Ocellated Turkeys

[sebastopol]

All ads I've seen have been upwards of $1000 each.

I have seen prices of 500€/each in France.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Haha he told y'all the price in the second post , $1500 each.
Only 3 people that I know of in the US keep them. They are from the Yucatán peninsula area of central America. They have a very specialized diet ( insects) Need to be kept warm, chicks seem to die non contact with air in captivity.
Nothing heritage turkey is comparable in the keeping of these. Etc etc..... very difficult to get to reproduce in captivity and even harder to rear. This is unfortunately just one of those species , though extremely beautiful , need to be left to pro breeders of specialty birds.

 

[ivan3]

Just more references for those interested (McRoberts has yet to publish in toto - some of his info is already appearing, in part - on past 4 yrs of field research):

Details of research: http://cofarnat.org/?tag=ocellated

updated Cornell info: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/lifehistory?p_p_spp=83431

And yet more, on background/Hx: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2013/01/16/the-other-turkey/

If we lived in the desert Southwest, I'd be very tempted to go Lorenz's route and shoot for fertile hybrids (MG/MO). More interested in the ethology than the looks.

 

[chooks4life]

Thanks for the info. They certainly are an interesting bird. Always worth doing the homework, lol!

 

[theenchantress]

OCD MAN!....YAY!...I am VERY VERY VERY INTERESTED in learning more about and hopefully BREEDING these AMAZING
and I've heard a bit endangered Turkeys!....Do you mind connecting with me about this?..THANKS SOOOOOO MUCH!!

 

[Donna R]

Can these turkeys be raised as free range or do they have to be confined like pheasants? I have royal palms and they do great as free range.

 

[NaefNaests]

I was asking around regarding the difficulties of this breed, and one guy said temperature. A good cool breezy day for us is way to cold for them. They need special housing with no cold temps. He also said said they do fall prey to some bacterial infections but he didn't say what.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yes, you have to remember these are native to the Yucatan so they are in a tropical part of the world year round, 40 will kill them.
and just about any bacteria common in barn yard flocks, will kill them.

coccidian, will kill them, pretty much, need to be lock and key bio secure .
These are not turkeys like people are thinking. They are a tropical wild fowl, put all the domestic comparisons out of your head.
If you let these out, they will be gone, and I couldn't let a $3000 pr of birds free range anyway even if they did stay around.

If you have a yard of chickens, turkeys, guineas, stuff like this, don't even consider getting them. They carry enough disease that doesn't bother them at all, but will kill these birds within a week or two.
there's a reason only 3 people in all of the US have them, and I think of those, Virgil is the only who can get them to produce.

Don't want to be a downer, but it's just the truth about this species of fowl.... save them for the pros that deal with extreme care exotics....

 

[casportpony]

Even regular turkeys and peafowl can be difficult to raise with chickens, so i completely understand.

-Kathy

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Even regular turkeys and peafowl can be difficult to raise with chickens, so i completely understand.

-Kathy

very true, not a lot of folks seem to agree with that. But put a nice group of Java peafowl, or Tragopan pheasants around a mixed up barn yard flock and see what eventually happens.

Domestic fowl have had centuries to build up resistance to common poultry diseases. They can carry it now and not even show signs of it.
But these fragile, wild birds don't have as strong of an immune system. and ocellated turkeys even less due to how few are even in captivity.