Classification
Order — Galliformes.
Family — Meleagridinae.
Genus — Meleagris.
Species — Meleagris gallopavo.
Outward appearance
Weight: up to 40 kg.
Size & Shape: Wild Turkeys are very large, plump birds with long legs, wide, rounded tails, and a small head on a long, slim neck.
Color Pattern: Turkeys are dark overall with a bronze-green iridescence to most of their plumage. Their wings are dark, boldly barred with white. Their rump and tail feathers are broadly tipped with rusty or white. The bare skin of the head and neck varies from red to blue to gray.
Maintenance care
The domestic turkeys that cannot fly can be kept inside a fenced-in yard, much like a fence that would keep in a dog or a goat. The domestic turkeys that can fly should have some type of net to keep them in.
Wild turkeys, on the other hand, can fly very well. Unless you keep their wings clipped you need a totally enclosed cage. Two turkeys can be kept in a 90 square foot area that is at least 6 feet high. However the more room you can give your turkey the better. If you have turkeys that can fly, their enclosed cage should have chicken wire surrounding it on all sides and top with a wood frame with a stiff metal dog wire of about 3-4 feet tall along the bottom to keep out other animals and to keep the turkeys in. Turkeys that can fly should be provided with a roost. A shelter should be provided to shield the birds from the rain, wind, hail, sleet and snow, whether it be a simple tarp covering the roosting area or an actual barn stall or small building. The best type of floor is a dirt floor. Hay can be provided as a ground cover. Cement can be cleaned well, however it is hard on the turkeys’ feet. A wood floor can get pretty messy as the loose poop sinks into the wood.
The turkey pen should be kept clean. Waste should be raked out and new dirt or hay put down every few days, depending on how many turkeys you keep in how large an area. The more turkeys you keep, the more you will have to clean.
Turkeys will take care of their own grooming needs. If you own wild turkeys and do not wish for them to fly away, their wings need to be clipped on a regular basis
Turkeys should be provided with enough space that they can take care of their own exercise needs.
Feeding
Turkeys should be fed pellets as their main diet. You can buy fowl pellets at many farm and pet stores. In addition to the pellets they can also be fed fruits and vegetables. Turkeys will eat some kinds of leaves, weeds, wild nuts, acorns, grass, grapes, kale, all berries that humans eat, Russian olive berries, dogwood tree berries, wild grapes, wine berries, sassafras tree berries, honeysuckle berries and even poison ivy berries. Turkeys will love it if you sprinkle oatmeal on top of their food. My turkeys even love to eat a chicken egg that is cracked on the ground. Wild turkeys also eat insects and small animals. To prevent blackhead disease and other parasites, newly hatched poults (baby turkeys) should be fed a medicated 28% Turkey Starter for the first 8 weeks. From 9 to 14 weeks they should be fed 20-21% Turkey Grower. Chick medicated starter can also be fed, however the Turkey Starter/Grower is better. You can find medicated feed at farm stores. Wild turkey poults under two months old prefer to eat bugs and some will not take to the turkey feed you buy at the farm store. You may have to feed them things such as crickets, mealworms, earthworms, spiders and beetles, which can be caught by hand or bought at pet stores or bait shops. Take caution when catching bugs by hand that they were not exposed to pesticides. For this reason it may be best to go with the bugs bought at the pet store. Domestic turkeys will usually take very well to the pellets and very young turkeys should be fed crushed pellets until they get big enough to handle the full pellet. They sell crumbed pellets at farm stores. If you plan on having your hens lay eggs they need extra calcium. Feeding crushed oyster shells is a great source of calcium. Turkeys need small rocks or grit for their gizzard to grind food, for example dirt, sand, egg shells or oyster shell. A gizzard is a part of a bird's stomach that contains these tiny stones. It helps them grind up food for digestion. Fresh water should always be provided either in some type of bowl or a poultry water dispenser which can be purchased at a farm store.
Breeding
Modern animal husbandry has resulted in significant differences between wild turkeys and commercial farm animals. Broad-breasted varieties are prized for their white meat, fast growth, and excellent feed-conversion ratios. Broad-breasted varieties are typically produced by artificial insemination to avoid injury of the hens by the much larger toms and because the physical changes resulting in broad (double) breasts have also rendered most males incapable of natural mating. Modern commercial varieties have also lost much of their natural ability to forage for food, fly, walk normally, and to escape predators. For this reason, many non-commercial hobbyists as well as organic farmers grow "heritage" breeds such as the Royal Palm or Naragansett -- varieties traditionally grown on farms prior to the advent of large-scale agriculture. Heritage breeds do not grow as quickly as commercial breeds and are single-breasted and thus have less white meat. Their meat has a much stronger turkey taste and does not require flavor additives or brining. Heritage turkeys are disease resistant, strong flyers and foragers, and can mate naturally and raise their young successfully.
Male turkeys strut and demonstrate, usually in groups, to attract hens. They fan out their tail, puff up the feathers on their backs, and drag their primary flight feathers on the ground to produce a "scraping" sound. Part of the demonstration includes gobbling and producing a "puff" sound followed by a very low resonating "boing" that sounds like a rubber band in an echo chamber. The low resonating sound is low enough that it cannot be captured with traditional audio equipment. The hen in turn makes a "yelp" or call that attracts the males. Hens select their mate and crouch on the ground with neck extended to signal their willingness to mate. Hens continue to lay fertile eggs for three to four weeks from just one mating. However, when given the opportunity hens will mate every day.
Diseases
Prone to blackhead disease. Blackhead "disease" is actually a parasite. It is carried by chickens that are not susceptible to it. It causes the turkeys to get yellow spotted and enlarged livers and is fatal to the turkey. Not all chickens are carriers of this parasite, however, some are. Some types of domestic turkeys grow too heavy to fly and the males usually get so large their legs cannot support their own weight.
