How to raise a turkey and avoid major mistakes

What is required for growing turkeys, we will tell right now

There is an opinion that rearing a turkey requires more effort than with any other poultry. In fact, by applying the right approach from the beginning, you will quickly achieve success.

Follow the exact guidelines for turkey poults, not for chickens or ducks! In the case of day old turkey chicks, there is no way to correct the mistake, the chicks will not recover like ducklings from niacin drops, there will be no second chance.

One of the most common problems beginners face is how to get turkeys to start eating and drinking. Turkey chicks learn by observing adults being fed and watered.

So, make sure food and water are easily accessible and interesting enough to grab the attention of the little ones.

Put small multi-colored pebbles, shiny balls (large enough so that they cannot be swallowed) into the water, add tender leaves of young grass to the feed, and place feeders and drinkers throughout the brooder so that the chicks stumble on them everywhere the first time. You can scatter some of the food on the newspaper covering the floor, closer to the heating lamps. Clean sand will work even better than newspaper. Turkey poults willingly choose food from the warm sand.

Day-old turkey chick food, also called emergency ration, is a mixture of 50-50 oatmeal and cornmeal, beaten in a food blender until pureed or crumbled. But you can give it no more than one or two days, since it is not a complete food. Then the birds are transferred to a starter feed with a protein content of not more than 28% for up to 8 weeks, then to a feed with a protein content of 24-26% for up to 6 months, and then to a feed with a protein content of 16% - 18% until slaughter.

But back to the chicks. If tricks with bright pebbles and sand did not help, it is worth resorting to force feeding in order to prevent the turkeys from weakening.

When force-fed, a mixture is made: milk at the rate of 100 ml per liter of water and one boiled egg at the rate of one egg per 10 heads, which compensates for the need for protein and energy. The egg crumb is taken out of the milk and very carefully inserted into the beak with your fingers. As a rule, after the first feeding, turkey poults follow the finger to both the feeder and the drinker.

Clean and cool water must be available at all times. You will know if you need a larger drinker if you have to fill it more than once a day. In no case should water be given in an open container - the chicks will get wet, which will lead to illness. For the first few days, place the drinker directly on the towel. Increase access as you grow. For example, put on a wire platform, then on bricks.

All turkeys should be in the brooder until they are fully feathered - warm and comfortable.

If everything is in order, the birds will be evenly distributed around the site. If they bunch up, then it's too cold. Chicks that are constantly on the edges of the hatching area are probably too hot and trying to get away from the heat source.

It is important to maintain a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius at the height of the chicks during the first week. After that, the temperature can be reduced by 5 degrees weekly by increasing the height of the infrared lamp, to ambient temperature.

From four to six weeks of age, chicks do not require additional heat. But do not let them out until they are fully feathered. Even so, at first the paddock is done in a small paddock attached to the brooder.

Make sure that there is always an opportunity to hide from the weather on the paddock. Young turkeys are very stress resistant, much worse than chickens, geese, or ducks, and exposure to rain is likely to be fatal.

With adult turkeys, there are much fewer problems. The only thing to watch out for is escapes and predators who are not averse to feasting on delicious prey.