In the spring of 2011 I started off with hatching out some heritage turkeys. The first batch was Beltsville Small Whites Crossed with blue slate and royal palm. My previous turkey experience had been only with the lazy dumb commercial broad breasted whites... not the best experience and as a result i had nothing to do with turkeys for many years after lol. Well heritage turkeys are as different as different can be! They are curious, possess a bit of problem solving smarts (particularly when it involves getting to food or into trouble!), and did i mention they can fly? They like to roost high and on anything, if its elevated, they want on it, even if its just to be the highest up turkey throughout the day. This has made containing them quite difficult in my current set up. Given that i have about 25 or so, it makes it very hard to alter their premises to fix that too. The solution? Turkopolis!
Turkopolis will be a mobile grazing and outdoor shelter for the turkeys to live in... In other words a turkey tractor, but i like turkopolis better lol. This is our first tractor of the hoop style. The foot print is 12' x 16' and about 6'+ tall. Sounds sizable but i'm sure the turkeys will fill it up fast enough.
The general principal for the hoop tractors have been around for a while, i didn't invent them, just put our own spin on it. People have been using old hoop house green house frames, carports, and their own devices often made out of bent PVC or electrical conduit. The concept is simple, make a hoop house, cover it with wire and a tarp and trick it out based on what your keeping. If your raising meat birds, no need for a roost, but turkeys prefer a roost for example. The nice thing about it is that you can keep your birds outside for all the sun and fresh air they could possibly want while at the same time getting them greens and bugs to supplement their diet. This in theory helps with feed costs, as well as produces the healthiest birds possible. and because its mobile, you move them to a new plot when they've picked over the current one. Another bonus? No need to deal with bedding, move them on and its considered fertilizer ;)
So we've built the base, and painted it up, and last night we put the first hoop on and the door frame and secured everything together. Good thing we tied it all together, as we ended up with bad storms over night, but Turkopolis made it through safe and sound!
Turkopolis will be a mobile grazing and outdoor shelter for the turkeys to live in... In other words a turkey tractor, but i like turkopolis better lol. This is our first tractor of the hoop style. The foot print is 12' x 16' and about 6'+ tall. Sounds sizable but i'm sure the turkeys will fill it up fast enough.
The general principal for the hoop tractors have been around for a while, i didn't invent them, just put our own spin on it. People have been using old hoop house green house frames, carports, and their own devices often made out of bent PVC or electrical conduit. The concept is simple, make a hoop house, cover it with wire and a tarp and trick it out based on what your keeping. If your raising meat birds, no need for a roost, but turkeys prefer a roost for example. The nice thing about it is that you can keep your birds outside for all the sun and fresh air they could possibly want while at the same time getting them greens and bugs to supplement their diet. This in theory helps with feed costs, as well as produces the healthiest birds possible. and because its mobile, you move them to a new plot when they've picked over the current one. Another bonus? No need to deal with bedding, move them on and its considered fertilizer ;)
So we've built the base, and painted it up, and last night we put the first hoop on and the door frame and secured everything together. Good thing we tied it all together, as we ended up with bad storms over night, but Turkopolis made it through safe and sound!
Our next step will be to make the other end wall. It will be frames identical to the front to accommodate 2 2x4 runners along the top. They will act both as a place to hang the feeder and waterer, but also as a place to secure the inner hoops. Then we will add the other hoops and the strapping that will serve as a nailing point of the fence as well as an anchor point for the hoops. A bit of paint, then the fence, then the tarp and door and we're done! If all works out well we'll have the turkeys out there by the end of the weekend! Fingers crossed lol