Raising turkeys

[eeyore]

Trying to raise turkeys without outdoors is difficult, in what i would consider Badtimes life conditions.  I tried (and failed) to raise turkeys this past year.  2 years ago I bought 8 birds (pullets), one died, I eat 3 and kept what I felt was the best 4.  They were in a decent sized pen and had many tree limbs to use as roosts.  Made them hutches (out of 24"pipe) they ended up laying most of the eggs on the ground.  Out of the 3 hens I got dozens of eggs but only 2 hatched, and they only lived 2 days.  I did use feed from a local feed mill.  They were penned because of the dogs and other predators in the area.  So raising turkeys with out special considerations, is a difficult process in my area.

[230gr]

Most domestic Turkeys breeds have been over bred to the point of being fragile. What type did you try?

[eeyore]

Blue slate turkey and Narragansett cross.  I could have been more diligent and probably will try again in the future.  I would like to wait awhile.  I do love turkey though.  I guess I could have done much better with a incubator, but I would prefer to be natural as possible.  I do know some people are planning to use a 12 volt incubator and solar panel, but I would rather just let nature do its thing.

[230gr]

Cound not find anything on weather Blue Slate turkey will sit and brood but  Narragansett should do well for that.

[eeyore]

The  Narragansett is a heritage breed, which is supposed to do well with that, but just starting out I might have not done my part.  There is only so much information that is truly useful and truthful that you can get from most books, that is why practice is so important and not try and to just do it and depend on it for your life. imo