Breeding Turkeys - Important Tips For Successfully Breeding Turkey

Successfully breeding turkeys is all about
following the science -- or at least, the
instinctive breeding practices of the birds. In
fact, more and more small farms are trying to
accommodate turkey farming into their
repertoire. Unlike chicken egg production,
breeding turkeys is riskier since unfertilized
turkey eggs are considered unmarketable and are
therefore destroyed immediately. First
thing you have to know is that turkeys reach
sexual maturity at 7 months and must be mated
immediately to produce batches of fertilized
eggs. (There is no market for such eggs and are
usually considered very low in nutritional
value.)

For small farms, a breeding tom can be mated
with as many as 10 hens. However, to ensure that
there are large volumes of fertilized eggs,
alternating 2 toms during the entire breeding
cycle is the norm. The health of the female
turkeys should also be considered when turkey
rearing. The birds should be outfitted with
canvas saddles to protect their backs from
overeager males. Clipping the toms' toenails
also ensures that the female remain healthy as
the fertilized eggs develop within a 25 week
cycle. As a rule, hens normally lay between 88
and 93 eggs each. Some hens are slaughtered for
meat afterwards, but you can also try molting
the hen -- or give the hen a certain resting
period of about 90 days or 3 months -- so that
it can be mated once more. The second laying
cycle usually yields lesser number of eggs (70
to 80 fertilized eggs,) but this can still be
considered as profitable.

One thing you have to remember is that turkeys
reach their sexual maturity at the age of 7
months and would be fertile only for the next 6
months. So if you are planning on getting a
breeding hen or tom, make sure that the bird is
around 3 months to 5 months only. However, the
best way to really ascertain the age of the
turkey is to monitor its growth from the moment
it hatches. Therefore, it is more advisable to
buy birds as eggs or hatchlings.

Lastly, all bird species need nests in order to
lay eggs. The use of community nests of at least
0.5 meters wide and 0.5 meters deep for 5 hens
should be enough to keep the eggs safe.Another
important factor when breeding turkeys is make
sure that the nests remain parasite free
especially from all sorts of blood sucking bugs
and worms.

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Nests could be made from a combination of dry
straw, wood shavings, and shredded rich hulls.
If you are interested to learn more about
raising turkeys and avoid costly mistakes,
please visit: http://www.howtoraiseturkeys.com

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