Birds such as turkeys are very popular today, not only in chicken farms, but also in households. The meat of these birds has dietary properties, very high quality.
These animals are very clean, not demanding care. The most popular breed of this bird is the white wide-breasted turkey. This breed was bred not long ago, in the early 60s in the United States. The "parents" of this breed are white Dutch and bronze wide chest turkeys.
Despite their foreign origin, these turkeys almost immediately appeared in the Soviet Union, and remain in these open spaces to this day. This breed of turkeys is universal, since it is these birds that gain weight well, give enough eggs, and also adapt well to changing weather conditions.
This breed of turkeys has a special differentiation.
These birds There are 3 types - light, medium and heavy.
In the first case, turkeys gain 8–10 kg of weight, and turkeys - 4.5–6 kg.
These turkeys are grown in poultry farms in cages. When a bird reaches the age of 8-10 weeks, and in a weight of 2-2.5 kg, then it is sent for slaughter.
In the second case, turkeys grow up to 13-18 kg, and turkeys grow up to 6-8 kg.
In the third case, turkeys eat 20 - 25 kg of weight, and turkeys - 9 - 12 kg. The slaughter weight of these birds gain in 5 - 6 months, and the weight reaches 12 - 14 kg.
A distinctive feature of this breed of turkeys is the fact that when reaching 5-6 months of age birds almost stop growing. To support the further development of turkeys, you need to spend a lot of manpower and equipment. Therefore, at this time the birds are slaughtered.
In addition, the carcasses look very good, and their meat has high taste. Therefore, the sale of these turkeys is quite profitable.
In addition to this direction of implementation, these turkeys are used to cross with other breeds. So there are new types of turkeys that have good physical qualities.
Turkeys are bred mainly for slaughter, but turkeys are capable of laying eggs. Females enter this period when they have reached 8-9 months of age.
Egg-laying lasts no more than 6 - 8 months. In total, from one turkey you can get 100 - 130 eggs, where the weight of one egg varies between 75 - 90 grams.
It is also interesting to read about popular duck breeds.
In appearance, white-breasted turkeys are different from other breeds of this bird. The representatives of this species have an oval-shaped body, set vertically, the sternum is wide and quite massive, the legs are medium in length, quite powerful, painted pink. The turkey plumage is white.
The maintenance of these birds requires hard work. First of all, you need prepare a place for keeping birds. It should be warm so that the animals are not supercooled.
If you have a chicken coop, then you need to equip a place for keeping turkeys just like a room for chickens.
As for feeding, turkeys should be given 2 types of food - dry and wet. Dry food consists of grain and feed, and wet - from swollen grains. Water should be served in buckets so that these large birds cannot turn over the container.
The frequency of feeding is 4 - 5 times a day. In the spring and summer, grass can be added to the total mass, and in winter - chopped hay.
A special place in the diet of turkeys should take carrotas it is the best diet product for poultry.
This breed of turkeys needs freedom of movement, so a special aviary should be made where the birds can walk. It is desirable that the place was somewhere on the grass.
So that the bird does not die, it should protect against various diseases.
Care must be taken to ensure that the room in which the birds are kept is clean.
Birds need to be protected from rodents, which are carriers of various kinds of viruses and infections. Therefore, the room where turkeys live should be disinfected.
Disinfection should be done with chlorophos solution. Need to handle all the cracks and nooks where infections can live. After the birds were slaughtered, the first disinfection is carried out. After 24 hours, you will need to wash the entire inventory of the room with hot water. After that you need to re-disinfect.
Now you have the opportunity to choose a specific breed of turkeys, the breeding of which will give you the opportunity not only to get new experience, but also to gain enough funds from selling this bird.