Turkey Bird Rearing For A Beginner

Turkey has become the most consumed meat for the longest time though chicken has always been the number one meat to consume in family gatherings especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The meat is packed with iron, protein, vitamins and many more nutrients. The other fact about turkey meat is that it is low fat which makes it ideal for stewing and roasting.

There’s been hype for people to venture in turkey rearing because chicken rearing has become congested and very competitive.

Turkey rearing for a beginner requires intensive training and it would be ideal to visit a turkey farmer who has extensive experience in the field.

To start turkey farming, you need to be well informed on caring for the poults until they are full sized turkeys, the safest and proper housing, the types of feed required, diseases that are usually a problem to turkeys and how to manage them and many more.

Every new turkey farmer is advised to never allow the birds outside the caged litter because they fly and they might be lost and that would be a loss to the farmer either for commercial purposes or family feeding.

Know your breeds you want to start out with and be sure to know what triggers fear in them and how to get good produce. Be informed of the breed’s lifespan and keep dogs away from their cage and be on the lookout for preying scavengers by your neighbours and surroundings.

Turkey breeds – there are quite a number of breeds that are reared for meat and eggs, with some bred for selling as poults. Here are some of the breeds that a beginner may consider rearing;

Broad Breasted White / Auburn or Light Brown / Heritage / Bourbon Red / Narragansett / Midget White / Blue Slate / Bronze / Royal Palm.

With the breeds mentioned are good producers of meat and for beginner farmer it would be a good venture to try at least two of the breeds.

We wouldn’t want to rear different types of breeds at the same time and have no knowledge of the strain that will be produced.

Every beginner is advised to undergo thorough training and do proper research on each breed unless they are confident in trying to have a new strain in the pack.

Feed And Equipment

Turkeys are not fussy feeders because for family farming, they can be very helpful in deterring snakes and lizards in the compound and they feed on these.

The good thing about turkeys you can practise free range rearing system whereby they eat vegetation, weeds, grains and many more.

You may also feed your birds with pellets depending on the age of the turkey and supplements. With every feed, always provide sufficient clean water preferably using waterers.

Beginner farmers need to know that poults can be tricky when it comes to feeding and if not cared for, they will die.

How To Raise Turkeys. So, poults need to be force fed because of their poor eyesight and nervousness.

Feed them milk water and boiled eggs from a day old, and every feed of 100ml milk water and one boiled egg can be fed to 10 poults for at least 15 days.

Never feed turkeys raw peeled potatoes because they are not good for them.

Purchasing feeding equipment may be expensive for beginner farmers, so you are encouraged to improvise and use what is available like plastic 5 litre bottles cut into a feeder shape or use a plastic gutter either for feeding or drinking or 750ml bottle lids (mayonnaise bottle) and many more.

Be advised to use something that us easy to clean.

Turkey Housing And Management

Turkey must be kept in a caged litter or wattle to ensure their safety and to stop them from flying away, so make sure that their litter is secure.

Make a litter using available resources but it would be ideal to use bricks for the wall or uses recycled dog houses or erect a small barn or fence with small holes.

The birds will need to have a comfortable and absorbent ground which can be made by using straw or hay or shaved wood.

Frequently rake your litter material so that is doesn’t cake and change it when the turkeys are grown to full size.

Have another litter for the new poults and disinfect the old one and make sure no bird is kept in there at least for 2 weeks or dispose the litter compost in an area where the birds will not range at in a year or rather the compost for gardening.

You may construct your wattle or litter that can be moveable or stationed. The stationed one requires litter material yet the moveable one can be placed anywhere the birds will have access to feed on greens and insects on the ground.

These types of housing should have lighting provided for poults because just like chicks, they should be kept warm during the night.

Use infrared lighting and make sure the light is at least 30-40 cm above ground so that the heat is not too much for your poults.

Check on poults at night because there will form a stampede if the light is too hot or when crowding under the light to keep warm. The poults are kept in their own litter so it’s easy to manage and take them out in the open space for air and sunlight.

Free range poultry have a tendency of cannibalism and picking feathers, so clip the toes a little and trim the beak a bit when your poults are a day old. Debeaking may make it difficult to feed on pasture.

Catching And Handling Of Turkeys

Turkeys of all age group can be easily driven from one place to another with the help of a stick.

For catching turkeys a darkened room is best, wherein they can be picked up with both legs without any injury. However, mature turkeys should not be kept hanging for more than 3-4 minutes.

Natural Mating

The mating behaviour of tom (adult male) struts by spreading the wings and makes a peculiar sound frequently.

In natural mating the male; female ratio is 1:5 for medium type turkeys and 1:3 for large types. On average, 40-50 poults are expected from each breeder hen.

Toms are rarely used for mating after first year due to reduced fertility. There is a tendency in toms to develop affinity towards a particular female, so we have to change the toms for every 15 days.