I would like to raise my own turkeys for christmas,

Is there anyone on here who could give me some advice,

I have a bit of a thing with geese, are turkeys likly to get as stress with me like geese do

How much room do they need?

do they have the same dietary needs like chicken?

When would i need to get them for christmas, want them to grow natrually, no stuffing for a bigger bird?

You are running a bit late for this year really. We have turkeys and had the best Christmas roast ever last year. But we have decided to store buy for this year. It is very traumatic, turkeys are lovely animals very comical and real characters too. We have 5 left and they will retire with us and mooch around the yard lol, fluffing and puffing and gobbling lol.

Geese are much 'hotter' and fierce than turkeys, a goose fight is violent, turkeys strut and pull faces. Our Geese are are guard dogs lol, even chasing off our gsd's lol. But turkeys can grow to enormous sizes especially the stags.

They eat like chickens, grit, corn, pellets, grass etc.

We took the eggs from our flock and incubated them and then put them on heat for a long time, as it grew colder they needed more heat! They are not very hardy until feathered and if you are planning to eat them then you want to check the breed and how you are going to feed them, intense, free range, hybrid etc then work back from the date of slaughter to hatching.

Most are hatched by now though as we are only around 12 weeks away from needing them full weight.

Because of their weight and size they need an experienced person to slaughter them, ideally a stun device too.

Must add that turkeys are susceptible to Blackhead and so beware if you keep them with or on ground previously used by chickens.

What going to keep them on the empty pig sty,

after cleaning !!

My idea was after the pig goes to slaughter in may/june time to get 2 turkeys fr christmas,

Is this completely wrong time wise. I had not planned to keep them with the chickens,
But I also have done no homwork on this at all, so aadvice gladdle taken

anymore advice gladly recieved

Bear in mind that commercially bred turkeys are in HEATED barns. Newly hatched poults and young turkeys also need heat. A pigsty sounds cold but maybe you use infra red heat lamps? Turkeys are far more sensitive than chickens, they grow faster and need a lot more care and heat, they also cost a lot to feed, eating machines they are lol! Have you considered a big breed chicken instead?

I I didn't know they needed heat!!!! might have to rethink this one, even when they are older do they need heat?

I found this and thought it might help you.

http://barlingpoultry.co.uk/raisingturkeys.pdf

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That being nice lark won't get you a free turkey

Well I don't know whereabouts you are in the world, we are down in the South West of England and it gets very, damp, wet and cold (-5c) here at night. Way below what growing turkeys need. We suddenly realised why the huge warehouses worked, (UGH!) so many turkeys in together produced a lot of heat and that with the airconditioning kept them warm so they didn't produce thick early feathers that were tough and hard to pluck. When they are fully feathered though they are more able to withstand the cold, but presumeably you might not want to let them get that old, and at this time of year starting so late, they won't be feathered before the cold hits.

After last year we decided it was actually more economical to raise turkeys earlier in the year because as they grew older they could come off heat and bask in the summer sun, then slaughter them, eat some and freeze some for Christmas. We had to insulate the barn with plastic sheeting and then straw bales to try and conserve the heat as some of them were so huddled together they were in danger of suffocating trying to get under the heat lamps. Turkeys are very frail and sensitive creatures.

I realise that wouldn't help you though wth the empty pig pens though. Geese are hardier but really need grass.