Turkey Farming

Turkey Farming

Dr.Ratnaprabha¹and Dr.Vijaylakshmi²

1.Assistant Professor Department of Livestock Farm Management veterinary College Gadag, KVAFSU Bidar

2.Assistant Professor Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry veterinary College Gadag, KVAFSU Bidar

Email ID: ratnaprabhamb5@gmail.com

Turkey occupies the poultry population next to chicken and duck, which is only reared for the meat purpose. It has the leanest meat among the poultry which has dressing percentage of 72 and the egg weighing around 85g. Kerala and Tamilnadu are the leading states in the production of turkeys.

Advantages of Turkey production

• Being produced round the year
• No religious taboo
• Minimum investment
• More disease resistant than chicken
• Number of vaccinations are fewer
• Good foragers, feed cost can be minimized
• Ideally suited for semi intensive or range system of rearing

Disadvantages of Turkey production

• Critical inputs are not easily available
• Management of turkey poults are more difficult
• Male turkeys are heavier. So, they are not able to mate the hens frequently
• Hence the fertility rate is low
• FCR (5.2:1) lower than chicken (1.6:1)
• Heavier body weight, restrict the retail sales of turkey meat to a large extend

BODY PARTS OF TURKEY

TURKEY VARIETIES

1. Board breasted bronze: Plumage color- black

Females have black breast feathers with white tips

2. Board breasted white: Board breasted bronze X White Holland

Plumage color- white

Better heat tolerance

3. Beltsville small white: Resembles the Board breasted white in color and shape but smaller.

Egg production, fertility and hatchability tends to be higher

Broodiness tends to be lower than heavy varieties

Board breasted bronze	Board breasted white	Beltsville small white

 

SYSTEM OF REARING: Depends on the amount of money invested, Place of rearing, Number of the birds

1. Free range System: Birds are left Free, Maximum Stock density -1000 hens/ Ha, Each Hen requires 10 sq.m space.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Reduced  Feed Cost by 50%	Management problems especially during disease out breaks
Cost benefit ratio is high	Requirement of larger area. High proportion of dirty eggs.

 

2. Semi Intensive System: Existing farm building usually open fronted with an adjoining yard.Maximum stock density- less than 4000 hens/ha, Each Hen requires – 2.5 m²

Advantages	Disadvantages
Capital Cost is Low	Management problems especially during disease out breaks
Continuous day time access to open air run	Requirement of larger area. High proportion of dirty eggs.

 

3. Intensive Rearing System:

• Deep litter: Maximum stock density- not more than 7 hens per m²
• Cage system: Cage system can be adopted in day old turkey poults till they attain 8 weeks of age

Deep Litter System
Advantages	Disadvantages
Increased manure value	Require high quality litter
Vit-B2 and Vit-B12 are available	Litter born diseases Generation of ammonia odour
Cage system
Advantages	Disadvantages
Improved production efficiency	High initial investment over cages
Better management and disease control

 

ECONOMIC TRAITS

Parameters	Values
Sex ratio	1:3 to 1:4
Average egg weight	70 g
Average weight of day old poult	50 g
Age at sexual maturity	24 to 28 wks
Average egg production per bird per year	80 to 100 No.
Average poult obtained per female per year	50 to 60
Incubation period	28 days
Highest egg production period	28 to 52 wks
Market age	16 wks
Market weight	Male 3.5 kg Female 2.5 kg
FCR (16 weeks)	3.5
Mortality during first eight weeks	3 to 4 %

 

TYPE OF HOUSES:

• Brooder house- 0 to 8 weeks
• Grower house- 9 to 24 weeks
• Layer house- more than 24 weeks
• Cage housing- 0 to 8 weeks

• POULT MANAGEMENT:

• Poult capable of growing very fast
• Day old poult weight- 45 to 50 grams
• Transport to the turkey farm within 24 hours of hatch
• Liveability percentage is a good indicator of future flock performance
• Following liveability is expected in brooding

Hen poults- 97%

Tom poults- 95%

• To compensate the mortality 5 % extra poults to be procured
• Poults procured from breeds tested negative for salmonella and PPLO

Brooders:

• Switch on the light 24 hours before the arrival of poults
• 95⁰F for one weeks lowered by 5⁰F each following week upto 75⁰F
• Brooder guard – 30 to 45 cm height

Litter material:

• 2 inches in height
• Cover the litter material with newspaper for few days
• Don’t use finest litter materials

Equipments :

• Place feeders around the hover in a pattern resembling spokes of a wheels
• Use contrast colour feeders

Lighting:

• First and second day- 24 hrs lighting- intensity 60 to 70 lux
• There after 16 hrs light with the intensity of 10 lux

Toe clipping:

• Toe nail clipped at hatchery
• Toes clipped at 5 weeks

• Cutting middle and inside toes of each side with the help of scissors or surgical blade.

Desnooding:

• Males are desnooded at hatchery
• A flesh appendage located just behind the top of the base of the upper beak
• Reduces fighting, head injuries and prevent the incidence of erysipelas

Debeaking:

• Age: 6 to 10 days or 3-5 weeks of age
• Controls feather pecking and cannibalism.

Item	0 to 4 weeks	4 to 8 weeks
Space	0.5 to 0.6 sq.ft per poult	1 to 1.25 sq.ft per poult
Waterer	2.5 cm per poult	5 cm per poult
Feeder	5 cm per poult	10 cm per poult

GROWER MANAGEMENT: Floor Space requirement

Age (weeks)	Floor space (square feet)
9-12	2 to 2.5
13-20	3 to 3.5
21-24	4 to 4.5
Feeding space	5 to 7.5 cm
Water space	2.5 cm

Lighting program:

• Turkeys start their reproduction cycle in response to light stimuli
• For good egg production long day light is essential

Age (weeks)	Hours	Intensity (lux)
2 to 11	14	30
12	13	Slowly increase from 30 lux to 50 lux over this period
13	12
14	11
15	10
16	9
17	8
18 to 28	7	50 lux

SEX DETERMINATION

Characters	Tom	Hen
Body size	Heavy	Relatively small
Caruncles	Red fleshy protuberance on head	Absent
Snood	Fleshy protuberance near the base of the beak	Small, thin, non-elastic
Beard	Present	Absent
Strut	Present	Absent

MATING SYSTEM:

Natural mating:

• Mating behaviour- strut
• Sex ratio: 1:4- medium type, 1:3- larger type
• Tendency in tom to develop affinity towards a peculiar female
• So, change tom every 15 days.

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION

Collection of semen in tom turkey:

• Age: 32 to 36 weeks
• Kept isolation about 15 days before semen collection
• 2 min required to collect the semen
• Tom to sensitive. So, same operator has to be used
• Average semen volume: 0.15 to 0.30 ml
• Use the semen within one hour after collection
• Semen collection : thrice in a week

Insemination in hens:

• AI done when the flock attain 8 to 10 % production

• Volume: 0.025 to 0.030 ml of undiluted semen for every 3 weeks
• Inseminate in the evening
• Average fertility 80 to 85%

FEEDING MANAGEMENT:

Age (weeks)	Type of feed	Protein (%)	Energy (k cal/ kg)
0 to 6	Starter	28	2800
6 to 8	Grower first diet	26	2800
8 to 16	Grower second diet	22	3000
16 to market	Finisher	16	3300
Breeders	Breeder diet	14	2900

VACCINATION SCHEDULE

Age	Schedule
Day old	ND- B1 strain
4 and 5 week	Fowl pox
6 week	ND- R2B strain
8 to 10 week	Cholera vaccine

COMMON DISEAESES:

Disease	Cause	Symptoms	Prevention
Chronic respiratory disease	Mycoplasma gallisepticum	Coughing, gurgling, sneezing, nasal exudates	Secure Mycoplasma free stock
Fowl cholera	Pasturella multocida	Purplish head, greenish yellow droppings, sudden death	Sanitation and disposal of dead birds
Fowl pox	Pox virus	Small yellow blisters on comb & wattles and scab formation	Vaccination
Coccidiosis	Coccidia spp	Bloody diarrhea and loss of weight	Proper sanitation and management of litter

• Infection from Marek’s disease and Infectious Bronchitis are extremely rare
• Ranikhet disease and Coccidiosis occur only in mild form

TURKEY INCUBATION METHODS:

• The incubation period is 28 days in turkey
• Natural incubation with broody hens: Good brooders
• the broody hen can hatch 10-15 numbers of eggs, 60-80% hatchability and healthy poults

ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION:

• Eggs are hatched with the help of incubators

Group	Temperature (degree F)	Relative humidity (%)
Setter	99.5	61-63
Hatcher	99.5	85-90

• Egg should be turned at hourly intervals daily
• Start lay from the 30th week of age
• Production period is 24 weeks from the point of lays
• 60-100 eggs annually
• Eggs are tinted
• Weigh about 80 gms

NUTRITIVE VALUE OF EGG

• 135 calories per egg

Nutrients	grams
Carbohydrate	0.91
protein	10.81
fat	9.39

NUTRITIVE VALUE OF MEAT

• Leanest meat in nature
• Dressing percentage- 72%
• Rich in essential amino acids and vitamins like niacin, vitamin B6 and B12
• Low in cholesterol

Nutrients	Amount per 100 gram meat
Energy	160
Protein	21.8 gram
Fat	2.5 gram

 

CONCLUSION:

• In turkey is mainly rearing for meat purpose
• Mostly preferred for its lean meat
• Due to its heavy weight cannot be used in retail sales
• Half of the feed you can manage with green fodders because it’s a good forager
• But , because of its poor FCR the feeding cost goes high
• Turkey rearing is more profitable when there is more demand.