Cris | Raising Turkey

The Essential Guide To Raising Turkeys Review

July 6, 2010 By Cris

If you are going to raise turkeys for either pleasure, food, or money, it is very important that you learn how to avoid the costly and deadly mistakes that many new turkey raisers have to endure.

A great guide I have found on raising turkeys is The Essential Beginners Guide To Raising Turkeys. It is loaded with a lot of information on everything from hatching turkey eggs to making sure that your turkeys stay fit and healthy. What I really like about it is that not only does it have the information you need but it is also easy to follow and comprehend.

Click here to visit the Essential Guide To Raising Turkeys website.

Another great guide I have found on raising turkeys is Poulty Health And Management. This is also a great book when it comes to managing and raising healthy turkeys. You don’t need both of them so just pick one or the other when you are ready to start your new adventure of raising turkeys.

Click Here To Check Out Poulty Health And Management

Turkey Care

July 5, 2010 By Cris

Turkeys are large birds part of either the Wild Turkey species or the Ocellated Turkey. Our domesticated turkey comes from the Wild Turkey group and this is the species eaten in The United States and Canada. Some people raise them to sell then change their minds once they have them as a pet. Turkey Care is fairly stress free.

As you Turkey Care, you must keep the turkeys separated from the chickens because the chicken might be carrying an organism that could potentially be fatal for turkeys.

Click Here To Learn How To Raise Turkeys Right The First Time!

In looking for your first group to raise, look out for crooked legs and look around for signs of any diarrhea. Many put antibiotics in the water so they don’t become dehydrated and die. Of course many raise them from the eggs with great success.

If you choose to be self sufficient, remember that all of the turkeys will need to be artificially inseminated because their breasts are too large.

The Turkey Care will vary some what depending on whether you are growing organic turkey or another type. Turkeys have a primitive brain and will eat any thing they can swallow! Try to provide healthy alternatives such as, commercial game, bird feed, acorns, seeds, small insects, wild berries and grass.

You’ll have to stick to the organic foods if you decide to go organic turkeys. Alfalfa has been highly recommended. Watch out for processed items and pay attention to any medications.

If you are looking to incubate their eggs, schedule to collect them three times a day. Don’t store them for more than a week. Remember to turn them at least three times daily. Their eggs hatch in twenty eight days. After about seven weeks, they can be outside and roam.

Turkeys are a staple for any holiday dinner or family gatherings. The turkey meat is delicious and healthy. It is recommended that for the best Turkey Care you raise a group of five turkeys.

Turkey is high in L-tryptophan, an amino acid. This what gives everyone the calm, relaxed feeling after eating a turkey dinner, just like the first Thanksgiving Dinner years ago.

The first few months require more attention but they are much easier to raise after that.

People love to eat turkey, especially free range. You can make a good profit selling your turkeys live or taking them to the butcher and have it prepped in freezer bags ready to cook or put in the freezer for later use.

If you would like to raise turkeys I would recommend reading one of two books. The first is How To Raise Turkeys. How To Raise Turkeys not only covers which foods to feed your turkeys but it covers a lot of other issues that are important to your turkeys health. It is a downloadable ebook and is well worth the read.

Click Here To Visit The How To Raise Turkeys Website.

Another great book worth checking out is Poulty Health And Management.

Click Here To Check Out Poultry Health And Management

Filed Under: Turkey Care Tagged With: turkey care

Turkey Farming

July 5, 2010 By Cris

There are essentially two different types of turkey farming out there. One farm is that which is used for profit, which is one of the more common. Then there are those who raise turkeys as a hobby. Whichever you are running, it is very important that you have the right housing, the right equipment, and the right feed.

Choosing the right housing is imperative to raising your turkeys properly. It would be a good idea to make sure your have about 100 square feet so that your turkeys have plenty of room to run. In addition tot hat it would be a good idea to have welded wire flooring as well as chicken wire on the sides and top. The metal grate flooring will allow your turkeys to produce waste without soiling the floor, but you could have a concrete floor if you wish.

Click Here To Learn How To Raise Strong Healthy Turkeys

On that note, it is never a good idea to use a wood floor when turkey farming simply because wood tends to absorb liquid, and quite honestly you will never get the smell out. In addition to that, you should have litter material. This will include bedding, straw, or even crushed corn cobs.

Heating your turkeys is also very important. If you have quite a few, then it would be best to heat them using a 250 watt lamp. Make sure that it is several feet off the floor so that the turkeys do not run into it and possibly burn themselves. Also take care to keep the cord from becoming exposed. It is possible for your turkeys to peck through the cord, and if it is low enough, they might manage to strangle themselves with it.

As far as feeding goes, you could purchase a hanging feeder, or you might construct one of your own. The great thing about a turkey coop is that you can build nearly anything by hand out of average household materials. The same will go for the water as you will be able to create your own waterer from an average two liter bottle.

Feeding your birds can be a bit more complicated. For the first eight weeks they should be fed starter rations, and then they should be provided with grower rations. At fourteen weeks, they should be provided finisher rations, which they will eat for the rest of their lives.

Remember when you are turkey farming that your birds cannot always stay in their pen! You will need to provide them some freedom so that they get their exercise and remain fit. Create a fenced in area which they can roam freely, and ensure that it is secure so they cannot free themselves.

Remember that there are plenty of predators out there that would be happy to get their jaws on your precious birds. That being said, it is important for you to keep an eye on your birds and make sure they get the best treatment possible.

Turkeys can be used for a number of different applications, from simple pets to Christmas dinner. Raising them properly is essential, and it’s really not that hard to do. Make sure you follow the instructions above, and ask for help if there is anything you don’t understand. It can be difficult, but it’s also quite fun when done right!

If you would like to raise turkeys I would recommend reading the book How To Raise Turkeys. It not only covers which foods to feed your turkeys but it covers a lot of other issues that are important to your turkeys health.

Click Here To Check Out How To Raise Turkeys

Filed Under: Turkey Farming Tagged With: turkey farming

Hatching Turkey Eggs

July 5, 2010 By Cris

If you’ve decided to hatch your own turkey eggs and raise turkey “poults,” or chicks, this is an ambitious but not impossible task. turkey eggs will take about 28 days to hatch, and if you’re incubating them, you should stop turning them on the 25th day.

Hatching turkey eggs in an incubator

You can use a chicken incubator for your turkeys; if possible, do a “dry run” with chicken eggs because these are generally easier to handle. When you decide to hatch turkey eggs, keep the incubator to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and at about 40% humidity. On the 25th day, after you stop turning the eggs, keep humidity between 60 and 70%.

Click Here To Learn How To Raise Strong Healthy Turkeys

The biggest advantage to hatching turkey eggs in incubators that you’ll hatch more eggs because a hen will lay fewer eggs than you can put in an incubator.

Hatching turkey eggs naturally

If you hatch turkey eggs naturally, this can have significant advantages over hatching them in an incubator — although it has its advantages, too. One of the reasons it can be advantageous to hatch turkey eggs naturally is that the poults will learn from watching the mother hen, so that they’ll grow up to raise poults themselves much more naturally.

In general, poults raised by hens are in better health and are stronger than those raised in an incubator, although you’re going to lose some poults either way because hens, too, aren’t perfect; they can step on eggs or allow them to get too cold.

Raising poults in a brooder

Make sure you have everything ready before you put the poults in a brooder. Incubator temperature should be 95 to 98 degrees; watch poults for behavior can tell you whether or not it’s too hot or too cold. If poults sit out on the edges of the brooder, it’s too hot, and if they’re huddled under the heat lamp, it’s too cold.

Don’t take poults out of the incubator before they are dry once they’ve hatched; watch them closely, especially the first two weeks, to make sure they’re behaving properly. Make sure all poults are getting enough to eat, because there is a definite “pecking order” with them, such that little ones or weaker ones will be pushed out even if there is enough food to go around.

Finally, it’s a good idea if you can to put some chicken eggs and with your turkey eggs when you’re hatching them, because the chicken eggs will hatch about a week before the turkey eggs do. The little poults can watch the chicks for clues on how to behave, and they will definitely learn from them.

Once the little poults are drinking and eating all right, you can take the chicks out of the brooder — and in fact you should, because poults are twice the of chicks so that overcrowding can become a problem.

Taking care of the mamma hen if you’re hatching naturally

When you notice your hen is ready to lay, she’ll start looking for a quiet place to nest. You can take her from the nest once she hatches her brood; move little ones and mommy to a secure pen that’s isolated and covered, so that rain isn’t a problem. Make sure before you move mommy and babies to the pen that you’ve put down fresh covering, such as sand, so that the turkeys aren’t exposed to diseases like coccidiosis from other birds that may have previously occupied the pen, or to organisms in soil that are dangerous for them.

Click Here To Check Out How To Raise Turkeys

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Feeding Turkeys

July 5, 2010 By Cris

Feeding turkeys has many variables, depending on the variety, age, use and type of ranching technique used, as well as available grains. That said, there are 3 different feed blends used for raising each turkey- Starter, Growth, and Finisher.Besides differing protein levels, they also differ in vitamin, mineral and amino acid make-up.

Be aware that chicken feed cannot be substituted for turkeys. The required protein and calcium to phosphorus ratio (among other trace elements) is completely different.

Click Here To Raise Strong Healthy Turkeys

Let’s begin with the Starter. It has a protein level of 28%, and is fed from birth to about 6 weeks (when the poults first feather out). It has higher levels of lysine and methionine to help promote feather growth.

After first feathering to sexual maturity, they are fed Growth formula- having a 20% protein ratio and higher calcium and phosphorus levels (bone growth).

After sexual maturity has been reached, they are fed Finisher with 17% protein level.

Turkeys being kept for brooding purposes are fed a diet with more fiber to keep body fat and protein levels down. (High protein levels reduce egg hatchability.)

[Note: The Broad Breasted White, the most common market turkey, cannot breed naturally and must be artificially inseminated.]

Free range turkeys, those raised in pastures rather than corralled in pens, will supplement their feed with what is growing around them. Do not overgraze your pasture. Even the lushest field will succumb if there are more than 100 birds per acre. Move the feed and water troughs a couple of times a week to prevent the ground beneath being trampled barren. After marketing the birds, let the pasture overwinter with legumes and winter wheat. You will want to reseed your pastures on a regular basis, even if it is only lightly.

Avoid Johnson grass as it has high levels of insoluable fiber, and the turkey will want to dig it up to eat the roots, damaging the field. Alfalfa is another grass to watch, as it is reported to impart a bitter flavor to the meat.

Water is an essential part of feeding turkeys. They must always have fresh, clean water available. Turkeys are easily stressed by overheating and easy access to water can help prevent it. Stressed turkeys are problematic in that at the very least, they quit growing. Depending on the level of stress it can lead to fights and even cannibalism. (Other stressors include overcrowding, wide temperature fluctuations, and lack of space at the feeders.) Freely available water is also an easy way to get supplements into the turkey.

Both food and water troughs should be at a height where the head is above the tail (as they grow, height adjustments should be made) so the poults do not drop as much food. (Being 2/3 of the cost of raising turkeys, loss is be kept to a minimum) Additionally, dropped food will be eaten, along with whatever is being used as an absorbent litter, possibly causing digestive issues or even death.

So- what are you feeding turkeys?

In the wild, turkeys eat grasses, insects, nuts, berries and grains in the form of grass seeds. Farmed turkeys primarily eat grains supplemented with necessary trace elements, sometimes pelletized for balanced distribution of nutrients. Free Range turkeys add grasses and some insects.

Corn is the single most common grain used, comprising up to 2/3 of the bird’s diet. It is high in linoleic acid, which increases egg size, so watch for hens that may be egg-bound.

Sorghum (Milo) has a lower energy content than corn, and that grown outside the US has a high tannin content, reducing protein digestibility. Adding fat can help offset the lowered energy availability and can make up 40-50% of the turkey feed.

Barley also needs additional fat content, and can be up to 40% of the diet if enzymes are added; 15-20% if not.

Wheat has a protein content that varies widely, between 10-17%. Milling can balance this out, but increases the chance of necrotic enteritis. Wheat should make up no more than 25% of the diet.

Oats have too much fiber for market birds, but is good for breeders and can be up to 50% of their diet.

Rye is NOT recommended for use in turkey feed and there should be no more than 2%.

Various fats and meals are added to provide trace elements, amino acids, and vitamins. They also help aid in the even distribution of these necessary ingredients.

In order to insure maximum usable energy and vitamins, there should only be an on hand supply of feed for 2-4 weeks, kept in a cool, dry area.

If buying pre-mixed feed, watch for clumps. If a bag has a lot of clumping, it has probably gotten wet, increasing the risk of mold and other fungus. Wet feed also loses vitamin value very quickly.

Turkeys raised for market are generally ready in 20-28 weeks. In order to reach 18 pounds, a tom turkey will require 42 pounds of food, and a hen will require 57 pounds.

The toms will be ready on the shorter end of the timeline, the hens at the opposite end.

Click Here To Check Out How To Raise Turkeys

Filed Under: Feeding Turkeys Tagged With: feeding turkeys

Turkey Breeding

July 5, 2010 By Cris

There are many reasons you might want to turkey breeding at home.

Maybe you love them as pets. Maybe you want to eat them for all of your holiday dinners. Maybe you want to sell them so that other people can enjoy them for their holiday dinner.

Either way, you will want to make sure that you are learning as much as you can about turkey breeding in order to make sure that you are getting your desired results.

Click Here To Learn How To Raise Big Healthy Turkeys

The first thing that you will want to do is to determine exactly what breed of turkeys you would like to raise. Yes, there is more than one breed. This is something a lot of people tend to be shocked to hear.

Many people decide to go with the Heritage Turkeys, even though they are slow growing. If you want a lot of meat as quickly as possible, then you will want to go for the Broad Breasted Bronze or the Large White. This is because their system has been genetically altered in order to produce the quality of meat that people want in a generally fast fashion.

Buy your first few mating pairs in the spring. Buy them young as they are inexpensive and easy enough to care for.

You must make sure that you have an appropriate brooding area, such as a plastic kid’s pool that is lined at the bottom with about an inch of shavings from wood. Two infrared heat lamps will need to be place above the pool so that the area can reach somewhere between 95 to 100 degrees. Each week, you will go and raise the lamps just enough to reduce the temperature 5 degrees.

You have to make sure that you are keeping large water and food container for the birds in the brooding area. Once the baby turkeys reach the 8 week old mark, they can run the pasture. If you do not have a farm or some large “pasture”, a large fenced in area of your yard will do just fine.

Remember though, the smaller the area you have to work with, the fewer turkeys you will be able to properly raise.

Just be sure to keep plenty of food and water within reach of the turkeys. You are going to need to feed them a lot. For every three pounds of feed your turkey eats, he will gain about one pound of tasty meat.

In no time at all you will have full grown turkeys that you can feed your family or sell to others.

There is simply nothing better tasting then home grown turkey!

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The Benefits of Raising Turkeys and How to Go About It

July 5, 2010 By Cris

Have you thought about raising turkeys? Many people have thought about the idea of raising a turkey in their farm or backyard but are intimidated by the challenge. Turkeys are great animals that are easy to raise but it’s all about knowing how to do it. First, why should you consider raising turkeys?

Turkeys can be a great source of food for you. By raising your own turkey, you can guarantee the quality of the meat and in many cases, save money. You will also have a constantly supply of food from sliced turkey, ground turkey, smoked turkey, whole turkey for holidays, and more.

Click Here To Learn How To Properly Raise Healthy Turkeys The First Time

Turkeys are also much healthier than beef and it is much easier and cost effective raise a turkey than cattle. Raising cattle requires you to invest a lot of money for food, storage, health care, and more. It also doesn’t make sense for many people to raise cattle as they simply do not have the space to do so.

Believe it or not, turkeys also make great pets. The great thing about turkeys is that they are not violent and are domesticated. These animals are social animals and are great as companions. Many people keep turkeys as pets. Some people are raising turkeys as a food source while also keeping some turkeys as pets.

Raising turkeys is also a good idea if you raise other crops. The main diet of turkeys is insects from mosquitoes, flies, ticks, and bugs that eat crops. You can say that raising turkeys can be a form of pest control. And because turkeys also eat berries, leaves, and seeds, it is very inexpensive to feed them.

Raising turkeys can be simple. You start by buying a stock of turkey eggs from farms and putting them in an incubator. You have to make sure that you take proper care of them as they are hatching. Make sure that you set the temperature so that it isn’t too cold. You can ask for advice when buying eggs from a turkey farm.

Then, you need to think about what you’re going to feed your turkeys. If you’re thinking about raising turkeys that are organic, you will want to buy organic foods. Foods such as grains and flaxseed oil are both great choices. If going organic, stay away from processed turkey food and medications. These choices will be much cheaper but the end result is that your turkeys will be exposed to various chemicals.

You’ll also want to think about supplements such as vitamins and minerals when raising turkeys. This will ensure that they stay healthy and grow up without any problems. Also be aware of the common health problems that turkeys face so you can be prepared when your turkeys get sick.

Raising turkeys is a great idea. It’s a great food source for your family and they also make great pets. Just make sure that you prepare everything beforehand before setting out to start your own family of turkeys.

Click Here To Check Out How To Raise Turkeys

Filed Under: Raising Turkeys Tagged With: raising turkey, raising turkeys