Part 7

Grit may be furnished in the form of commercial granite grit or coarse sand for little poults and fine gravel for the larger birds. Limestone grit does not serve well as grinding material and is unnecessary with the rations as listed.

The poults may be put on the rearing ground when they are from 8 to 12 weeks old. An alfalfa field is an ideal rearing ground and may be used as a permanent, fenced, rearing range divided into 2 or 3 sections. When the rearing range is divided into 2 sections, 1 may be used for 2 seasons in succession while the other is rested for 2 seasons. A better plan is to divide it into 3 parts, allowing 1 season's use followed by 2 seasons' rest for each of the 3 sections. With portable houses and fences a method known as the "Minnesota plan" (p. 37) permits the turkey poults to be moved to a new section once a week and to an entirely new plot each year. Land on which no poultry of any kind have run for 2 years and on which no poultry manure has been spread, may be considered clean ground. The feed should not be put on the ground but in hoppers or troughs which should be moved frequently or set on wire-covered framework to prevent contamination with droppings. It is very important that the drinking water be fresh and clean and that the growing turkeys should not have access to stagnant water pools. Watering dishes should be placed on wire-covered platforms with a device to prevent contamination from the birds' perching on the top or sides.

The limited-range method with full feeding, as described, is recommended in preference to free range with limited feeding. However, conditions sometimes demand that free range be permitted, and limited feeding practiced. In such cases, when natural feed is abundant, good results can be obtained by feeding the poults, after they are from 8 to 10 weeks old, only once daily, as previously suggested. Any of the growing mashes previously listed should make a good supplement to range feeds. This extra feed will tend to keep the birds nearer home and keep them growing at a reasonably good rate. Scratch grains should also be fed and as marketing time approaches, will be eaten more liberally by the birds. For turkeys on free range, plenty of water in convenient locations should be provided. Water helps to maintain good health and may help to prevent the condition known as "crop bound."

Turkeys which are well fed should make increases in weight comparable to those given in table 2, which gives the average weights, at various ages, ox Bronze turkeys raised in an experiment conducted at the United States Range Livestock Experiment Station at Miles City, Mont. These birds were fed starting and growing mashes containing about 22 percent of protein.

Table 2.--Average weights of Bronze turkey poults from hatching time to market age

---------------+--------------------- | Average live weight +----------+---------- Age | Males | Females ---------------+----------+---------- | Pounds | Pounds Newly hatched | 0.13 | 0.13 2 weeks | 0.33 | 0.30 4 weeks | 0.86 | 0.75 8 weeks | 3.13 | 2.68 12 weeks | 6.64 | 5.28 16 weeks | 10.35 | 7.67 20 weeks | 14.47 | 9.67 24 weeks | 18.23 | 11.15 26 weeks | 20.18 | 12.04 28 weeks | 21.35 | 12.48 ---------------+----------+----------

FEED CONSUMPTION AND COST OF GROWING

The quantity and cost of feed used in raising a flock of 156 Bronze turkeys in Montana in 1934 are shown in tables 3 and 4. These poults (70 males and 86 females) had well-balanced dry mashes (containing 22 percent of protein) before them at all times and scratch grain beginning with the second week. The birds were allowed to range on 2-acre nonirrigated lots after they were 8 weeks of age. The costs were based on local feed prices in Miles City, Mont., in 1934. By using the data in tables 2 and 3, the feed consumption and cost for an average turkey can be estimated for any period of growth.

Table 3.--Average feed consumption and cost per pound of gain in 4-week periods for 70 male and 86 female Bronze turkeys in 1934 at Miles City, Mont.

---------------+----------------------------+--------------- | | Cost of feed | Feed consumed per pound | for each | of gain in live weight | pound of Age +--------+---------+---------+ gain in | Mash | Scratch | Total | live weight | | grain | | ---------------+--------+---------+---------+--------------- |Pounds|Pounds |Pounds | Cents 1 to 4 weeks | 2.44 | 0.21 | 2.65 | 5.9 5 to 8 weeks | 2.41 | 0.16 | 2.57 | 5.7 9 to 12 weeks | 2.42 | 0.43 | 2.85 | 6.1 13 to 16 weeks | 3.47 | 0.42 | 3.90 | 8.8 17 to 20 weeks | 3.05 | 1.52 | 4.57 | 9.8 21 to 24 weeks | 3.09 | 3.45 | 6.54 | 13.5 25 to 28 weeks | 2.46 | 5.64 | 8.10 | 16.1 ---------------+--------+---------+---------+---------------

Table 4.--Average feed consumption per bird in periods for 70 male and 86 female Bronze turkeys in 1934 at Miles City, Mont.

---------------+--------+---------+---------- Age | Mash | Scratch | Total | | grain | ---------------+--------+---------+---------- |Pounds| Pounds| Pounds 1 to 4 weeks | 1.39 | 0.12 | 1.51 5 to 8 weeks | 4.45 | 0.29 | 4.74 9 to 12 weeks | 6.67 | 1.19 | 7.86 13 to 16 weeks | 9.96 | 1.21 | 11.17 17 to 20 weeks | 9.05 | 4.52 | 13.57 21 to 24 weeks | 7.64 | 8.53 | 16.17 25 to 28 weeks | 5.19 | 11.89 | 17.08 ---------------+--------+---------+----------

Using the data contained in tables 2 and 3, it will be found that it took approximately 96 pounds of mash and scratch feed to raise a 21-pound tom to 28 weeks of age, and about 57-1/2 pounds of mash and grain to raise a 12-1/2-pound hen to that age, or about 4.6 pounds of feed for each pound of live weight, when practically all feed was furnished. It took about 4 pounds of feed for each pound of live weight up to 24 weeks of age. The birds had access to a moderate sized range lot containing native grasses, but very little feed was obtained from it during the 1934 season.

DEFORMED BREASTBONES

Crooked and dented breastbones in turkeys are common and sometimes cause a considerable loss to growers when the birds are marketed, since a severely crooked or very deeply dented breastbone causes the carcass to be graded as no. 2.

It is generally believed that faulty nutrition causes most of the deformed breastbones, although level roosts narrower than 2-1/2 inches have been known to cause deformities of this kind. If turkeys are supplied with green feed, fed liberally on one of the rations suggested, provided with tilted 2 by 4 roosts or medium-sized poles (see page 35), and have plenty of direct sunlight, there will be few crooked breastbones among them. A small number (from 1 to 2 percent) is to be expected as it seems to be impossible to eliminate them entirely. The addition to the ration of steamed bone meal and limestone grit or oyster shell as a mineral reinforcement is recommended by some poultrymen. However, the various rations, as listed, supply adequate quantities of the bone-building ingredients. Further additions are unnecessary and may even be harmful.

EQUIPMENT FOR RAISING TURKEYS

CONTAINERS FOR FEED AND WATER

During the first 3 or 4 weeks after the poults hatch, two-piece crockery fountains are excellent milk containers. For water, galvanized metal containers are more convenient. When the poults are from 4 to 10 weeks old, water pails, metal troughs, or shallow tin or graniteware pans provided with wire or wooden guards are more satisfactory than fountains. A good method is to place the water or milk outside the wall of the brooder room so that the poults can drink it through a wire screen. From the age of 9 weeks until market age, a supply of running water is preferable, although ordinary water pails set inside the range house on the wire floor or nails or tubs set outside the fence, with openings in the wire for the birds' heads, are satisfactory. Changing the position of the watering devices every few days or setting them on wire-covered platforms will aid in providing sanitary conditions near the watering places where filth is likely to accumulate rapidly. A watertight barrel provided with a drip faucet and a trough also makes a good watering device. Shade should be provided to prevent the drinking water from getting hot. Suitable equipment for feeding mash and scratch feed is shown in figure 12.

Small trough feeders made of lath (fig. 12, A) may be used from the first day in the brooder and until the poults are a week old. Such feeders are made with 1 lath for the bottom, 2 for the sides, small sections for end pieces, and another lath for a guard to keep poults out of the trough. For poults from 8 days to 4 weeks old it is better to use large trough feeders made of 1/2- by 2-1/4-inch boards for the sides with a top guard consisting of a free-turning reel. Baling wire stretched inside the troughs (fig. 12, C) aid in preventing waste of feed and also serve as beak cleaners for the birds. To prevent waste, it is better not to fill most trough feeders more than two-thirds full. In the brooder house it is important to place feeders on a wire platform made of 1-inch mesh, 16-gage wire, and 1- by 4- or 1- by 6-inch boards. Poults 5 to 12 weeks old should have trough feeders made of 1/2- by 5-inch boards for the sides, with a free-turning reel at the top. For poults from 12 weeks old to market age the feeders should be even larger, as illustrated in figures 13 and 14.

After the age of about 12 weeks, and when feeding is done under shelter, use a flat-bottomed trough from 12 to 18 feet long or several short feeders made with a 1- by 10-inch board as a bottom, 1- by 8-inch boards as sides, and with a guard of 1- by 4-inch center piece topped with a free-turning roller or reel (fig. 14). For outside feeding a similar trough is advisable. It should be divided into two sections each 6 to 9 feet long, set on 2- by 8- or 2- by 10-inch skids covered with 1-inch hexagonal mesh, 16-gage wire or heavy gage 1-inch-mesh hardware cloth, and provided with a gable roof and side boards to protect the feed and the birds from sun, wind, and rain (fig. 15). The troughs can be removed to be used as inside feeders and for replenishing the feed. Two 9-foot feeders are sufficient for 150 to 175 birds. Inside feeding is preferred whenever possible to provide it.

HOUSES AND FENCES

A verminproof, weatherproof roosting shelter for growing poults is an important piece of equipment. A square or rectangular structure with a shed or gable roof makes a satisfactory range house. A shed roof is more easily constructed. The use of wire guards called "antiflies" will keep turkeys off the roof. Allowing for a 5-foot wire-floored alleyway to hold the feeders and waterers, a house about 10 feet wide and 25 feet long (figs. 16, 17, 18, and 19) will accommodate 150 to 175 growing turkeys to market age; a similar house about 16 by 18 feet is large enough for 100 birds. Feeding and watering can be done inside. For a permanent house, a height of 5 or 5-1/2 feet at the caves and about 8 feet at the front (or the peak, if gable-roofed) is sufficient. If no alleyway is used, a house 9 by 26 feet containing roosts only should care for 130 to 150 turkeys to market age (figs. 20 and 21).

With the latter type of house, feeding and watering must be done outside, preferably with a covered feeder, as shown in figure 15. A cheaper portable coop, not so high and with framework of lighter material, is shown in figure 22. This coop is built on 4- by 10-inch skids and is equipped with raised wire floor and with roosts.

A permanent house should face south or in a southerly direction so that the front is not exposed to storms. Board sides on the north and west are desirable. Practically open-air conditions, combined with good protection, may be obtained by leaving wire-covered openings about 2 or 2-1/2 feet wide across the north, west, and east sides at about the level of the roosts. These Openings should be made closable by shiplap doors that may be partly opened in warm weather and closed during cold weather and storms. The south side may be left entirely open except for 1-inch hexagonal mesh of 16- or 18-gage wire and enough boards to give strength to the building and protect the birds from rainstorms.

As mentioned on page 29, desirable roosts may be made of 2 by 4's with edges beveled and laid flatwise but slightly titled up at about the angle of a quarter-pitch roof in the direction toward which the birds are likely to face. Roosts made of 2 by 4's or other sawed lumber may cause dents in the breastbones if they are laid perfectly flat. Smooth poles 2-1/2 to 5 inches in diameter also make good roosts. Material less than 2-1/2 inches wide is not recommended for turkeys half grown or older. Roosts should be placed preferably 20 to 24 inches apart (center to center), about 14 inches from the wall and lengthwise or the building. Those nearest the back wall of the shelter should be the highest, and each of the others should be about 6 inches lower than the one back of it. This arrangement insures an even distribution of the birds on the roosts without crowding. Allow about 1 foot of roost space per bird as they require as much space as this when approaching market age.

The space beneath the roosts should be fenced off and covered with 1-1/2-inch, 18-gage wire mesh to prevent the birds from getting at the droppings. This wire should be placed either on the under side of the roost supports (fig. 17) or on special wire supports (fig. 21), and it should be 6 to 12 inches below the top of the roosts. When a wire-floored alleyway is used, removable vertical panels made of 1- by 4-inch boards covered with the 1-1/2-inch hexagonal, 18-gage wire mesh should be placed directly under the roosts which border the alleyways in such a way as to close the opening underneath the roosts (fig. 19).

In very dry regions, it the space underneath the roosts and wire floors is entirely enclosed, the droppings may be allowed to accumulate throughout the entire growing season to save labor. In damp climates, however, the droppings should be removed frequently.