Important Tips On Keeping Turkeys Happy And Healthy

Keeping or rearing turkeys does not really entail
a lot of work, but there are certain things you
need to monitor closely. First of all, you need
to make sure that the batch of eggs or chicks
you acquire are healthy and disease free. Buying
from reputable sellers will most likely take care
of this problem, but you still need to monitor
the incubation of the eggs carefully and the
health of the chicks until it reaches its 4th
week.

Hatchlings are a bit difficult to feed, so you
might want to regulate their solid food to the
ones that are easily digested. Soybean meals and
ground corn are always good, but try to ask your
local vet for their recommendation of vitamin
and mineral supplements too. Water is essential
for all hatchlings when keeping turkeys. Make
sure that their drinking dish or apparatus can
easily be accessed to by the hatchlings, is
changed more than 3 to 5 times a day and is not
deep enough for any of the chicks to fall in, or
heavy enough to crush a hatchling by accident.

Heat is also important when it comes to raising
turkeys because the birds tend to feel cold even
during balmy weather. Heat from lights might be a
good idea if you are rearing only a handful of
birds, but heated air from vents is a better
option, especially if your pet turkeys are 2
months (or older) or number more than 10.

Debeaking is usually an option reserved for
commercial turkey farming. This lessens the
possibility of the birds attacking one another
and inflicting severe damage. However, for
smaller farms, debeaking can be dispensed with
by simply allowing the turkeys to have larger
living spaces and more time to roam about
outdoors. When it comes to keeping turkeys,
handling the birds should also be kept at a
minimum. Hatchlings and young chicks usually
suffer from too much bodily handling.

The simplest thing to be followed to avoid
acquiring any diseases is to maintain
cleanliness in and out of their coops. However,
it is very unrealistic to make it 100%-free from
bacteria because pathogens will always be present
in raising turkeys. You just need to control and
maintain tidiness, especially in the feeding
system, for your turkeys. Though your turkeys
might look healthy and sound when they were
born, it is still best to monitor their growth.
If turkeys are not given much attention in their
growing stages, certain disabilities may develop
like bent and crooked legs that may lead to
permanent limpness and death.

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Physically hold the birds only when absolutely
necessary and handle gently; otherwise, the
birds should be pretty much left alone. If you
would like to learn more about raising and
keeping turkeys and avoid painful mistakes,
please go to: http://www.howtoraiseturkeys.com

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