Feeding turkeys at home 

The main task that the owners of turkeys set for themselves is to fatten them for meat. It is light, useful, is on a par with dietary products. Turkey meat does not cause an allergic reaction. Useful turkey meat for people regardless of age.

Poultry farmers who have just started breeding this poultry often wonder what to feed turkeys, what can be given, and what feeds are undesirable, what should be the composition of the food. No less questions about the norms of feeding adult birds and babies. We will try to tell you as much as possible about the rules for feeding turkeys at home.

What meat breeds of turkeys are the most popular

How much does an adult bird weigh? No one will give a definite answer to this question. To get a large number of products, you need to choose the right food not only for turkeys, but also decide on the breed. Most often, their choice is stopped on such popular birds:

1. North Caucasian bronzebecause they are able to live in any climate. To the question of how many kilograms an adult turkey grown at home weighs, you can answer this way: a male – up to 14 kg, a turkey within 8 kg.
2. White broad-chested. Productivity is high due to rapid weight gain. These turkeys are light, medium, heavy. An adult male, with proper fattening, can gain up to 25 kg, a female up to 10. These poultry are able to adapt to any climatic conditions. It is better to plan the slaughter of adults after reaching the age of six months: since growth slows down, therefore, the food will go into the void.
3. Bronze broad-chested. In addition to meat: from a turkey – 17-22 kg, females from 10 to 14 kg, you can get about 120 eggs per year. Although grazing is not for them. For this breed you need to prepare aviaries.
4. Moscow bronze and white. These powerful turkeys have a high reproductive rate. With the proper organization of the diet of this breed of turkeys, you can fatten a male up to 13 kilograms, and a female up to 7. The birds are unpretentious, they eat both dry food and a petty bourgeois. The survival rate of turkeys is high.

Features of feeding

Now let’s move on to the question of how to properly and how to feed turkeys at home. Bird food is often prepared by the owners themselves. The diet needs to be diversified. Feeding turkeys at home has its own characteristics and rules:

1. A variety of food should be given at least three times, sometimes four. In the evening they give dry food: wheat, oats, barley. During the day, mixers will do.
2. Feeders are suitable for wet and dry food. Dry food should be added as needed. As for the mash, they are prepared shortly before feeding. If the turkeys do not eat the wet food completely, it should not be left. Sour mash can cause poisoning.
3. Females, in order to stimulate egg production and the possibility of obtaining fertilized eggs, need to eat in a special way. In addition to the usual food, the feeding ration is diversified: grain is germinated, protein, mineral supplements, B vitamins are introduced into the mash. A good result is the addition of yeast, freshly grated carrots, beets, pumpkins to the feed. As you can see, the right, nutritious food can always be prepared with your own hands.
4. In the summer, if the breed allows it, it is preferable to keep turkeys on a free range. They themselves will find the right food, it is already quite enough. Keeping and feeding is simplified, you do not need to constantly think about what kind of food to give your pets during the day.

   

5. Poultry farmers often ask themselves how much and what kind of food do birds need in winter? In fact, the same food, but you will have to work harder to harvest hay, leaves of various plants, and dry nettles. All this is added to the mash to increase the nutritional value of the feed and its fortification. In winter, be sure to add finely chopped pine or spruce needles.

As you can see, feeding turkeys at home, if you follow the rules, is quite acceptable.

What herb is beneficial

Let’s continue to talk about how to properly feed this proud bird. Novice turkey herd owners are wondering if grass is needed in the bird’s diet. Grass and greens must be given to turkeys. It is already offered to turkey poults for three days. Greens are finely chopped and introduced into the mixer. Kids especially like green onions – the best delicacy.

What else from garden greens can be fed:

1. Arrows of onion, garlic.
2. Cabbage leaves, dill.
3. Lettuce leaves, parsley.

When the turkeys are one month old, they hang the grass in bunches. Two-month-old pets can graze on their own. Almost all useful grass that can be given to these birds grows in the garden.

The picture shows useful plants.

Turkeys are happy to eat wild grass, great connoisseurs of dandelion, clover, quinoa, wood lice. Wormwood is needed to stimulate the digestive process.

If there are reservoirs nearby, then duckweed can be added to the mash, pondweed is a storehouse of trace elements.

Optimal feed for turkeys

Feeding turkeys at home should be taken seriously. Feed for turkeys should consist of grains and legumes, buckwheat, oats, barley, corn grains. Cereals supply the bird’s body with up to 70% of proteins, fats, and proteins. Amino acids can be replenished by introducing meal and cake into the diet.

Phosphorus, calcium, animal protein in the diet of a turkey are needed during fattening, like air. Therefore, in the composition of the feed you need:

• meat and bone and meat meal;
• fish and blood meal.

Dry and juicy (wet) foods containing fiber are necessary for adults. They are found in large numbers in hay, straw.

The diet of turkeys needs to be balanced. In the diet, it is necessary to provide feed containing a lot of fat. To get juicy and tender turkey meat, you need to add to the mash:

• vegetable oil;
• acorns;
• fat;
• walnuts.

Video on how to keep and feed turkeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE0Etj6cguI

Daily diet

You need to feed turkeys correctly, first of all, this concerns the daily diet. For example, every day 1 bird should receive 280 grams of various feeds. The table shows the balanced feeding rates for turkeys, starting from 1 day of age. It shows how much feed poultry should receive for full development.

When to fatten

Poultry farmers must know not only how to properly feed turkeys, but also the features of fattening before slaughter. You can cook poultry for meat from 4-5 months old, when the weight is at least 8-10 kg. They must receive a full ration and be kept in proper conditions.

Having outlined a bird for slaughter, at least a month in advance, you need to start feeding a lot of food. Most often, mass slaughter is carried out in August-October. Domestic turkeys spend more time on free grazing, saturate the body with vitamins and microelements. When fattening for meat, preference is given to compound feed and flour mash.

How much should turkeys eat during this period per 1 head: usually 800 g of feed, including a mash.

It is not necessary to use ready-made compound feed, you can independently prepare a nutritious feed mixture from:

• grains, chopped greens;
• beets, carrots, cabbage leaves;
• cottage cheese, milk;
• flour mixtures:
• fresh waste from fish, meat, eggshells.

Some breeders, when fattening, forcibly put specially prepared dumplings, dumplings into the bird’s beak. Birds can eat 250 grams of them. This technique is not so simple, it requires experience. For beginners who are just starting to learn the basics of growing and fattening, it is better not to use this option.

In addition to food, they must always have clean water.

Before slaughtering a turkey, it is left for 12 hours in a dark room, they do not give food, but drink plenty.

Instead of a conclusion

Novice poultry farmers make many mistakes when growing turkeys. Our tips will help you avoid them:

1. Turkeys at any age should be kept separate from other poultry.
2. Before you acquire living creatures, you should prepare a place for them to live, stock up on inventory.
3. Find out how much food to buy.
4. Turkey poults and adults are fed differently.

But most importantly, you need to calculate your own strength. Self-confident – forward and with a song!