»Turkey Farming Guide«
Turkeys are suitable for commercial egg and meat production and can also be raised as pets. Turkeys can increase the beauty of your home and reared for commercial livestock business purpose.
Some of the turkey breeds are bells fill, small white, black bourbon red, naren cassette, royal palm, slate etc. Turkey‘s incubation period is 28 days and the two methods of incubation are; natural incubation and the other is artificial incubation. Natural incubations can hatch 10-15 eggs. Artificial incubation eggs are hatched with the help of incubators and the atmosphere is set as temperature minus relative humidity. The turkey eggs should be turned at intervals daily.
Brooding procedure
Brooding period in turkey farming is 0-4 weeks and in winter, the brooding period will be up to 5-6 weeks. Turkey young ones need double hover space. The floor space requirement for 0-4 weeks is 1.5 square feet per bird and brooder house should be ready at least two days before their arrival.
Spreading litter material in a circular manner with a diameter of 2 metres. Temperature of around 950 fahrenheit followed by weekly reductions of 50 fahrenheit per week should be maintained.
Nutrition requirements
Each turkey needs 3.25kg of feed to gain 1 kg of body weight and you can add some extra amount of protein. Force feeding milk should be fed at the rate of 100 ml per liter of water and one boiled egg must be given at the rate of 1 per young ones up to 15 days to control mortality in young ones.
Turkeys become suitbale for slaughtering within six monthsof age whereby they will be weighing around 10-15 kg.
Housing and diseases
One acre fenced land can be used to rear 200-250 adult turkeys and shelter per bird is 3-4 square feet. In case of calcium deficiency, calcium supplement should be provided at a rate of 250 g per week per bird in form of oyster shell.
The recommended distance between the house should be 20 metres and the young stock house should be 50-100 metres away from the adult house. Some common diseases in turkeys are sonosis, blue corm disease, chronic respiratory disease, arrived sea palaces fall cholera, etc.
