Turkeys Enjoying the Pasture

Our system for growing turkeys has evolved over the years. For the past several years though, we have settled in on a 3 step process. 1. The baby poults spend 4-5 weeks in the brooder. This is when they need the most care and are most vulnerable. During this stage, we supplement heat and take care of them very carefully. 2. At 5 weeks, they are old enough to thrive without supplemental heat, but are still small and vulnerable. So, for this stage, the adolescent turkeys go into our pasture houses. This is a bottomless house(for protection from predators) that can be pulled around the pasture daily. Moving these bottomless houses onto a fresh parcel of pasture daily allows the turkeys to forage ample grass and bugs daily. 3. Finally, after the turkeys have outgrown the pasture houses, they are moved into a full free-range pasture setting. At this point, they are large enough to somewhat take care of themselves. With age comes wisdom, as they will keep an eye to the sky looking for hawks, and they will seek to roost up off the ground for safety. We have just entered the 3rd phase, where the turkeys are now fully free-range. They seem to be enjoying the wide open space. This particular pasture serves this role every year. We have fenced it with very heavy and tight wire, not necessarily to keep the turkeys in, but primarily to keep predators out. It is a joy to watch them explore the pasture, forage on grass & bugs, scratch in the dirt, and fly to the roost at night. Wild turkeys commonly exhibit all those activities, so maybe we are doing something right.