Newborn turkey poults need to be fed 28% protein gamebird crumble ration preferably out of a feeder that they can’t climb into.  As soon as they are almost mature, you can begin weaning them from 28% protein down to 20% protein. Once they are completely mature, slowly switch them to approximately 17-18% protein for the rest of their lives. Most feed stores don’t carry 18% protein, they only carry 16 and 20% protein, so you can mix those two together to get what you need. 

There are many ways to feed your turkeys. One way is to fill a pan every morning and evening with enough grain. Each adult heritage turkey eats approximately .60-.65 pounds of grain per day; however, the larger and faster you want them to grow, you can feed them up to about 1 lb. a day. We suggest feeding them less in the morning and more at night. If they are still hungry after their breakfast, they will graze more during the day. At night if they are not very hungry after grazing all day, they will eat less, and that will save you money on feed.

Depending on your goals, you can purchase different types of feeders. We suggest 20" Rubber Pans. Fill the feed container with the amount of food your turkeys will need for that day and night. The more turkeys you have, the more pans you will need. Some turkeys are more aggressive than other, so some of the turkeys will refuse to let others eat. If you have multiple pans, all of the turkeys will be able to eat. If you can build things yourself, you may want to build your turkeys a wooden trough that is 5-10 ft long and about 6" wide. Another option is to fill a large feeder if you have little time to feed your large flock. We sell 800, 400, 300 and 50 pound feeders. Still another option is to bring out barrels/sacks of grain for a large flock and dump it in the field. This encourages grazing.