Part 3

MANAGING BREEDING STOCK

Results in turkey raising depend to a large extent on the kind of breeding stock used each year and the manner in which it is managed.

BREEDING PENS OR ENCLOSURES

Until a few years ago breeding flocks were ordinarily allowed free range throughout the breeding and laying season (fig. 8). This practice often gives unsatisfactory results because the nests cannot be found readily and therefore the eggs cannot be gathered daily. Many breeding flocks are now kept in good-sized breeding pens or enclosures with nests conveniently located inside or outside the roosting shed (fig. 9). For a pen of 12 to 18 birds a yard of 10 to 15 square rods is large enough. Frequently an orchard is very satisfactory. A hog-proof fence about 6 feet high will confine the turkeys; they are not likely to fly over the fence, because they cannot rest on the top wire. Fences should be tightly stretched and should be dog-proof, because dogs and coyotes are very destructive in turkey flocks. Solid-top fences, gates, and buildings less than 9 feet high should be topped with strips of poultry fence 3 feet wide to prevent turkeys from perching on them. If turkey hens persist in flying over the fence the flight feathers of one wing may be cut, but the wing of a breeding male should never be clipped, as the clipping may interfere with mating.

Sanitation in the breeding yards must not be neglected. Either the fences and shelters should be made portable and moved each year to clean ground, or double yards should be constructed for use only in the breeding season, during which time one yard is occupied for 2 successive weeks and then the other, which in the meantime has been kept free of all poultry.

If two or more breeding pens are maintained, they must be isolated from each other. This can be done with double fences, 12 feet or more apart, or with single fences built solid for about 3 feet above the ground, so that the turkeys cannot see those in other pens.

MATING

Best results in mating are obtained when from 10 to 15 females are mated to 1 male, although as many as 18 hens can be mated to 1 young tom under favorable conditions. As a rule good fertility will result when several toms are kept with a flock of hens. However, if the toms are quarrelsome and mating is seriously interfered with the males must be alternated, 1 tom being allowed to run with the hens 1 day and another tom the next day. Surplus toms should be penned out of sight of the breeding birds.

The soundest breeding program is one of using yearlings and 2-year-old hens which have been selected as breeders alter they have passed through one full breeding season successfully. However, if pedigreeing can be done, it is practicable to use well-matured pullets selected from parents that lived through their first breeding season and showed good production, fertility, hatchability, and poult livability. The breeding males may be young or old but, in general, well-matured young toms give better results. Proved sires, of course, are valuable and can well be used so long as they will breed. Reserve breeding toms should always be kept, especially when older toms are used, as the latter are sometimes sterile. The spurs of a yearling or older tom should be trimmed smooth, as should the toe-nails of all breeding males, regardless of age, to avoid needless tearing of the backs of the females.

All breeding hens and toms that are not to be used for another breeding season should be marketed about June 1. If older hens are used in breeding, it is advisable to replace 3-year-old females with young birds, since egg production decreases rapidly after that age. Immature stock should never be used but, as mentioned before, well-matured young toms and pullets make good breeders especially if trap nesting and pedigreeing can be carried on, thus enabling the breeder to cull properly and sell as market birds the offspring of all hens that die during their first laying season.

It is not advisable for the average producer to inbreed turkeys, as this practice has been found to lower the vitality of the stock. When only one breeding pen or flock is kept, it is advisable to obtain new blood every season from a reliable outside source.

EGG PRODUCTION

The time of year at which turkeys naturally lay depends largely on the climate of the region in which they are raised, being earliest in the South. However, climate need not be permitted to hold back egg production as artificial light can be used to obtain early eggs, as with chickens. Soon after mating begins, the female looks for a nesting place, and about 10 days after the first mating she begins to lay. One nest should be provided for every 3 or 4 hens. The number of eggs produced per bird depends on the breeding of the stock as well as on management. Under ordinary circumstances in the Northern States, young turkey hens should average 35 to 40 eggs and yearling hens 25 to 30 eggs each during the normal breeding season if they are broken up whenever broodiness occurs. By normal breeding season is meant the time between the date the first egg is laid (late in the winter or early in the spring) and June 1. If artificial lights are used, starting about February 5, the breeders should average 50 to 55 eggs each, or an increase of about 15 eggs by June 1, due to the lighting. A few turkey raisers have used lights in December or January, thereby securing very early hatched turkeys and further increasing turkey-egg production.

Turkeys are not extensively trap-nested, but the practice is carried on by producers who wish to pedigree the poults and carry on selective breeding. One trap nest is needed for each two hens. The hens should have free access to the trap nests before they start to lay, and they should be carefully watched to see that they do not lay their eggs anywhere except in the trap nests. Secluded places in the house or yard should be eliminated. A simple form of trap nest is illustrated in figure 9. The turkey enters at the front, through the trap door, which closes automatically when the turkey is inside. The door at the top of the coop is opened to release the bird from the nest.

When incubators or chicken hens are used to hatch the eggs, the turkey hens may be broken of their broodiness so that they will continue laying. Breaking the hens of broodiness by confining them to a wire-floored coop is very desirable because it permits the hatching of a relatively large number of early turkeys and a larger number from each hen. The birds hatched no later than June are the ones that grow and mature most satisfactorily and therefore attain the best size for the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets. Early hatched birds should be marketed at Thanksgiving or before, and those of later hatches can be used to supply the Christmas and New Year demand. There is some demand for freshly dressed turkeys at all times of the year. To meet this demand turkeys may be hatched from eggs laid during summer and fall. By the use of artificial light and proper feeds, hatchable eggs can be produced in the winter and early in the spring.

It is natural for turkey hens to seek secluded places to lay their eggs. Yards that have comparatively short vegetation and are free from bushes or other places of concealment are best, because such conditions discourage the birds from laying outside the nests provided for them. A lookout for hidden nests must be maintained, otherwise eggs may not be collected regularly and may be frozen, partly incubated, or destroyed by animals. Sometimes the hidden nests can be found by watching the turkey hens carefully as they make their way to them, but an easier and quicker method is to confine the hens early some morning soon after they come from the roosts and then let them out about 2 p. m.; the laying hens will make straight for their nests in order to lay the eggs they have been holding. Nests are easily made of boxes or barrels placed inside the shelter or outside in the yards. Some turkey growers prefer to build nesting batteries with nests about 12 by 24 inches.

CARE OF HATCHING EGGS

Hatchability can be seriously damaged by holding eggs at temperatures above 65° or below 35° F. It is most important to hold eggs in a room that can be kept below 65°, preferably between 50° and 60°. Eggs should be collected several times daily and held on their sides or on the small end. It is best to turn eggs gently once daily while they are being held for hatching, but this is probably not necessary unless they are to be kept longer than a week. For best results they should not be held longer than 10 days but if they are held at a suitable temperature and are turned once a day, fair hatchability will be retained for as long as 3 weeks.

FEEDING

Feeding young breeding turkeys is a matter of supplying a growing ration in the fall and early in the winter, a laying ration late in the winter and in the spring, and a maintenance ration during the summer. Unless breeders are to be kept over for another year, they should be marketed, if possible, about June 1 in order to reduce feed costs and to aid in preventing the spread of blackhead and other diseases that may affect adult turkeys during the summer. If breeders are to be held over for the next season or until fall and if a good summer and fall range is available well away from the growing stock, the breeders are best carried through the summer on a daily feeding of whole grain such as a mixture of equal parts of corn, oats, and wheat. This mixture should be fed at the rate of one-fifth pound per hen daily as a supplement to feed obtained from the range. The toms, if ranged with the hens, should have access to grain in a feeder too high for the hens to reach. A better method is to pen the toms in a separate range lot and give them each one-half pound of grain daily in troughs.

Breeding stock so managed during the summer respond economically to a fattening diet offered in the fall. Beginning about 4 weeks before they are to be marketed, usually early in October, the birds may be offered all they will eat daily of the grain mixture. Within 4 weeks they will acquire a fine finish and make a gain in weight of 2-1/2 pounds or more per hen and 4 pounds or more per tom. About 5-3/4 pounds of grain per pound of gain is required for the 4-week fattening period. A little better finish is acquired in 6 weeks; but the grade is not improved, and the gains are more expensive. Breeding stock that are to be kept over should be held in the range lots as long as possible and should also be fed liberally in the fall, in order to put them in good condition for the winter.

Later in the fall and through the winter the rations for breeders, especially young breeders, may be the same as the growing rations normally fed to young stock. Scratch grain and a simple mash, such as that suggested for growing poults, make a good feed for carrying the breeders through the winter, since they meet the demands of the birds for continued growth or for maintenance. If the climate is such that green feed and sunshine are not available, as in the Northern States, add 5 percent of alfalfa-leaf meal and 1 percent of cod-liver oil to the mash. The birds should have all the mash and scratch they will eat during the fall and winter. Breeders will not become too fat if fed in accordance with this method. They will be fat, but this is desirable if heavy egg production is expected.

For the production of large numbers of hatchable eggs turkeys require a ration containing the various nutrients and vitamins. Good results can be obtained with a simple laying ration, such as laying mixture No. 1, if the birds get an abundance of fresh green feed and have range. When ground oats or ground barley is included in any mixture it should be finely ground. Alfalfa leaf meal should be bright green in color. The cod-liver oil should be a standard good-quality product, or the equivalent in fortified cod-liver oil may be used if thoroughly mixed.

Laying Mixture No. 1

MASH Parts by | SCRATCH weight | | Yellow corn or barley (ground) 20 | Mixture of equal parts of Wheat middlings or ground wheat 15 | yellow corn, wheat, and Oats or barley (ground) 20 | heavy oats. (Grain sorghum Meat scrap (50- to 55-percent | may be used in place of the protein) 10 | corn.) Fish meal (60- to 70-percent protein) 10 | Wheat bran 12 | Ground oystershell or limestone 7 | Dried milk 5 | Salt (fine, sifted) 1 | --- | Total 100 |

Laying mash should be kept before the birds at all times beginning about a month before eggs are expected. Scratch mixture should be fed in troughs, at the rate of one-fifth of a pound per day per bird, so that the consumption during laying will be about equal parts of the mash and scratch. The birds must have access to growing green feed, direct sunshine, and water.

If the birds cannot obtain fresh succulent green feed and direct sunshine in abundance, as in the case of those kept in confinement or in cold climates, the ration must be more inclusive. Such a ration may be compounded as follows:

Laying Mixture No. 2