most entertaining to watch. Can't you tell why? They're the lap kitty of the chicken world, complete with hair-like plumage and an incredibly sweet temperament. 

We have heard it said that Silkies are like a "flock" of kittens... but unlike your other pets, your chickens can actually provide your breakfast! Silkies originated in the Far East, where they are still kept (and eaten) today. They have black skin and bones and 5 toes instead of the normal 4. 

In addition, Silkie hens make wonderful brooders and mothers, and are even known to adopt baby ducks if given the chance!

Selecting quality wheat seed

While there is most definitely reason for concern over next year’s seed quality, availability, and price, there is no reason to panic. As long as we take time to look at potential seed quality and use some judicious precautions (listed below) we should be able to ensure that our seed is worth keeping and planting.

There are several questions a person should ask before keeping or purchasing seed this year, including:

• Does the seed look healthy? Plump seeds with good color are ideal. Large, plump seeds contain more energy and thus result in better plant stands and early season forage growth, than smaller shriveled seed. In addition, larger seeds are more forgiving on deeper planting depths and provide better seedling vigor. Keep in mind when comparing seed size that some varieties just naturally produce a larger seed than others. Always compare seed size of the same variety.

• What is the test weight (bushel weight)? Test weight is a good initial indicator of seed quality, but is not an absolute. If the bushel weight is below 58 pounds, this warrants further investigation into seed quality. If you are purchasing certified seed, the seed tags should state the test weight. Also, be aware that small shriveled seeds can sometimes have a high test weight due to being more densely packed into a given volume (pounds per bushel). So, test weight should always be considered along with seed size. Below is an example of the importance of test weight on germination, emergence, and yield.

Does the seed have good germination? Unfortunately, a germination test should not be conducted immediately following harvest because winter wheat has a natural seed dormancy mechanism that prevents the seed from germinating for about 4 weeks after harvest (some varieties even longer). 

What To Feed Your Chickens

What chickens eat and what chickens should eat are not always the same thing. Chickens are omnivores. That means they’ll snarf down just about anything, or at least try to! I’ve seen a hen catch and slurp down a snake like spaghetti. I’ve seen a chicken snatch a toad by it’s leg and all of the other hens go in a raucous chase after it, only, at the end to discover that a toad is not good eating. Chickens also eat less exciting foods, like vegetables, fruits, flowers and grass. They eat grains and seeds. They scratch the ground and find bugs and specks of things that we can’t see.So, the question isn’t really what chickens eat, but what the right diet is for them.

In the 19th century most chickens were barnyard scavengers. They hatched out under their mamas and were taught to look for grain in the horse stalls, and for bugs and greens in the garden. The farm wife tossed stale bread and kitchen scraps to the hens. Chickens destined for the table were fattened on sour milk. Sometimes, in the winter, they’d be given a handful of grain. The hens back then laid only a few eggs a week. This haphazard diet was enough sustenance for them. But, flocks became larger and more confined. Chickens were bred to lay more and more eggs. Instead of 90 eggs a year, a hen now might lay over 300. With the increase in egg production came an increase in the nutritional requirements of the flock.

Commercial laying hen pellets (or crumbles which are the same thing but smaller) are designed for today’s productive hens. Creating a daily egg is depleting. The pellets have the right proportion of protein, minerals and energy for the chickens. These pellets should make up the bulk of your flock’s diet. Your chickens should have access to the pellets all day long. They should go to bed with full crops (the crop is the pouch in their throat where the food is first stored after it is swallowed.) It takes over 25 hours to create one egg. During the night, as the hen is sleeping, she is still building that egg. She gets the materials for making that egg from digesting food. If her digestive tract is empty she can’t make the egg. So, let your hen eat what she wants from sunup to sundown.