Turkeys are, of course, the largest farm bird of all bred by domestic farmers. The advantages of these birds, among other things, include very fast growth and relative unpretentiousness. Keeping turkeys in the courtyard is usually beneficial. But care for such a bird, of course, should be provided with the highest quality. The conditions for growing turkeys should be created as good as possible.
How to choose a breed
To maintain turkeys, the owner of the household or the farmer will, of course, have to build a suitable barn. Also for the bird will need to develop the right diet. But first of all, the farmer, of course, should decide on the breed most suitable in this particular case.
Selection work with turkeys has been carried out for centuries. And today there are many good breeds of this bird. For example, if desired, the owner of a private household can have turkeys in the courtyard:
Bronze broad-chested. Males of this breed are capable of gaining weight up to 15 kg, turkeys - up to 9 kg. Farmers usually get up to 120 eggs from one such bird per year. Some disadvantage of the bronze broad-chested is only the inability to grazing.
North Caucasian Bronze. Growing turkeys of this breed is profitable already because they are capable of gaining weight up to 14 kg. At the same time, a North Caucasian bronze bird can bring up to 80 eggs per season. The turkeys of this breed are very well adapted to grazing.
White broad-chested. The bird of this breed is classified as heavy, medium and light. White-breasted turkeys in some cases reach a weight of as much as 25 kg, females - 10 kg. The eggs of this breed carry up to 120 eggs. for the season.
Sometimes modern hybrids of this bird species are also grown on farms and farmsteads. For example, the BIG-6 turkey is very popular at the moment in Russia. The weight of such a male can reach 25 kg, females - 11 kg. Thus, when growing broiler turkeys of this variety, you can get a lot of meat. But unfortunately, BIG-6 is somewhat more whimsical in terms of care and feeding than ordinary thoroughbred birds.
In addition, the farmer who breeds such turkeys will not be able to independently procreate from them. The BIG-6 males weigh so much that they cannot even cover the females. Therefore, chicks of this hybrid are usually obtained by artificial insemination.
What should be a barn
Actually, the rules for raising turkeys for meat are relatively simple. First of all, a comfortable room should be arranged for this bird. A barn intended for keeping turkeys must first be:
- spacious enough;
- clean
- well ventilated;
- warm.
You can build a barn for turkeys, for example, from inexpensive foam concrete or make it frame-panel. In any case, the walls of such a building should be warm enough. It is absolutely optional to heat turkey poultry. The optimum temperature for keeping this bird in the winter season is from -3-5 ° .
Ventilation in the barn must be ensured to exclude the possibility of dampness. In a room with stagnant air, the bird will certainly begin to hurt, which will make the cultivation of turkeys for meat an unprofitable and unprofitable business. In a small house, to ensure high-quality ventilation, a pair of windows with window leaves will be enough. In a turkey poultry farm of a considerable area, it is worth additionally making a supply hole in the wall and installing a hood.
Windows in turkey poultry are not worth leading to the south side. This bird really does not like heat. Oddly enough, turkeys even get sick more often at elevated temperatures than at lower ones. The windows in the room for such living creatures should be done on the east or west side.
Materials for covering the walls and floor of the house, designed for growing turkeys at home, should be selected environmentally friendly. Walls made of foam in the barn should be plastered and whitewashed. Floors in turkey poultry houses are usually stuffed with wood. At the same time, sawdust of soft wood is laid on top of the flooring.
Turkeys are a rather shy bird. In a state of panic, under the condition of heavy weight, she can easily be injured. Sawdust on the floor, therefore, will subsequently become not only a heater, but also a kind of shock absorber that does not allow the bird to injure itself in a crush.
During the season, turkeys usually do not clean the litter. To prevent infection with infectious diseases in the shed, new ones are periodically sprinkled on top of the contaminated sawdust. They usually clean the floor in turkey poultry only once per season - after slaughtering the bird.
The area of the shed for turkeys is chosen based on the fact that one adult needs 1 m 2 of free space for full development. It is allowed to place chicks per 1 m 2 up to 5 pcs.
How to equip a barn
Growing turkeys, like chickens, involves the mandatory use of perches. You can make them, for example, from the pole. As for chickens, the first tier of perches for turkeys is set at a height of about 80 cm from the floor. The topmost one should not reach the ceiling at the same distance. Horizontal perches should not be installed closer than 25 cm to the wall. Turkeys are a large bird. And sitting on a perch located too close to the wall will be very inconvenient for them.
Growing turkeys at home for meat is usually the most profitable business. It is the broiler bird of this variety that farmers contain most often. But many breeds of turkeys, as already mentioned, are capable of carrying a fairly large number of eggs. Therefore, in the shed for this bird, among other things, of course, it is worth installing a fairly large number of nests. You can make them, for example, from timber and plywood.
For 4-5 turkeys in the house, one nest is supposed to be installed. To place the boxes for eggs knocked down from plywood and a beam should be at a height of about 80 cm. It is, of course, best to stuff them next to perches. In this case, it will be much more convenient for the bird to enter them.
The size of the nests for turkeys should be large enough. In any case, the bird should not feel shy in them. At the bottom of each box you need to put a thick layer of hay. Ahead, under the inlet in each nest, a crossbar should be filled to prevent the eggs from rolling out.
The success of growing broiler turkeys at home largely depends, of course, on their proper feeding. Such a bird should receive food ad libitum. In turkey sheds, therefore, of course, a sufficient number of feeders should also be installed. You can make such containers, for example, from tin or plywood.
It is best to center the turkey feeders in the turkey barn. This will minimize the risk of crush and injury during feeding. As drinking bowls for turkeys, you can use, for example, old pots or, even better, heavy cast-iron ducklings. In order for the bird not to overturn such containers, they should be additionally fixed with something.
Do I need an aviary?
According to the rules, when growing broiler turkeys, as well as chickens, it is necessary to equip a walk near the barn. This site is best located on the east or west side of the building. On the south side, the bird will most likely be too hot in the summer. When walking on the north side, turkeys will not be able to get the amount of sunlight needed to produce vitamin D in their body. And this, in turn, can cause rickets.
Turkey fencing is usually enclosed by an inexpensive net-chain-link. The height of the fence around the walking area should be significant - at least 2 m. It is also advisable to stretch a nylon net or, for example, a metal masking over the walk. This will protect young turkeys from attack by a bird of prey.
In the enclosure, of course, in the summer, feeders and drinking bowls should also be installed. In addition, in a walk for turkeys, it is advisable to make a light canopy. In this case, the bird will have an additional opportunity to hide in the heat from the scorching rays of the sun.
In order for the turkeys to freely enter the paddock, a wide hole should be cut in the wall of the barn. In order to avoid the penetration of ferrets or foxes at night, this hole must be equipped with a reliable door with hinges with a hook.
What you should know about
Turkeys are a strong, powerful bird, and, moreover, quite aggressive. In a herd of such economic living creatures, a hierarchy is necessarily established. Keeping turkeys in the same room and walking with another bird is highly discouraged. Conflicts when dividing the territory with roosters or drakes can lead to the death of the latter. For turkeys, you should definitely build your own barn. Well, or at least reliably separate them from another bird. These birds should be planted necessarily, in order to avoid losses, and by age groups.
Growing broiler turkeys has another nuance. Unfortunately, sometimes the males of this bird can attack people. However, their strikes are often very painful. Therefore, the owners of the compound should ensure the safety of children on the site, excluding their access to turkey poultry or aviary.
Among other things, at a young age, turkeys must cut their wings. This bird, and this applies to both males and females, unfortunately, can fly very well. The turkeys should be trimmed with fly feathers, placing the wing to fly away in the sun. If this is not done, the females will subsequently begin to fly into fruit trees, fences, etc. Turkeys can even leave the area by air.
Features of the development of the diet
Turkeys are fed almost the same as chickens when they are raised. That is, they offer them concentrates - cereals, animal feed and greens. Small turkeys are fed with curd and chopped egg. Moreover, it is believed that the sooner food is offered to the chicks after hatching, the more strong and healthy they will subsequently grow. 3-5-day-old turkeys, in addition to eggs and cottage cheese, you can start to give more greens.
Matured young animals in the summer should also be offered daily fresh cut grass. For nutritional purposes, farmyard owners usually mix it with wheat bran. This bird eats such food very willingly.
When growing turkeys for fattening, they are usually given only wheat or special compound feeds as concentrates. To producers, in most cases, they offer a mixture of grain from this crop with oats and barley. Such turkeys, of course, should not be too thick. Otherwise, they will not be able to fulfill their responsibilities to increase the herd.
How to contain turkey poults
In the early days of the newborn chicks of this fowl, they are kept in boxes with a fabric bottom at a temperature of 36 ° C. It is impossible to break such a regime. It is believed that it is the thermal factor that is the basis for the cultivation of turkey poults at home. Heating and lighting of boxes with newly hatched chicks should be carried out using incandescent lamps.
A temperature of 36 ° C with the content of turkeys should be maintained for the first 10 days. Further, it must be gradually reduced. In 1 month, the chicks are kept at a temperature of +25 ° , from two to seven months - +20 ° .
The first two days of chicks are kept under round-the-clock lighting. Further daylight hours begin to reduce. This should be done gradually. Starting from the 20th day, daylight hours when growing broiler poults should be 15 hours.
Disease prevention
Most farmyard owners consider turkeys to be pretty frail. To farmers who begin to grow turkeys because of the case, it sometimes seems a thankless task. Unfortunately, such birds are ill, unfortunately, quite often. However, to avoid losses in the maintenance of such a bird, of course, it is still possible.
So that there is no attack, the owners of a turkey farm should take approximately the following preventive measures:
- from the first to the sixth day, turkey poultry should be soldered with vitamins, for example, “Aminovital”, preparing a solution at the rate of 1 pinch of the drug per liter of water;
- from 6 to 10 days a turkey should be given "Furazolidone" in a small amount for the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases;
- from 15-20 days it is advisable for the chicks to give Amprolium as a prophylactic against coccidia.
Before releasing young animals, it is necessary to offer ASD-2 in order to avoid the development of fungal diseases. 40-day-old turkeys are given Metronidazole. This medicine is a good way to prevent histomonosis. The bird should solder a solution of this product, prepared from 4 tablets per liter of water for 4 days. Such a prophylaxis should be carried out. It is because of histomonosis that turkeys in private households, unfortunately, die most often.
Egg incubation
Growing turkeys at home for beginner farmers can seem pretty complicated. But with the exact observance of the technology for keeping such a bird, even the most inexperienced poultry breeder can succeed in this matter. Moreover, to breed such a bird in the courtyard is quite possible, including a novice farmer.
Turkeys of many modern breeds are capable of hatching and nursing the chicks themselves. However, most often the farmers livestock are, of course, still increased with the help of an incubator. Obtaining turkey chicks artificially is usually no more difficult than chickens.
For good fertilization, eggs in the yard for 5 females usually leave 1 male. In order for the bird to want to breed, the daylight hours in the barn are extended to 14 hours. So that the instinct of incubation does not arise in the turkeys, they try to clean the eggs from the nests on time.
Incubators for breeding chicks of this bird are used in most cases, ordinary chicken. To remove turkey poultry, choose eggs:
- clean
- without shell defects;
- with a shell on which frequent specks are noticeable;
- the correct form.
Do not use eggs with green or blue spots, spherical, too long, too small or large for incubation. The size of all eggs selected should be approximately the same. Otherwise, the hatchability of the chicks will not be too good.
The laying in the incubator may be made no later than 10 days after the eggs are laid. Eggs are supposed to be stored in a room with an air temperature of 8-12 ° C and a humidity of about 80%. They should not be left in direct sunlight.
The artificial turkey puffing mode looks like this:
- From 1 to 8 days, the eggs are kept at a temperature of 37.7-38 ° C and humidity - 55-65%. At the same time, they are turned over 6 times a day.
- From 8 to 14 days, the temperature is reduced to 37.6 ° C, and humidity - to 45-55%. The number of coups is saved. At the same time, the eggs begin to air 1-2 times a day for 10 minutes.
- From 15 to 25 days, the temperature is maintained in the region of 37.5 ° C, humidity - 55%. The number of coups is reduced to 4. Air eggs during this period 4 times a day for 10 minutes.
At the final stage of incubation, the temperature is reduced to 37.2 ° C, and the humidity is increased to 70%. Turn over and ventilate turkey eggs in recent days is not necessary.
Slaughter Rules
What are the conditions for growing turkeys, we thus found out. But how to slaughter such a bird? The main method of killing turkeys, like chickens, is a sharp separation of the head from the body. The jugular vein located about 3 cm below the ear should be cut in the specimen during slaughter. After slaughtering, it is advisable to hang the bird upside down for some time. Before plucking, the carcass is scalded with boiling water. After cutting, the meat is first allowed to cool for several hours and only after that it is placed in the freezer.
Turkeys are usually killed at the age of 4 months. Since that time, the bird consumes a lot of food and at the same time slowly gaining weight.