Grit for turkeys.

[cdngunner]

Hey all you turkey hunters.

Well I want to make the farm a littlebit more turkey friendly. I know that birds need grit/stonesfor their gizzards. So I am thinking of making a few grit piles , which they turkeys hopefully will use. Question is whattype and sizeof grit. I was thinking of using what the quarries here call screenings. Material size is probably from a grain of sand to 1/4" material. Is this good enough.

And what about a place for them to have a dirt bath. Iwas thinking that a pit filled with sand would do the job.

The farm is mostly clay and loam and there is fairly little grit type material. I dont really expect them to come into to it like they would bait. The idea is to keep them in the area a little longer then they would normally be.

Any opinions, experience or comments?????

 

[Campbery]

to be honest I think it would be a waste of time and perfectly good grit, if you want to attract turkey plant clover

 

[cdngunner]

to be honest I think it would be a waste of time and perfectly good grit, if you want to attract turkey plant clover

I've got lots of clover fields and swamps. Problem is that so do most of the neighbouring farms. I am trying to find anywy possible to get them to stay a few minutes longer.

 

[tracker]

Turkey are a very stupid bird, even in the winter when feed is hard for them to find they will walk away from a feed supply. I carried all kinds of feed in for them when they were first released and fed mostly deer and squirrels. I hunt them next to a gravel pit and see them in the pit almost every day during turkey season, but I have never found a turkey bath in the pit. It makes you wounder where they get the grit when there is 3 feet of snow on the ground? I agree with it's wasting your time but if you think it will help than go for it.

 

[grnhawg]

Turkey are a very stupid bird, .

Ever get one with surs over the inch and a half with 10+inches of beard
My favorite size of grit is #6. Jokeing aside I think you'll be wasting time. The birds scratch for tubers and bugs constantly and grit comes as part of the package. The baths they do as do most feather critters is in dry dusty soil and is a cleaning process. How they deal with grit for thier crops in winter is something I've wondered about too. They seem to survive so it must come from somewhere.

 

[cdngunner]

My favorite size of grit is #6.

Age in Weeks...... Amount/1000 ............birds/day Size of Grit​

0 - 5 ...................(11 lbs) .........................Starter (#1)​

6 - 12 ................... (15 lbs) .......................Grower (#2)​

13 - market ................ (24 lbs) .....................Adult (#3,4)​

# 6 grit must be for those super sized turkeys you hunt, you know the 30-40lbs range​

 

[John Marshall]

I would just buy crushed oyster shells, They are sold at any farm supply store and thats what I feed my domestic ones? I don't know if it will work to keep them around. Those damn birds might be stupid but there not all that predictable unless you can pattern there movement and that is possible. At one of my friends farms you can almost wait for them buy the clock in the summer but that is only season we have been able to do this for mostly because thats when were there the most and they have a reliable food source at that time of year. We have seen huge increases in the turkey population around here, I am learning that alot of what is published about turkeys habits is flawed. I saw 30 of them sleeping in the middle of the day on the ground. I have never read that they sleep during the day other than for nesting but these ones were. I was able to walk within 50 meters before they even new I was there! I have also learned that turkeys will hide from predators when there is enough cover. There is a large alfalfa field behind my place and I was walking my dog last summer and we ran into a couple hens with a bunch of young ones. Rather than run like I thought they would do they all crouched down and hid in the alfalfa. We walked right up to them before they flew away. I also have serious doubts about the listed numbers of turkeys in Ontario. This might sound like BS but I have personally seen between 5 and 6 hundred turkeys this winter alone and I am not revering to multiple sightings of the same flock, I spend a fair bit of time driving to work and tend to stick to the back roads and I am sure this helps but within my 70km to work every day I can think of at least 12-15 areas that are supporting large flocks. If I have seen over 500 birds within a 70km stretch in a relatively straight line I question that there is 70,000 total, I would say more like 250 000. I also believe that the increase in coyotes here is directly related to the increase in turkeys, sounds kinda of backwards but the more turkeys there are the more food there is. We have more coyotes here now than we have had in 30 years.
Sorry to highjack the thread a bit but felt like spewing my 2 cents.

 

[grnhawg]

Age in Weeks...... Amount/1000 ............birds/day Size of Grit​

0 - 5 ...................(11 lbs) .........................Starter (#1)​

6 - 12 ................... (15 lbs) .......................Grower (#2)​

13 - market ................ (24 lbs) .....................Adult (#3,4)​

# 6 grit must be for those super sized turkeys you hunt, you know the 30-40lbs range​

Here's how #6 grit looks on paper

Here's how the bird looks after you feed it to him

 

[jjackman]

They'll pick up pebbles and stones almost anywhere. They won't be attracted to a grit pile. Food, water, cover and a mate are more important.