Before You Raise Turkeys – Terminologies and Interesting Facts You Should Know

Ideally, before you raise turkeys, it is helpful that you know the terminologies and interesting facts about turkeys so that you wouldn’t be thrown off guard when you read any related materials about turkeys. Raising turkeys on a small farm can be fun and profitable because they can be rotated like any other cash crop on your property. If you have a few acres that you could rotate pastured turkeys on, this could be a good side business for the small farmer. Here are some terminologies to broaden your horizon when you raise turkeys: Tom: Adult male turkey Hen: Adult female turkey Poult: Young one of turkey Snood or Dew bill: The fleshy protuberance near the base of the beck Caruncles: The fleshy protuberance on the head and neck usually pink or red in color which appear from about 5th week of age Dewlap: A large flap skin seen immediately below the chin Bread: A tuft of hair attached to the skin of the upper chest region Strut: Mating behavior of male turkey Shooting the red: The development of caruncles and this is supposed to indicate the most difficult time in the life of young turkey Debeaking: Poults should be debeaked to control feather picking and cannibalism. Debeaking can be done at day old or 3-5 weeks of age. Remove the beak at about one half the distance from nostril to the tip of the beak. Desnooding: Removal of the snood or dewbill is to prevent the head injuries from picking and fighting. At the day old the snood can be removed by shumbnail or finger pressure. At 3 weeks of age it can be cut off close to the head with sharp scissors. Detoeing or toe clipping: Clipping is done at day old by removing the tip of the toe just to the inside of the outer most toe pad including the entire toenail. When most people think of a turkey they think of Thanksgiving dinner. While most who raise turkeys raise them for eating, some keep turkeys as a pet. And some do both, keep some as a pet while eating the others. There are many different breeds of turkeys, however there are two varieties, domestic and wild. The wild turkey lives and breeds in the wild and some are kept as pets. It can fly and is said to be smarter than the domestic. The domestic turkey are the type eaten on thanksgiving and they cannot fly. The domestic and wild turkeys are physically different. Domestic turkeys are much larger than the wild turkeys. Wild turkeys have brown tipped tails, while the domestic is white. A wild turkey is much faster than the domestic turkey. The fastest wild turkey can run up to 35 mph, while a full grown domestic turkeys pace is a slow walk (females are a little faster because they weigh less than the male). Wild Turkeys have better eyesight and hearing than domestic turkeys. Only male turkeys gobble, female turkeys make a clucking sound but cannot gobble. Only the male turkey can fan his tail feathers, females cannot. The turkeys crop is also called the craw. When turkeys feed they swallow lots of food which is stored in their crop. They then go to a safe place to loaf and process the food. Before you raise turkeys too, you need to know that turkeys don't have teeth, but they grind their food (even hard seeds and nuts like acorns) in their second stomach, the gizzard. This is the muscular stomach below the crop which is the glandular stomach. Look for the gizzard in the giblet bag. All commercial turkeys produced today are the white broad breasted turkey breed. This breed was first used for commercial turkey production in the late 1950’s. By the late 1960’s the majority of the industry used this turkey breed. The cost of raising a turkey is affected by many factors, including buildings, equipment, labor, feed costs, and interest on loans. Feed costs amount to almost two thirds of the cost of raising a turkey. Geographic location, degree of automation, and size of the farm all contribute to differences in the costs of raising turkeys.

Simple Steps to Raising Turkey Meat on Your Own

Turkeys are great meat; it's lean, has a lot of great antioxidants, and natural vitamins and nutrients and can be even better if you are raising turkeys meat on your own. It can be very simple and easy in raising turkeys. First of all, start your turkey production with good healthy stock concerning your turkey babies. You can raise them from the egg yourself in an incubator, or purchase good healthy stock from many of the turkey farms. Make sure to watch out for diarrhea, crooked legs at about four weeks, and that they don't get too cold. When it comes to raising turkeys you are going to want to give them heat lamps so the turkeys don't get too cold. When turkeys get cold, they cuddle up together and actually sit on top of one another, resulting in a pile up of turkey, with the bottom being smothered to death. Of course it does matter how many turkeys you are raising at a time, you should always try to raise at least 5 as one or two may pass away and three can be a flock together. You also need to decide whether you're growing organic turkey or other types. Once you've made that decision, you can make decisions on deciding exactly what food to feed your turkeys. Remember in order to have organic turkeys you need to feed organic food, and stay away from processed turkey food and medications. Many turkey farmers battle diarrhea with their turkeys, but you can put antibiotics in the water. As soon as you see turkeys with diarrhea you must begin to treat them or dehydration and death will be the result. Some organic turkey growers have had success with diarrhea in by using acidophilus in the water. If you notice your turkeys are wondering around acting drunk, there's a good chance they are lacking in particular vitamins and nutrients, you can get a commercial mix for the water from your feed store, or you can try feeding different types of organic foods to increase vitamin and nutrient content of their feet. Some have used alfalfa and had this problem solved and there may be other types of organic feed you can use, look into organic turkey food on the Internet. Raising turkeys meat is a great way to supplement your diet with lean meat full of great vitamins and nutrients for your whole family. Just make sure your turkeys come from a healthy farm, keep them warm until they are old enough to regulate their own temperature and feed them well. Look to your Internet for information about raising turkeys on a small farm and then enjoy their large graceful bodies wandering around.

How To Start Raising Turkey and What You Need

Raising turkey are rather relatively easy to start, unless you want to whole herd, perhaps just one or two for your holiday dinner is going to work. It's time to raise turkeys for the holidays, and because they're relatively easy if you have a bit of space you can raise several together and then sell the other ones to pay for your own turkey. You'll need a convenient pen for raising turkeys, as they need warmth, food and water as will as vitamins and certain nutrients. Raising turkey is always easier when raising more than one bird at a time, not only are they a likely eat better, but also they more comfortable in flocks, and in the wild you'll see a flock of turkeys hanging out. So get three to five when you begin your turkey growing experience, that way if you lose one or two you'll still have a couple to get to maturity for your holidays. You want a climate controlled pen or shelter for your young turkeys. You'll have to fill it full of soft flooring, give them a heat source such as a red heat lamp, as well as convenient food and clean water. There are several things that can happen within your flock of turkeys, but it's all according to how you want to grow them, whether organic or not as what you're going to do concerning the problems. Many turkey farmers will lose quite a few young turkeys due to diarrhea, you can avoid this common problem by putting acidophilus in their water. This is considered an organic remedy to the problem, also, coccidiosis, the cause of the diarrhea can be solved with antibiotics in the water as well. It's all according to whether you're raising organic turkeys, or are going to use processed food. If you're using processed food it's okay to use antibiotics in the water, but if you're raising organic turkeys, try the acidophilus. Also, without the proper nutrients and vitamins in their diet your turkeys legs can grow crooked. This will cause them to be unable to walk, resulting in poor turkey form and possible death. Make sure that you read up on these types of problems on the Internet before getting your baby turkeys. This way you can avoid these types of turkey health risks before they become a real problem. It's not difficult raising turkey for your holidays, start about five months before the holidays, that should give you ample time to get them turkeys large enough for your dinner. Also, as far as butchering, you may find a local establishment that may do it for you. Enjoy the adventure of raising turkey for the holidays, and then enjoy eating a dinner you raised yourself.

Thinking of Raising Turkeys? Are You Looking For Fun or Profit?

While there are many different aspects of raising turkeys for fun and profit, one of the best ways is to raise organic and free range turkeys. In today's world, the market is good for those items that are raised in a manner conducive to the growing of the animal itself such as free range beef, goats and turkeys. Not only that, but on the profit end of things you'll find that your feed bill is less, your turkeys are healthier, and your market is better in the long run. Many people are turning to free range meat as a source of protein in their diets. So raising turkeys is going to hit that mark well. It's not difficult, but you will need a secure area for the turkeys to enjoy their free range in. Remember, while they may grow relatively fast, they're still small and susceptible to predators. This can be predators such as coyotes, weasels, owls, eagles, domestic dogs, and a variety of other carnivores. The last thing you want is to have your herd of turkey's attacked on a regular basis so make sure they have a secure free ranging area. Also, remember, organic means no processed foods, vitamins, or even medications. This means that you need to make sure that your turkeys herd stays healthy. You can solve a lot of problems with vitamin deficiencies and other illness by feeding them flakes of alfalfa. Of course, it's even better, if your free range turkeys are ranging on an older alfalfa field, but a flake or two of alfalfa spread out well throughout the ranging area can allow them to get the vitamins they need. Just make sure you're feeding enough alfalfa to fulfill the needs of all of the birds. One of the nice things about raising turkeys is the fact that they're not that difficult to care for. They'll need warmth in the beginning of their lives when their growing and are babies, and you need to watch out for them piling up on each other for warmth and smothering each other. The best way to do that is to allow a good red heat lamp for each set of 20 birds. Because of the ease of raising turkeys, children can be intimately involved in raising turkeys for fun and profit. Even the youngest can make sure that water containers are full and that the birds are getting the care and warmth that they need. You'll be surprised what a family adventure it is to raise turkeys and enjoy free range turkey meat as well as the excitement of your consumers eating their first free range turkey.

Common Mistakes and Problems to Avoid When Raising Turkeys

If you are just beginning to learn how to raise turkeys, you need to do any of research. While turkeys are relatively easy to raise there are some common mistakes that could happen that can be avoided with a little bit of research. One of the things you need to be careful of when your first beginning to raise turkeys is that they need a certain amount of warmth and will get it one way or another. Often, turkeys may pile up on each other smothering each other in order to stay warm, resulting in death of the lower ones. You can solve some of these problems by making sure there is enough heat sources for the amount of turkeys you are growing. You may need a red lamp for every set of 20 turkeys within your turkey herd. By making sure you have enough warmth as well as not having corners for them to pile up in their habitat, you can avoid this common problem and death. You'll also find turkeys need a certain amount of particular vitamins and nutrients in order to grow healthy. While your birds may be doing well when immature, as they grow if they don't get the proper nutrients bare legs can actually grow crooked to the point where they cannot walk. This can be solved by making sure you're fulfilling all of their vitamin and nutrient needs via processed turkey feed, perhaps alfalfa, or vitamins and minerals in their water. Just make sure you're getting the right amount for your turkeys and if you're raising organic turkeys, you cannot use processed food, vitamins or even medicine. Also, diarrhea is a common problem in turkey herds. You can try to avoid this by again giving them antibiotics on a regular basis, but some people have found that acidophilus in the water works very well. This is great, if you're raising organic turkeys, as acidophilus is a natural inhibitor of diarrhea. If despite this you wind up with diarrhea in your turkey herd, you will have to put them on antibiotics, and it's usually something you put in their water. Raising turkeys is not difficult, but there are some common problems that are associated with turkey herds. Read up on your Internet, there are several stories available that will show you exactly how people encountered the problems, and exactly how they solve them. Turkeys can be great for a small farm, and you can even raise them as free range turkeys and wind up marketing them as organic or free range. Look to common organic turkey sites, turkey farm sites, and other sites concerning raising turkeys and you'll have a lot of information at your fingertips. Remember, turkeys main concern is going to be warmth and enough food and water to solve their vitamin and nutrient needs. Make sure that you've an optimum and with no corners for turkeys and then give them their food and water that they need to survive and thrive.