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It seems to many that breeding turkeys at home is incredibly difficult. After all, turkeys are quite demanding birds that get sick easily and, as a result, grow slowly. But in fact, with well-organized care, keeping turkeys will not cause much trouble. The first thing to do for this is to organize a turkey house or poultry house for turkeys. It is on this that the health, optimal growth and egg production of turkeys will depend.
Basic requirements for a turkey house
Building a turkey shed is not as difficult as designing one. Indeed, for a normal life, this bird needs not just a comfortable chicken coop, but a full-fledged house.
A do-it-yourself barn for turkeys, the photo of which is placed below, has the optimal size for keeping a small population of turkeys.
For the normal growth and development of turkeys in a built house, there should be:
- Dry and cool. The optimum humidity will be 65-70%. The temperature regime should change depending on the season. So, in summer the temperature in the house for turkeys should be between +18 and +20 degrees, and in winter it should not be higher than -3 and not lower than -5 degrees. High humidity, coupled with high air temperature, can cause frequent illnesses in turkeys. In addition, under such conditions, mold and rot may appear on the walls of the chicken coop;
- Properly arranged lighting. At the same time, it is important not only to install additional artificial lighting, but also to provide turkeys with natural light, for example, through a window or opening elements;
- Purely. The turkey house should be cleaned regularly. Particular attention should be paid to the bedding on the floor. It should never be raw. To do this, its top layer must be updated daily, and a complete change should be carried out only in autumn and spring.
In order to make it easier to comply with the conditions for keeping turkeys, the house must be properly designed. The following parameters should be well thought out in it:
- ventilation;
- floors, walls and windows;
- roosts;
- feeders and drinkers;
- aviary.
Let’s consider each of them in more detail.
Ventilation
The turkey does not like extreme heat, but the cold will not do her any good either. In addition, the turkey is very sensitive to drafts, from which it becomes very easily ill. Therefore, in order to maintain the optimal temperature regime, as well as to prevent stagnation of air in the room for turkeys, ventilation must be well thought out.
In most cases, a ventilation duct with a valve is used for this. It is he who will be the main part of the entire ventilation system. The optimal dimensions of the box will be 25×25 cm. It should be placed directly on the ceiling.
Otherwise, they may fall on the turkeys, causing serious injury or even death.
Putting such ventilation for a turkey house with your own hands is not at all difficult. You can learn more about this from the video:
Floors, walls and windows
The floors are almost the main part of the entire poultry house for turkeys. Birds walk on them almost all day, so they must be:
- even;
- smooth;
- warm.
It is not difficult to make a flat and smooth floor surface for turkeys at home. But how to provide the floors with the necessary warmth? To do this, it is necessary to have a floor covering at least 20–25 cm from the ground. It is this height that will prevent the floor from freezing in winter, thereby ensuring its desired temperature regime.
Artificial lighting alone will not be enough for turkeys, so the windows in the house are an important detail. Without sufficient daylight, turkeys will start to get sick, which means that one window for the whole house will not be enough.
When calculating the required number of windows for a turkey house, as well as their layout, you must use a simple trick. Its essence is to imagine how the corners of the poultry house will be illuminated in the daytime with one or another arrangement of windows. If all corners are fully illuminated, then the number of windows and their layout are chosen correctly. In this case, each adult bird or reared turkey poult will receive the amount of light they need and will actively grow.
The walls of the turkey house must also satisfy certain conditions:
- be warm;
- even.
In addition, there should be special holes in the walls of the turkey house – manholes. They are needed so that the turkeys can freely enter the aviary for a walk. In most cases, a hole with dimensions of 50×50 cm will be enough for turkeys. But if the breeder plans to keep large breeds of turkeys, then the size of the hole needs to be increased.
It is most rational to place manholes for turkeys under the windows. Moreover, each of the passages must be closed with double doors to protect the turkeys from drafts.
Perches
Each turkey house must have roosts for turkeys. It is recommended to place perches in the back, warmest, part of the turkey house. In order not to injure the turkeys, the perch should have a smooth structure. In order to make cleaning the turkey house easier, many breeders make the perches removable.
All perches for turkeys should be located at different levels. Most often they are installed in the form of a pyramid, where the bottom step is 80 cm from the floor, and the top step is 80 cm from the ceiling.
Making perches with your own hands is quite simple. To do this, you need to take wooden bars and place them half a meter apart from each other.
Feeders and drinkers
Of the variety of turkey feeders, the most suitable are:
- feeders in the form of a trough;
- trough feeders.
Choosing a feeder for turkeys should be based on their size. The larger the turkey, the larger its feeder should be, and vice versa.
At the same time, different feeders should be provided for different feeds. So, for dry food, it is better to use trough feeders, which are recommended to be hung at the level of the turkey’s back. But the feeders for mineral feed should be located 40 cm from the floor.
As for drinkers, for the convenience of turkeys, they should be hung at the height of their necks. At the same time, it is better to cover the drinkers themselves with a net.
Voliary
An aviary or pen for turkeys is an integral part of every turkey house. Therefore, in the calculation of the area under the house for turkeys, it is necessary to include the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe aviary. The turkey is a fairly active bird, and the more birds you plan to keep, the larger the aviary should be.
Turkeys fly well, so the enclosure must have not only walls, but also a ceiling. They should be made of metal mesh with small cells. In addition, it is desirable to sow the land in the aviary with useful perennials, such as clover or alfalfa. You can also use annuals: peas, oats – but they will have to be updated every year. Drinkers can be placed in the aviary. This will be especially true for the summer keeping of turkeys.
A turkey house built with all these recommendations in mind will become a real home for turkeys. In it, they will feel comfortable, which means they will grow well and actively lay eggs.