In order for turkeys to quickly gain weight and stay healthy, it is important to properly feed them from the first day of life. A poultry diet should consist of a specific list of easily digestible foods saturated with vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
Feeding turkeys according to their age
From the day of birth, turkeys should not suffer from a deficiency of nutrients in the body. Food must be fresh. A portion is prepared for one feeding, which the chicks eat in half an hour.
Food should not be left in the feeder. In warm conditions of the house, pathogenic microorganisms quickly develop in uneaten foods that can cause serious harm to young animals. In this regard, the feeders in the house must be kept clean.
Below is a table that lists feeds, their daily consumption rates in grams for turkey poults of different ages are indicated:
Feed | Days from the beginning of life | |||||
to 10 | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-60 | 60-90 | more than 90 | |
boiled egg | 3 | |||||
bran | 3 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
crushed grain | 5 | 10 | 15 | 35 | 80 | 110 |
millet | 5 | 10 | ||||
crushed wheat | 20 | 35 | 45 | 50 | ||
meat and bone meal | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 20 | 20 |
nonfat yogurt | 30 | 20 | 25 | 40 | 50 | 50 |
cottage cheese | 8 | 10 | 5 | |||
greenery | 10 | 30 | 50 | 50 | 100 | 150 |
shell rock and chalk | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
salt | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Feeding daily turkey poults
In newly born chicks, the swallowing reflex is not yet included, they can eat reluctantly, refuse the proposed food. The owner has to carefully open the beak of a turkey, put food in his mouth.
Newborn chicks are offered digestible, nutritious, quality food. They give a boiled egg, cottage cheese with a low percentage of fat, carefully chopped greens. The food is put in small portions, fed every 3 hours. They are drunk with a little warm boiled water, in which a little sugar is dissolved.
Gradually, the intervals between meals increase. The diet is becoming more diverse, it includes:
- wheat bran;
- boiled millet;
- crushed limestone or chalk for the intake of minerals in the body;
- nonfat yogurt and other sour-milk foods;
- skimmed milk.
All of these products are added to the diet gradually, so that the bird's body gets used to new food.
Many farmers using the method of intensive cultivation of turkeys give turkeys from the first day they were born purchased feed.
The optimal number of feedings in the first day of life is 8-9. Food is placed on cardboard or a thick cloth so that the chicks do not injure fragile beaks on the floor or on the bottom of the feeder. Boiled grain should be given only crumbly. Sticky porridge that gets into the digestive tract can cause serious digestive problems.
Feeding weekly chicks
By a weekly age, the diet of turkey poultry is expanding significantly. The menu remains boiled eggs, dairy products, cereals. To them is added a dry grain mixture. It is useful to diversify the diet with sunflower meal, chopped peas, boiled potatoes (in the first days - no more than 10 g). Of the mineral additives used crushed chalk and shell rock.
An essential component of the menu is yeast and a small amount of bone meal. Do not forget about fresh herbs. Poultry willingly eat chopped feather onions, but after eating it they are very thirsty. Therefore, it is advisable to add onions only in the daily portion so that the birds drink enough water before going to bed.
The larger the turkey poults become, the less you need to make the frequency of meals and the more voluminous a single serving should be. At a weekly age, young animals already respond to the arrival of the owner with food, wait for feeding, therefore it is advisable to establish a diet and bring food daily at the same hours.
The cardboard on which food was previously laid out is no longer needed. The beak has grown stronger, and the turkey can grab feed from a wooden or metal feeder on its own.
2 weeks old turkey feeding
2 weeks after the birth of the chicks, the boiled egg is removed from the menu - not because it is harmful to digestion, but because it becomes an unprofitable product. As young birds grow, their appetite also increases, and eggs are an expensive product, and the farmer acts at a loss, continuing to include them in the bird's diet.
The following foods become the basis of the diet of two-week-old chicks:
- liquid cereal mixtures seasoned with skim milk, yogurt;
- dry mixes based on carefully chopped beans, wheat, oats, barley, including oilcake and meal of sunflower;
- medium-sized herbs: dandelion, feather onions, nettle;
- a small amount of cottage cheese;
- bran;
- chalk and other sources of minerals.
The menu periodically includes a small amount of needles, hay.
How to feed monthly chicks?
With the onset of a month of age, the diet of turkey poults changes. Young animals use liquid mixtures seasoned with skim milk or water. For greater benefit, the mixture is half made from green mass, the remaining half - grain and chopped vegetables.
In a small amount, salt is added to the food. When morning and evening feeding give unmilled wheat, buckwheat, oat and barley grain, ground peas.
Experienced farmers are advised to include daily in the menu compound feed intended specifically for turkey poults. On the package must be marked the age of the birds to which this food can be given.
Cottage cheese as the main food from the diet is removed, since feeding them becomes uneconomical. Some owners continue to give it once every few days as a treat. Chalk and shell rock are necessary to replenish minerals in the body, to maintain normal digestion. Also continue to give needles, dried grass, bran, meal as additional sources of vitamins and nutrients.
Feeding two-month-old turkeys
Turkeys at the age of 2 months are fed 4 times a day. The diet varies slightly: a large volume is occupied by bran and chopped corn grains. These products accelerate weight gain, and therefore remain in the poultry diet until slaughter. Grain seedlings also contribute to active weight gain.
It is useful to add chopped carrots, dried nettle leaves, needles, boiled potato peel to the menu. These foods are rich sources of vitamins. You can not make mixtures based on potato broth.
How to feed the chicks in 3 months?
The food package for three-month-old turkey poults remains unchanged, only daily portions change. Young animals should consume meat and bone meal, bran, and crushed grain in sufficient quantities. The portion of greens also increases - it should be at least 150 g per day per individual. A portion of salt and mineral springs increases slightly.
The diet of growing birds should remain high-quality and balanced. It is necessary to increase or decrease the portion of a product gradually so that the bird's body has time to get used to changes in nutrition.
Feeding turkey after 4 months
Four-month-old chicks feed on standard compound feed, like adults. Teenage turkey poultry willingly eat balls prepared on water, molded from oat or corn flour, bran, yeast.
Feeding Broiler Turkey
Broiler chicks feed on a separate scheme that contributes to faster weight gain. The less the broiler weighs, the less demanding it is for food.
From the first day of life, a broiler turkey eats a special compound feed. The best option is PK-6, based on peas, corn and barley grain.
When the chicks reach three weeks of age, PK-6 is replaced by PK-2. This food is a mixture of natural components that are important for the full development of the broiler organism.
Some farmers prefer not to buy ready-made feeds, but to cook them themselves. For chicks up to 2 weeks old, this homemade feed is suitable:
- 50% chopped corn grain;
- 15% wheat;
- 8% of barley;
- 15% meal
- 12% fermented milk product.
For teenage chicks under the age of 1 month, this food is suitable:
- 50% of corn grain;
- 20% oilcake;
- 5% meat and bone meal;
- 13% wheat;
- 5% yeast;
- 3% skim milk;
- 3% greens;
- 1% feed animal fat.
For broilers older than a month, the same mixture is prepared by adding chalk to it.
Vitamin and mineral supplements in the diet of turkey poults
Mineral supplements are an essential component of nutrition necessary to replenish mineral elements in the avian organism. Most growing turkeys need calcium. This mineral is the basis for building bone tissue and feathers. Sources of calcium (chalk, shellfish) and other minerals (charcoal, coarse sand, bone meal, salt) are included in the diet after young people reach 10 days of age.
Pounded shell rock should not be mixed with other feeds. It is poured into a separate feeder.
- nettle;
- clover;
- dandelion;
- alfalfa;
- plantain;
- wheat and barley seedlings;
- cabbage;
- carrots;
- root vegetables.
The green component of the feed increases as the young growth. If a monthly turkey needs 50 g of green mass, then a six-month-old chick consumes 3 times more.
To simplify their work, many farmers feed turkey poultry with combined feeds that include the necessary vitamins and minerals. Today, feeds are sold in stores even for daily chicks, but buying them is not the best option. In newborns, turkey poultry has a weak digestive system that does not accept dry, rough food.
What can not feed turkey poultry?
Do not give turkeys under 10 days of age foods rich in fiber. Coarse plant fibers seriously disrupt the digestive system, which increases the likelihood of death of young animals. It is important to monitor the quality and freshness of products, especially eggs and dairy products.
It is forbidden to give young animals:
- spoiled, stale food;
- whole grain;
- sweets, flour products;
- a lot of salt;
- heavy cereal (allowed from a month of age);
- poisonous herbs: milestone, belladonna, buttercup, agrostemma, wrestler, hemlock, ledum.
The digestive system of turkeys works correctly only if food enters it in small portions, so you can not pile a lot of food in the feeders. Poultry will overeat, which will negatively affect digestion and the condition of the intestinal tract, will affect weight gain.
Following the diet proposed for turkey poultry of different ages proposed in the article, each farmer can easily achieve the fact that the chicks grow in large individuals with good weight and delicious dietary meat.