Part 5

Turkey or chicken hens, before being set on turkey eggs, should be treated with sodium fluoride, as previously directed.

ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION

Correct incubator temperatures are much the same for turkey eggs as for chicken eggs, but the greater size of the turkey eggs may necessitate some adjustment of the apparatus used in measuring the temperature. This is true in nearly all kinds of incubators except those of the forced-draft type. The relative position of the thermometer in the egg chamber is important in the accuracy with which it records the temperature. For hatching turkey eggs the proper position of the thermometer is usually indicated in the directions that are furnished by the manufacturer of the incubator. As a general rule, with the bottom of the bulb 1-7/8 inches above the egg tray, the thermometer should read 100.5° F. for the first week, 101.5° the second, 102.5° the third, and 103° the last week. Forced-draft incubators are usually run at about 99.5°. Temperature can best be regulated, however, by using the thermometer that goes with the machine, placing it in the position recommended by the manufacturer, and then following the manufacturer's instructions for hatching turkey eggs, making sure that the egg trays do not sag.

Turkey eggs lose about 3.5 percent less moisture during incubation than do chicken eggs, notwithstanding the fact that turkey eggs require about 7 days longer to hatch. Excellent hatches have been obtained when the loss of moisture based on the weight of the eggs just before they were set, ranged within the following limits: After 6 days of incubation, 2 to 8 percent; after 12 days of incubation. 4.1 to 6 percent; after 18 days of incubation, 6.2 to 9 percent; and after 24 days of incubation, 9 to 12 percent.

On this basis, a dozen turkey eggs of normal size should lose about 1 ounce for every 6 days of incubation. The air cells of turkey eggs are smaller in proportion to the size of the eggs than are those of chicken eggs because normal evaporation in turkey eggs during incubation is considerably less than that in chicken eggs. When more moisture is needed in the incubator it can be provided by putting in water pans, or by placing burlap wicks in the pans. When less moisture is needed the water pans may be removed or the ventilation increased.

As a rule the eggs should be turned at least 3 and preferably 4 to 6 times daily. Four times daily, every 6 hours, day and night, is an excellent plan. They should be tested preferably on the eighth or ninth and again on the twentieth to twenty-second days, and all infertile eggs and those having dead germs should be removed. Cooling the eggs once or twice a day until they feel slightly cool to the face may be of value in small incubators. Turning and cooling should be discontinued about the twenty-third day, and the incubator door should be darkened and kept closed until hatching is completed. The poults may then be left in the incubators for about 24 hours or else put in the brooder and fed as soon as hatching is completed and the poults thoroughly dried off. Poults held in the incubator should be kept at about 95° F. and should have a rough surface such as 1/4-inch-mesh hardware cloth to stand on. Keeping the incubator dark helps to keep the poults quiet and tends to prevent spraddle legs. There is no good reason for withholding feed longer than 24 hours. If feed is withheld for a much longer period when the poults are in the brooder, they may eat the litter. Therefore, poults should be fed when they are put in the brooder house.

Shipping day-old poults in specially built strawboard boxes has been found to be satisfactory. The container is larger than that ordinarily used for baby chicks, 60 poults commonly being placed in each box.

RAISING POULTS

There are few turkey-raising problems so important as brooding and rearing the poults, because the greatest losses in turkey raising usually occur in the first few weeks of the birds' lives. Heavy mortality among the poults may indicate that the breeding stock used was low in vitality or was poorly managed, but it more often indicates poor feeding or management of the poults. The importance of keeping both the poults and the breeding turkeys on ground free from infection and away from chickens cannot be overemphasized. Improper brooding methods cause great losses, because turkey poults are very susceptible to cold, dampness, overcrowding, overheating, unsuitable feeds, and unsuitable litter, and they succumb readily to attacks of diseases and parasites.

BROODING

The poults may be brooded naturally by turkey hens or artificially by brooders. Brooding by turkey hens provides a never-failing source of heat, allows the poults to be raised in small flocks, and permits taking advantage of free-range conditions. Its disadvantages are that the young turkeys may contract disease or become infected with parasites from the hens and they may wander too far and be killed by storms or predatory animals. Artificial brooding makes it easier to maintain proper sanitation, keeps down costs, puts the poults more directly under the control of the operator, and is more adaptable to large-scale production.

NATURAL BROODING

Brooding poults by turkey hens is not difficult, although several details should receive careful attention. As soon as the hatch is completed and the poults begin to run out from under the sitting hen, transfer the hen and her brood to a coop. A coop of simple design, such as the =A=-shaped type (fig. 10), large enough to accommodate a turkey hen comfortably, and well built to protect the brood from rains and natural enemies, is all that is required. It should be about 5 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high, with a raised, rat-proof floor. Provide good-sized screened openings for ventilation in hot weather. These openings should be so fixed that rain will not beat into the coop. Have a separate coop for each hen, and if there are several broods, place the coops some distance apart on well-drained soil where the grass is fairly short.

For the first day or so it is well to confine the poults in the coop with the mother hen. Then make a small yard, using boards or wire around the front of the coop, and allow the poults to run in and out at will. However, they should not be allowed to run in long, wet grass, and during heavy rains they should be confined to the coop. Move the coop and yard to fresh ground every few days, clean it once a week or more frequently, and disinfect it occasionally. When the poults are about a week old the mother hen may be allowed to roam with her brood, but care should be taken to see that the entire brood returns in the evening and is protected at night from predatory animals. Good results may be obtained by keeping the mother hens confined and allowing the poults to range, but the brood should be properly sheltered during rainstorms or damp weather, which are likely to cause high mortality. The poults may be kept with the mother hen for 3 months or more, but better results are usually obtained by moving them to a separate rearing field on clean ground when they are from 8 to 10 weeks old. If they have shelter and will roost, they are better off without the hens after that age. A turkey hen will raise up to 20 poults successfully, but more than 20 can sometimes be placed with a hen in warm weather.

ARTIFICIAL BROODING

The practice of brooding poults artificially is becoming more popular and is usually more successful than brooding with turkey hens. The methods used in artificial brooding are very similar to those used in raising chicks, which are discussed in Farmers' Bulletin 1538, Incubation and Brooding of Chickens. However, one point of great importance in brooding poults artificially is to make sure that they do not crowd together while in the brooder house. This can be avoided by frequent attention, by providing an even temperature, and by having good ventilation in the brooder house. A colony house or permanent brooder house that is suitable for brooding chicks is equally suitable for turkeys, but fewer birds should be put in the house, as turkey poults are larger than chicks. Between 75 and 125 poults should be placed under one 52-inch hover in the average colony brooder House. Larger hovers and larger brooding rooms will accommodate 225 poults or more, but only an experienced operator should attempt; to raise groups larger than 150. The prevailing custom is to use brooder stoves in portable colony houses or permanent brooding quarters.

The colony houses may be moved several times each season, thereby giving the poults plenty of free range on clean soil. Since blackhead is closely associated with insanitary conditions, special effort must be made to keep the houses, runs, and yards clean. If permanent brooder houses are used, a floor of concrete from 12 to 14 feet wide or a small gravel or cinder-floored yard is often used in front of the house. A skeleton framework covered with to 1-inch-mesh wire may also be used to floor the outside run either with the permanent brooder houses or with the colony houses (fig. 11). Poults are regularly confined to this small yard for the first 8 weeks and in some cases have been successfully reared to market age in it. However, a clean yard containing growing green feed is an advantage in brooding. If it is used only for about 8 weeks each year, there seems little danger of contamination.

The brooder and brooder house should be operated to keep the young turkeys comfortable. A dim light under or above the hover at night has a quieting effect on the poults. The temperature should be high enough to keep the poults comfortable but not high enough to be detrimental to their health. When the poults are first put into the colony house with the brooder stove, the temperature 3 inches above the floor under the hover should be from, 95° to 110° F. This temperature should be lowered gradually as the poults get larger until they are 6 or 8 weeks old, when they require little or no heat, especially in the daytime. It is a common practice in cold weather to keep the general room temperature at the floor rather high, about 75°, to prevent crowding. The exact temperature, however, is of minor importance provided the poults are kept comfortable and good ventilation is maintained. The poults, if comfortable, will be active and contented. This is the real test of temperature. All warm points and surfaces except those at the brooder itself should be eliminated. Free access from all parts of the brooder room to the hover must be provided. All corners in the brooding room, especially back of the hover, should be rounded, preferably by using 1/2-inch-mesh poultry wire. A fence of the same material should be set up around the hover for the first 2 or 3 days until the poults become accustomed to their surroundings and learn to return to the source of heat. Flat roosts 2 to 2-1/2 inches wide and slightly tilted up at the rear may be placed at graduated levels in the brooder house when the poults are from 2 to 3 weeks old, to encourage them to begin roosting at an early age. This provision lessens the danger of night crowding. The front roost should be 6 inches above the floor and each of the others a few inches higher than the one in front of it and about 8-1/2 inches apart, center to center.

SANITATION

The brooder house should be thoroughly cleaned and the litter changed once every 7 days, or oftener if disease occurs, regardless of the type of litter used. This cleaning schedule must be adhered to rigidly if blackhead, coccidiosis, and other diseases are to be prevented.

Thoroughly clean and disinfect brooder houses and equipment used for turkeys at the end of each brooding season or oftener if disease occurs. First clean the house thoroughly and burn all litter and droppings or haul them to land that is not to be used for poultry and from which there will be no drainage into the turkey range. Then scrub the floor and sides of the house, if it is of board construction, with boiling hot lye solution (one-third of a can to a pail of water) and allow them to dry out. Next, thoroughly spray the entire inside of the building with a 3- or 4-percent solution of cresol compound or any other approved disinfectant. Give the same treatment once a year to the quarters occupied by the breeding stock. The "fire gun", a large kerosene torch which involves the blow-torch principle, has proved to be valuable in disinfecting, if it is properly used and the house has been thoroughly cleaned.

LITTER

Sand or gravel is recommended for litter for the first 2 or 3 weeks; after that, clean wheat straw is advised as a means of saving labor. Gravel or sand makes the best litter; but with large flocks, using it for more than 2 or 3 weeks may require too much labor. Straw or hay, if used during the first 2 weeks, may cause a stunting of growth and a high mortality. Many growers have been successful in using, as a substitute for litter, 1/2-inch wire mesh stretched tightly a few inches above the floor of the house, but it requires much labor to clean this, and it seems to have no advantage over clean litter. A wire-floored sun porch makes a good substitute, for an outside yard during the brooding period although, as previously stated, a clean yard in grass is preferable.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

The poults, when first hatched, are covered with soft down. When they are about 10 days old, feathers begin to appear where the wings join the body, and in about 3 weeks the tail feathers begin to appear. From then on feather growth is rapid, and when the poults are 2 months old they are well feathered. About the fifth week fleshy protuberances called caruncles begin to appear, and by the seventh week they begin to extend down the neck. The appearance of caruncles in the poults is termed "shooting the red." On the top of the head of both males and females a fleshy protuberance develops into what is called the "dew bill" or "snood"; on males it is larger and more elastic than on females.

The sex of young turkeys can be distinguished by the appearance of a tuft of hairs on the breast of males between 3 and 4 months old. The tuft usually does not appear on the breasts of the females until they are much older, and the hairs of the tuft are shorter and finer than those on males. The hock joints on the males are much broader and heavier than on the females. The sex of well-grown Bronze turkey poults can be distinguished by examining the mature breast feathers which appear at 12 to 14 weeks. Those of the males are bronze black with no white, whereas the tip of those of the females have a narrow white edge. Day-old poults may be sexed as is done with baby chicks by examining that part of the sex organs that can be seen at the vent.

MARKING

When large numbers of turkeys are raised it is advisable to adopt some system of marking the poults that enables the grower to keep a record of the age and breeding of the different broods, as this is of assistance in selecting early hatched birds for breeding and slaughter purposes. Such a system also makes it possible to separate the poults out of special matings from the rest of the flock or from neighboring flocks. The poults may be marked by punching holes in the webs between the toes or slitting these webs. Different webs may be punched or slit for different broods, and thus provide a record of all turkeys raised.