TURKEY FARMING
[Link],
MVSc scholar,
LPM Division,
NDRI- Karnal.
Submit to,
Dr. Mukesh bhakat,
Senior scientist,
Lpm division,
NDRI- Karnal.
INTRODUCTION
It occupies poultry population next to chicken and duck
Rearing only for meat
Leanest meat among poultry
Dressing percentage 72%
Egg weight is 80 gram
Kerala and Tamilnadu leading state
Elite stocks maintained in,
Tanuvas- chennai, cari- barielly, Central poultry
development organizations.
ADVANTAGES
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
Critical inputs are not easily available
Management of turkey poults are more difficult
Male turkey 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
Board breasted bronze Board breasted white
Plumage color- black Board breasted bronze X
Females have black breast White Holland
feathers with white tips Plumage color- white
Better heat tolerance
CONT.,
Beltsville small white
Resembles the Board
breasted white in color
and shape but smaller in
size
Egg production, fertility
and hatchability tends to
be higher
Broodiness tends to be
lower than heavy varieties
ECONOMIC TRAITS (Beltsville small white variety)
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 nos
Average poult obtained per female per 50 to 60
year
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 %
SYSTEM OF REARING
Depends on,
The amount of money invested
Place of rearing
Number of the birds
Rearing
Systems
Free Range
Semi-
or Intensive
Extensive
Intensive
Deep Litter Cage
FREE RANGE SYSTEM
Birds are free
Maximum stock density- 1000 hens/ha
Each hen- 10 m²
CONT.,
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
It reduces the feed cost by Management problems
fifty percent especially during disease
Cost benefit ratio is high out breaks
Requirement of larger
area
High proportion of dirty
eggs
SEMI INTENSIVE SYSTEM
Existing farm building usually open fronted with an
adjoining yard
Maximum stock density- less than 4000 hens/ha
Each hen- 2.5 m²
CONT.,
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Capital cost is low Management problems
Continuous day time especially during disease
access to open air run out breaks
Requirement of larger
area
High proportion of dirty
eggs
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
CONT., DEEP LITTER
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Increased manure value Require high quality litter
Vit-B2 and Vit-B12 are Litter born diseases
available Generation of ammonia
odour
CAGE SYSTEM
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Improved production High initial investment
efficiency over cages
Better management and
disease control
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 with in 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
CONT.,
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
CONT.,
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
CONT.,
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.
CONT.,
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
Starve out condition:
Feed kept in coloured plates
One or two trainer chicks
Coloured pebbles are placed in feeders and waterers
Chopped green leaves in feeder
CONT.,
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 [Link] per poult 1 to 1.25 [Link] per poult
Waterer 2.5 cm per poult 5 cm per poult
Feeder 5 cm per poult 10 cm per poult
GROWER MANAGEMENT
Age Floor space
(weeks) (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
CONT.,
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
13 12 from 30 lux to 50
lux over this
14 11 period
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 Absent
protuberance on
head
Snood Fleshy Small, thin, non
protuberance near elastic
the base of the
beak
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 with in 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
Infection from Marek's disease and Infectious Bronchitis
are extremely rare
Ranikhet disease and Coccidiosis occur only in mild form
Disease Cause Symptoms Prevention
Chronic Mycoplasma Coughing, gurgling, sneezing, Secure
respiratory gallisepticum nasal exudates Mycoplasma free
disease stock
Fowl Pasturella Purplish head, greenish Sanitation and
cholera multocida yellow droppings, sudden disposal of dead
death birds
Fowl pox Pox virus Small yellow blisters on comb Vaccination
& wattles and scab formation
Coccidiosis Coccidia spp Bloody diarrhea and loss of Proper sanitation
weight and management
of litter
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 Relative
(degree F) humidity (%)
Setter 99.5 61-63
Hatcher 99.5 85-90
Egg should be turned at hourly intervals daily
NUTRITIVE VALUE OF EGG
Start lay from the 30th week of age
Production period is 24 weeks from the point of lays
60-100 eggs annually
Nutrients grams
Eggs are tinted
Carbohydrate 0.91
Weigh about 80 gms
protein 10.81
135 calories per egg
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
THANK YOU
