Liz
I'm finally getting around to this post even though it is an event that happened over two weeks ago! We got our first batch of turkeys. We ordered our 50 Naraganset and 50 Bourbon Red turkeys months ago because these heritage breed pullets sell out quickly. The day before their expect arrival the hatchery called and said they only had the Naragansets and no Bourbon Reds for us. WHAT!!! We entered panic mode and couldn't believe they waited until the day before shipping to tell us this. Tim frantically 
Bourbon Reds just arrived!began calling other sources to find that most hatcheries are sold out. In the end, our 50 Naragansets arrived and we ordered 100 more Bourbon Reds from another hatchery that will be arriving this week - just enough time for them to grow before the holidays. Then another hatchery called to say they could get us 50 Bourbon Reds around this same time, so heck, we got them too! Our 100 turkeys have now grown into 200! (Sometimes Tim gets a little bit out of control!) Our thinking was that we never wanted to be in this situation again where we are dependant on someone else to provide our baby turkeys, so we will keep some of these to become permanent members of our farm and reproduce.
We have heard about how fragile turkey poults are and that the mortality rate is very high, so of course, I was nervous. Four arrived dead in the box, but a week went by and all others looked fantastic. I was just about breathing a sigh of relief, when I found two more passed away the morning of the 6th day. There was no apparent reason, but it reminded me of the reality of these little babies. Since then they are doing great! They have doubled in size and their wing feathers are growing very long. They have turned from cute little fluff balls into long legged, long necked fuzzies with long black wings.
Turkeys are very different from chicks. When I enter the brood house of chicks it is noisy with chirping and everyone is running 
around very busy. The turkeys are extremely quiet and walk slowly and cautiously. They are like very well behaved kids! Their big black eyes are adorable and they are so cute when they stretch their wings out. It's neat to see them mezmorized by the glug of the water jug or the shine of a metal screw. They are very curious little guys. We put 2 chicks in with the turkeys for the first day because we read that the chicks will show the turkeys, who are not too smart, how to eat and drink. We found that they didn't need this though and actually beat up on the little chicks!
We needed another brooding area for these turkeys because the brood house we built was filled with chickens. Tim found an old trailer on CraigsList that has been terrific. It is our big brown brood box! Someone had it in their family for years and it was used as a concession trailer for selling leather, so it had built-in tables and racks and a large window that could be opened. Tim removed the tables, but left the frames so that the turkeys can roost on them. We put chicken wire inside the window so it can be opened 
or closed to regulate the temperature. We had to cover the bottom of the brood box with cardboard brooder guard so that there were no 90 degree corners for the turkeys to scrunch up in. Add a light and some bedding and whalah...a big brown brood box!
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Reader Comments (5)
How exciting guys! I was a little worried I might have to rush to get a deposit in on a turkey, (and maybe I still do), but glad to hear you are going to have that many turkeys.
Hi Jeff,
We stopped taking deposits last night, as we've accepted all that we're sure we'll be able to fill. However, check out our "heritage turkey" page about how to get on the waiting list. You can be first if you act quickly, and I'm sure we'll fill some of the waiting list.
We have "that many" turkeys now, but turkeys experience high mortality rates for lots of reasons, so we don't want to over committ.
I'd love to find out who the hatchery is that you all are getting chicks from now. We're going to try and do a batch of meat chickens here in Missouri later this summer.
Steven,
If you're referring to turkeys, we bought from Welp and then from McMurray. Welp failed us big time, though the Narragansetts they sent us are doing well. In the future, we hope to breed/incubate our own.
No, I was asking about the pastured meat chickens, the commenting was disabled on the post about the chicks and the geneticist. I'm interested in chickens that are bred for growing on pasture.