Feeding and care for turkey at home

The presence of turkeys in the birdy yard now no one is surprised. They are grown for the sake of dietary meat.Low cholesterol, a number of vitamins and amino acids provides easy digestibility of turkey meat.An adult takes on live weight up to 20-30 kg. However, they are still not as popular as chickens or geese. Why?

The reason lies in the fact thatturkeys are more prone to disease than another bird, in the need to provide them with a large territory for walking. And the turkeys themselves are big in size. Many, especially the hostesses, are afraid to look after them due to fear of being bitten by these "monsters".

This article will talk about proper care, feeding, treatment of possible diseases of turkeys at home.

The content of turkeys in industrial production and domestic conditions

Given that the turkey is a large broad-chested bird, keeping them at home has its own specifics.In industrial productionsometimes apply a cellular method of breeding them.In the home- almost always prefer walking.

Cellular method

It is used only for poultry of light breeds. This is directly related to their live weight. In one cell, no more than two heads are held. The males are separated from the females.Grow turkeys to a maximum of 4 months of age. It is advisable to keep the young in the cages for sale up to the age of one and a half months.

Its advantages:

• saves spacedue to the possibility of keeping in 2 tiers. With this method, the cells are placed along the aisles. The efficiency of the use of the area is doubled;
• by saving spaceThe livestock in one house can be increased by, times;
• the bird is easier to maintain, increases the productivity of staff.

The disadvantages of this content are much greater. This is the reason that this method is not widely used:

• decreases the intensity of growthyoung after a month of age;
• reproduction is decliningin males and females;
• there is a weakening of the leg musclesdue to limited space. Because the bird has a lot of weight, the muscles need periodic physical exertion;
• wings break, since their range is large, and the area of ​​content is limited;
• Turkeys andturkeys are more exposed to stress, and become fearful, from a sharp knock raise general hysteria, fight in cages and quite often, breaking open the doors, fall to the floor, get injured bones;
• Needlesslyfat is stored in the liver.

Baking way

With this method of breeding, the bird feels better. It differs little from the contents of chickens or geese. Apply open-air and free-flight way.

Outdoor paddock

This is the optimal version of the content. But it requires a constant presence of a person. With this method, in the daytime, a herd of turkeys is released into the streets for grazing grounds unsuitable for agriculture. Slowly driven birds find food for themselves, which is not limited to plants only.Turkeys will peck almost everything that comes in the way:insects, including those harmful to crops, mouse-voles, other small animals. When the heat comes (if walking is carried out in summer), the herd hides in the shade of trees or abandoned buildings.With the onset of puberty, males are separated from femalesand graze separately. The main part of the diet consists of grass and grain. It is possible to release an open-cut bird for a bird when it reaches the age of six months.

Advantages of this method of content:

• the overallreproduction;
• disease susceptibility declinesdue to the strengthening of immunity;
• reduce the cost of feedingby eating green mass;
• improves the health of birdsbecause there is a daily exercise and a systematic load on the muscles;
• increases the intensity of growthchickens;
• not requiredno additional investment.

Disadvantages:

• with this method of walking constantlyrequires human presence.

An open-air method

An enclosure for turkeys is done in the same way as for keeping chickens or geese.The main difference- the size of the enclosure should be large. It is built at a rate of 10 square meters per head. I.e,to contain 20 heads, you need to protect the plot of 200 square meters.

If possible, two equal sections are fenced off. They are periodically changed for grazing and walking. If there is no free area, then it is advisable to leave the area of ​​10 m2 for one head, not cut, divide into two parts for the rotation of the site.The bird in this case is fed freshly mown grass.During the light day in hot weather, turkeys are driven either into the room, or equipped with awnings to create a shadow. Feeders and drinkers are also placed there.

Small turkeys: how to feed and care to grow a healthy offspring

It is not harder to care for turkeys than for other poultry.You do not need to build special rooms for their maintenance.Use poultry houses left after chickens, geese.Main condition- The room should be spacious. At an altitude of 70-80 cm from the floor, we establish roosts from thick wooden beams. At an altitude of 50-60 cm, we make nests for turkeys in remote places of the house. Feeders and drinking bowls are installed.

To obtain offspringFirst we build nests for turkeys from hay and straw. On the bottom we put small branches for giving rigidity of the form of a wreath. If there are several nests, they must be fenced off from each other as high as possible. The turkeys are not allowed to enter the nests. If the turkey left the eggs for food, watch them not to cool. To do this, slightly covered with straw.

Turkeys hatch not in one day. Therefore, the newborn chicks are removed from the nest in a separate box. If necessary, we fix the lamp. We create the necessary microclimate at the expense of the heater, becausethe appearance of nestlings occurs in the spring, rarely in the fall. After all the turkeys hatched, they are returned to the turkey.

We make sure that there are no drafts in the room to make it light,temperature regimein summer time- not above + 25,in the winter- not below +5 degrees. To lower the temperature of the air we use ventilation, ventilation. To maintain heat in winter, we produce insulation of windows and doors. In very cold winter periods, we also heat the room.

Feeding turkeys, ration tables, daily rate and correct diet

In connection with the recruitment of large live weight (up to 20-30 kg) during their lifetimeturkeys need a lot of food. First of all, in a balanced diet, only the newly emerged turkey need.

In order to grow a healthy offspring, you can feed in plenty, but you can by norms, but the normalized type of fattening is more suitable for feeding by ready balanced feeds.

Norms for feeding turkeys:

In the early days

In the first hours of hatched turkeysit is necessary to drink clean water with the addition of glucose.After 8-10 hoursThe daily chicks are fed a finely crushed boiled egg. Watch to ensure that there are no large lumps. To reduce the moisture content of the feed, you can add corn flour or wheat bran. It is better to put the food on a rag so that it draws out excess moisture. Up to a week of ageturkeys are also fed with grated low-fat cottage cheese, with the addition of a large amount of grass in the diet: dandelion, mocryca, spurge, finely chopped green onion. Gradually turn to feeding with mesques of millet, wheat derti. We make sure that the food is not too wet. Otherwise, the turkey will develop an upset stomach, which is dangerous at their age. We give barley and oats as an independent food. Food at such an early age for turkeys is given with a frequency of every three hours. For barnacles make a separate feeder, for dry food should be its own. We make sure that there is always fresh water in the water bowls.

From week to month of age

During this period, the turkeys intensively grow and gain weight. They are active, running around, eagerly eating everything they are given. Gradually increase the share of green mass in the total composition, bringing it to 30% of the total food. Greens can be finely chopped, mixing with dry food. They also give pure greens. It is better to feed in this period a balanced feed composition.At two weeks of ageadd to the chalk feed, bone meal. In the water we add manganese in such a way that the solution is not pink. During this period, turkeys are fed every 4 hours. With good feeding to the age of a month, the young grow up to two kilos in weight.

From one month to two

During this period, the young are fed only three times a day. This is due to the fact that their activity falls.In order not to accumulate fat, stop adding fodder to the diet. The main emphasis is on grain and grain wastes, green mass, bran, crushed corn, dry residues of animal origin. Let's wet the mash, increasing the amount of protein feed: this is minced meat waste or inexpensive fish, etc. By the onset of hot turkey weather, they reach a two-month age and gain decent weight.

After two months before slaughter

The diet in this period of life does not differ from the previous one.We increase the share of grain and grain waste in the total mass. We translate the bird for a walking exercise. About it is told above. Adult turkeys for reproduction are kept up to two and a half years old, turkeys for breeding chicks - up to three years of age.If the purpose of cultivation is the sale of meat, it is advisable to fatten the livestock up to five months of age. With the onset of autumn, the natural growth of herbs decreases. To replenish it is necessary to increase the share of grain. The economic effect of growing is reduced.

Feeding diets

Approximate rations of turkey feedingare shown in Table. 1-3.

Table 1.Approximate ration of feeding turkeys, g per head per day (1st option)

Table 2.Approximate ration of feeding turkeys, g per head per day (2nd option)

Table 3.Approximate ration of feeding turkeys, g per head per day (3rd option)

Diseases of turkeys: symptoms, treatment and prevention of diseases

In the process of life turkeys need not only in the room, food, but alsoprotection from disease.

The main ones are:

• Smallpox:a contagious disease manifested in the refusal of a bird to eat and drink, turkeys become inactive, feathers are disheveled, wings hang.Infect from another sick bird, flies, mosquitoes.Infected individuals should be destroyed and burned, and healthy vaccinated with embryonovaccine. As a prophylaxis of turkeys at the sixth week of life, this preparation is vaccinated.

• Worms:pests that inhabit the individual, affecting the digestive organs and respiratory tract. The bird begins to lose weight.Sources of infection:soil, other infected poultry, feed. Methods of struggle: the use of piperazine sulfate, phenothiazine.Preventive measures:treatment of the premises with sanitary and hygienic means.
• Respiratory Mycoplasmosis:bacteriological disease covers the respiratory tract, the mucous membrane of the eye becomes inflamed. Turkeys lose their orientation, walk around staggering. Without treatment, individuals can die. The disease infects a healthy bird through contact with sick people.Occurrence is promoted by decrease in immunity owing to unbalanced feeding and the wrong maintenance(supercooling of individuals, high humidity and dirt in the room).Ways of struggle:in the diet for a week, add chlorotetracycline or oxytetracycline at a rate of 4 grams per 10 kg of feed. Antibiotics erythromycin, levomycetin and streptomycin also save.Prevention:balanced food, the room is kept clean, constantly airing it.
• Tuberculosis:the most dangerous disease due to the scale of the defeat of the livestock. All respiratory organs are affected. The bird practically does not eat, sits in one place, suffers.The source of infection is dirty waterinfected with a tubercle bacillus inventory and litter. It is recommended to destroy the infected bird urgently.The best way to fight- the presence of direct sunlight into the room and fresh air. The poultry is left uninhabited and open. The livestock is transferred to another place.

• Histomonosis:affects the cecum of the bird, other organs of digestion.Symptoms:turkeys begin to vilify, rapidly lose their weight. It is urgent to separate the infected bird from the healthy one. The room is cleaned and disinfected. Furazolidone, sersolsol or phenothiazine are added to the feed.Cause of the disease- in a dirty room and no disinfection after the previous inhabitants.
• Solid goiter:the cause lies in an unbalanced diet, the composition of which is limited to solid food. It is necessary to add chalk, gravel and shell stones to the diet so that the grain in the goiter is better processed. The bird is slaughtered for meat. It is not contagious.
• Hypovitaminosis:In diseased birds, eyes become inflamed, rickets develop.The body lacks vitamins. When a disease occurs, injections are made from a complex of vitamins.
• Diarrhea:the cause of the disease is viral diseases, direct contact with parasites, as well as eating foods of inadequate quality. If the diarrhea is brown, then the young turkeys do not fit a certain food product.If the color of excrement is whiteAre signs of an infectious disease of a callus.Ways of struggle:Drinking decoction of chamomile or a solution of potassium permanganate, if it does not help, is treated with antibiotics.
• Diseases of the feet:arise because of the content of the bird in a confined space (in cages, small poultry houses). It is manifested in the fact that the diseased turkeys fall to their feet. Another reason for the disease is a lack of calcium-containing foods in the diet.Prevention:in the food add eggshells, chalk, shells, less - soy, fat, a limited amount of corn. Arthritis in turkeys is a result of an overabundance in the diet of proteins.

• Newcastle disease:infection. As a result, paralysis of the lower extremities occurs. Against this disease vaccination is carried out. But not always, and it helps.Prevention:addition in the diet of mineral and vitamin supplements, fresh herbs, cottage cheese (for turkeys).
• Runny nose (rhinitis):its main causes are hypothermia, a lack of vitamins. Exceptions are vitamins A and D. Also, the cause of rhinitis in turkeys can be a poorly ventilated room in which they contain.Treatment and prevention:there are cases when the runny nose of turkeys quickly passes if they are placed in a warm dry room and continue treatment of turkeys with infusion or broths of dill (seeds). You can also give them an infusion made of violets, or from the leaves and berries of strawberries. But it is recommended to wipe the beak and nostrils with a pen moistened in salt water. For this solution, you need to take a glass of water and one teaspoon of salt. After this procedure, you should smear the beak with boric fat.

Breeding turkeys as a business is not yet developed enough. And after allTogether with dietary meat we get an egg, fluff, feather. With a competent approach to the matter, a dozen heads of such a bird will suffice to provide the family with meat and its sale in order to compensate for material costs. The increase in the number of livestock entails a good net profit.