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 2¹/₂ 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 8¹/₂ 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.

Heavy, aluminum, clinch pigeon-wing bands are well adapted for marking young turkeys. The bands can be applied in two ways:

FEEDING GROWING TURKEYS

Success in turkey raising depends mainly upon the combination of feeds given the young poults. Poor-quality feeds, lack of vitamins, and shortage of proteins, especially if the poults are closely confined, are the more common causes or failures. Some difficulty may be experienced in getting artificially brooded poults to eat, as a young poult is much less active than a chick; but if several small troughs are provided there should be no serious trouble from this cause. Dipping the beaks of backward poults in milk or water, or feeding oatmeal flakes may induce them to eat. Poults brooded with hens, of course, do not need this special attention.

After the poults are from 6 to 8 weeks old they may get some of their living from a good range, but the use of additional feed, preferably a balanced ration of mash and scratch grain, will give better growth and result in early maturity and greater returns above feed cost.

In natural brooding the turkey hen, while confined to the coop, should be fed mash and given some tender green feed. Water and gravel or grit should, of course, be kept before her all the time. In feeding the hen and her brood it is advisable to feed the poults outside the coop and the hen inside in order to prevent the hen from wasting the feed intended for the poults.

For the first 24 to 72 hours after hatching, poults can live without feed, the yolk of the egg which they absorb before hatching being sufficient to maintain them for that length of time. As soon as they are put into the brooder house or with the hen they should be fed. If they are not fed for the first day or two they should be kept in a darkened coop or incubator. However, leaving the poults in a darkened incubator for only 12 to 24 hours and feeding them as soon as they are removed to the brooder seems to be better and is now becoming a general practice.

The first feed may be a mixture of finely chopped, tender green feed, and dry starting mash. Hard-boiled eggs, ground or crumbled, may also be added if desired. This feed should be placed on clean boards or in little feeders made of laths as illustrated in figure 12. It is a good plan to keep the feed before the poults at all times from the very beginning so that the backward poults will learn to eat and their growth rate will not be retarded. Milk, if not too high priced, may be kept before them in easily cleaned crockery, tin, wooden, or graniteware receptacles which the poults cannot get into or contaminate. After the first few days the green feed, unless it is available in the yards, may be spread on top of the mash in the feeders. Turkey poults appear to be easily harmed by eating large quantities of tough, fibrous litter or green feed; hence the selection of a tender green feed is most important.

FEEDING DURING THE FIRST 6 TO 8 WEEKS

The use of a well-balanced, all-mash ration is the simplest and most practical method of feeding poults during the first few weeks of their lives. Many commercial starting mashes are available or good home-mixed mashes may be used with excellent success. The protein, mineral, and vitamin contents are the main points to be considered. Milk in some form is very desirable, dried milk being preferable. Liquid milk is a fair feed, but the dried form is preferable at least for starting rations.

The following starting mashes are recommended for feeding turkey poults during the first 6 to 8 weeks. Mash No. 1, fed without liquid milk, is preferable.

Starting mash No. 2 is advised for feeding when liquid skim milk or buttermilk is kept before the poults at all times. Some water is furnished, allowing one dish of water to several of milk. These starting mashes are fed without scratch grain; but water, green feed, and hard grit such as fine gravel, coarse sand, or commercial granite grit should be supplied. The green feed should be chopped fine and scattered on top of the mash in the feeders once or twice daily, allowing all the poults will consume in about half an hour. Tender alfalfa tops, onion tops, lettuce, and tender, short lawn clippings, preferably those containing clover, are all good feeds. Tough green feed should be avoided as it may cause impaction. Green feed as picked by the birds from the yards is most desirable. In that case hand feeding is not necessary. The mash in dry form should be kept before the poults at all times, but only enough mash to last for a day or two should be supplied at one time. About 1 inch of feeder space per poult (including both sides of the feeders) is desirable. This should be increased to 2 or 3 inches after about 2 or 3 weeks. Plans for feeders are shown in figure 12.

FEEDING FROM 6 TO 8 WEEKS TO MARKETING TIME

Rations for growing the poults after the age of 6 to 8 weeks may include mash and whole grain or liquid milk and whole grain. Many turkeys are grown and fattened on grain supplemented with whatever insects and green feed can be obtained from the range. A better plan is to provide sufficient protein and minerals to give normal growth. The minimum feeding advised is to allow each day one liberal feeding of a 20-percent protein mash, or to furnish all the milk the birds will drink with a feeding of whole grain. Either the mash or the liquid milk should be used with liberal feedings of whole grain for fattening in the fall.

Good growing mashes suitable for different conditions may be made as follows:

These growing mashes are all fed with scratch grains consisting of such grains as corn, wheat, barley, and oats. Corn, wheat, or barley may be used as the only scratch grain except with growing mash No. 4, which should contain from 50 to 75 percent of oats. A good grain mixture may be made of 40 parts of corn, 40 parts of wheat, and 20 parts of oats. Mashes 1 and 2 are for flocks having access to a good green range. In mash No. 2 soybean oil meal, which has proved to be a good source of protein and is also good for fattening, is substituted for meat scrap. Mash No. 3 is a more complete ration and is advised for all conditions where the turkeys do not have an abundance of growing green feed.

Other combinations of grains and byproducts may be used successfully, the exact selection depending largely on availability and cost of feeds. It is best to use at least two grains, and preferably three or four, in the ration. Corn is the grain most commonly used in feeding turkeys. Not more than 60 percent of the entire growing ration should consist of oats or barley or a combination of the two. Yellow corn tends to produce a deep-yellow skin color while white corn, barley, and wheat produce turkeys with light-colored skins.

If the birds have all the milk they will drink along with whole grains, they will consume enough milk to make good growth, if no water is fed. A mixture of 30 percent of corn, 30 percent of oats, 20 percent of wheat, and 20 percent of barley is satisfactory; so is a free choice of several grains. However, the whole-grain and liquid-milk method works well only when the birds are on a good, green range and is practical to use only when milk products are cheap. Some loss from pendulous crops is to be expected when liquid milk is consumed liberally and this is one of the chief objections to its use. The milk receptacles should be set on a wire screen and covered to protect them from the weather and from contamination with droppings. Sanitation is especially important when milk is used.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR FEEDING

Feed should be kept before the birds constantly from hatching to market age. During the first 6 weeks feed starting mash. During the seventh and eighth weeks feed a mixture of equal parts of the starting and growing mashes. From 9 to 12 weeks feed the growing mash. From 13 weeks to marketing feed growing mash and scratch grain. No scratch grain is fed during the first 12 weeks. If a change is made from mash to the whole-grain and liquid-milk method, cut down the mash gradually until the poults learn to drink the milk and to eat the whole grain freely.

Cod-liver oil is necessary in starting rations, but as a rule it is not necessary in a growing ration unless the birds are confined. In that case, about 1 percent should be added to the mash. A good grade of plain cod-liver oil is advised for use in turkey feeds. Fish meal, though an excellent feed, may impart an undesirable flavor to turkey meat. Fish meal and cod-liver oil should be omitted from the fattening ration during the last 8 weeks before the birds are marketed. Birds should not be moved, or feeding arrangements radically changed in the last 6 weeks before marketing.

Feeding the growing mash wet is a common practice in some localities. Like the dry-mash and scratch-grain system, it produces fine-quality turkeys although the labor in feeding may be greater. With this method the turkeys are fed all they will eat of a moist, crumbly mash placed in troughs with sufficient trough space provided to accommodate all the flock at one time. Only as much mash as the birds will clean up in 30 to 60 minutes is fed twice daily. Tail picking seldom occurs during moist-mash feeding if the ration is complete.

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

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.

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

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 57¹/₂ pounds of mash and grain to raise a 12¹/₂-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 2¹/₂ 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.