tbgator
Banned
Does anyone remember the name of the turkey breeder you can buy poults from through the mail? Saw it on here earlier this year, like $9.00 a piece for wild turkey poults.I have a landowner friend interested in stocking his place.
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Turkey farm?
- Thread starter tbgator
- Start date
trailhunter
Senior Member
Lots of problems with using poults to do this.
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cpowel10
Senior Member
It might be a good idea to feed them and let them get some size before releasing them. There's lots of things that would love to eat a few domestic polts. It could be a mightly expensive meal for a few cats and yotes. IMO
If he hasn't, he might want to check the laws about this too
If he hasn't, he might want to check the laws about this too
tbgator
Banned
Thanks, thats the place.
tbgator
Banned
I wondered about that. Have you tried it or know somebody that has? This guy's place has been cleaned up real good and has a major creek running through the middle of it.He keeps a trapper in there full time to keep the predators down because he quail hunts it.The property is as good as it gets for for turkey habitat.
tbgator
Banned
Can you expand on this? I'd like to know from people who have tried it. Are you saying poults without the mother hen?
trailhunter
Senior Member
Do a google search on the original efforts of DNR/Conservation office back in the 30's when they tried it. There are some pretty good exerts in chapters of books on turkeys about this as well. Not certain about the legalities, but there are a lot of DNR folks on here, shoot one of them an email to make sure.
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Michael Lee
Senior Member
I know a couple of guys that have done it here. One only got a few birds and they all lived 2-3 years. The other bought 15-20 birds and now they are all over his property.
tbgator
Banned
GobbleAndGrunt78
Senior Member
I think you should get a bunch of them and raise them until they are big enough to fend for themselves (6 months?). I'd try to have very little interaction w/ them and don't let them view people as the source for food. When it comes time to release them, do it one at a time and scare the doo-doo out of it like you are trying to hurt it. Maybe it'll cause it to fear humans. The offspring of the released birds should be truely wild and fear people like they should. Maybe you should hunt the predators REAL hard before starting this.
i've really done some thinking on this and i think it could be done if you put the work in. If you have a really good trapper to keep predetors away and a good food source i think they could make it. Heres my philosophy i've played out in my mind
buy poults.
Every human contact you have with them make it negative. Chase, haggle, anything to get them jumpy and spooky.
keep foothold traps set year round all around your pen and around your homesite
at 10 or 11 months release the turkeys in pairs.
make sure to keep cracked corn all around your house and the old pen
flush the ones that are out of the pen every time you possibly can
I think they'll stay around them pen because the other mass of turkeys are in there and there main food source (corn) is there.
keep releasing them in pairs of twos and threes until you've got them all out.
I think this would be the best way for them to survive.
buy poults.
Every human contact you have with them make it negative. Chase, haggle, anything to get them jumpy and spooky.
keep foothold traps set year round all around your pen and around your homesite
at 10 or 11 months release the turkeys in pairs.
make sure to keep cracked corn all around your house and the old pen
flush the ones that are out of the pen every time you possibly can
I think they'll stay around them pen because the other mass of turkeys are in there and there main food source (corn) is there.
keep releasing them in pairs of twos and threes until you've got them all out.
I think this would be the best way for them to survive.
tbgator
Banned
Some good ideas on here I think. I am not as concerned with the birds surviving as I am them having the wild instinct they need when released. You surely wouldn't want them hanging around the pen.Best idea there is to keep birds on another property miles away and move them to their wild habitat when old enough. Another thought I had was how would the local wild birds already there accept them. I have talked to some guys that raise quail for quail hunters and they say that the best way to keep the wild in the birds is to keep them in the dark with limited sunlight until release.But their release age is much younger.I think the best way to avoid human contact is to only feed them at night while they are on their roosts.Feed would be waiting on them at flydown next morning with no human in sight.Another good idea is an intense predator elimination plan that starts prior to release and continues on after release to catch new predators moving in.The property is about 2500 acres so I think he has a good chance for some success in establishing a good healthy population in addition to birds already there.Its probably worth $1000.00 to give it a shot.
The poults you get from hatcheries such as McMurray or Welp will NOT be pure wild. If you ask them if their turkeys are pure wild, they will tell you they are "of the breed" or something like that, but will not guarantee they are pure wild -- because they are largely domestic breeds.
I bought some from two different hatcheries over the years, and the end product is a dumpy short-legged bird with fleshy head and neck that looks more like a bronze breasted turkey than an eastern wild bird.
The birds from those hatcheries will have a LARGE amount of domestic breed genetics, and IF any of them survive to successfully reproduce (which is a big IF), they will introduce inferior blood into the wild gene pool, and hardly be fit to hunt.
Yard birds will be the end result.
If you want yard birds that have any small chance of surviving to introduce inferior genes into the wild population, which in the long run will diminish and not enhance hunting opportunities, then you need to minimize contact with the poults, feed them a high protein diet (27% minimum) and release them at about 12 weeks of age.
I bought some from two different hatcheries over the years, and the end product is a dumpy short-legged bird with fleshy head and neck that looks more like a bronze breasted turkey than an eastern wild bird.
The birds from those hatcheries will have a LARGE amount of domestic breed genetics, and IF any of them survive to successfully reproduce (which is a big IF), they will introduce inferior blood into the wild gene pool, and hardly be fit to hunt.
Yard birds will be the end result.
If you want yard birds that have any small chance of surviving to introduce inferior genes into the wild population, which in the long run will diminish and not enhance hunting opportunities, then you need to minimize contact with the poults, feed them a high protein diet (27% minimum) and release them at about 12 weeks of age.
hevishot
Banned
wont work and will probably foul up any REAL turkeys on the property....
trailhunter
Senior Member
Tb,
Don't take this the wrong way, but if there are already birds on his place, he is eliminating predators, and he quail hunts, why is he even considering this? The time, expense, risk of disease/poor genetics, lack of success, possible legal issues? It sounds like the easiest thing (and probably more likely to work) is to keep the status quo and maybe increase beneficial habitat (burning, which I'm sure he does if he quail hunts) and food sources.
A good poult year with high a survival rate does wonders for the population in a fairly quick time frame. Just my thoughts.
By the way, if he is anywhere near me, please ask him not to do this.
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Don't take this the wrong way, but if there are already birds on his place, he is eliminating predators, and he quail hunts, why is he even considering this? The time, expense, risk of disease/poor genetics, lack of success, possible legal issues? It sounds like the easiest thing (and probably more likely to work) is to keep the status quo and maybe increase beneficial habitat (burning, which I'm sure he does if he quail hunts) and food sources.
A good poult year with high a survival rate does wonders for the population in a fairly quick time frame. Just my thoughts.
By the way, if he is anywhere near me, please ask him not to do this.
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tbgator
Banned
Did not know all the downsides to it. He is thinking these birds are as advertised, pure wild turkey strain.He has some birds now but like everywhere else the natural hatch is not being successful in increasing the population for some reason. Hunting pressure is not an issue so he was thinking of a way to get a quick boost in numbers but sounds like this may be a bad idea. Maybe best answer is to find some trapped birds from somewhere and transport them like DNR does.Haven't checked on the regs yet but I'm sure something can be done. We've had Wisconsin deer bought and transported to nearby counties in the past so why not turkeys?
tbgator
Banned
Appreciate the info. Thats what I'm looking for, feedback from folks who have actually tried it and know the pros and cons.
Man if this would work it would be great. I just don't think it will.
