Turkeys Can Be a Profitable Sideline
(Page 4 of 8)
Keep a weather eye out for the condition known as
"pasting-up", when the poult's droppings remain stuck to
his backside. This is serious, as a poult (or chick) can
die very quickly from the poisons caused by a clogged-up
intestinal tract. Treatment we found safest: With a
medicine dropper apply several drops of inexpensive mineral
oil on and around the dropping, which will soon be worked
off. Do not try to remove it; the poult's
sensitive skin is easily injured.
RELATED CONTENT
From Fifth To Tenth Week
The advantages of raising turkeys in battery brooders will
turn into serious disadvantages if the birds are kept in
them after the four week period. Many growers leave poults
in batteries only 16 days. The fact that the birds are
allowed to develop neither immunity to disease-bearing
bacteria nor resistance to less favorable climatic
conditions in its protecting confines is responsible for
this. Therefore, at least at the start of the fifth week
the poults should be moved to a clean, dry, thoroughly
disinfected floor covered with at least an inch of good
quality shredded litter, preferably sugar cane shavings.
The average temperature, at the floor, of their new
quarters (section of garage, barn, enclosed porch, small
brooder house, etc), should be somewhere between a minimum
of 65° and a maximum of 75°. If it is not possible
to use the top-section of your battery as their hover (in
which case you would remove the dropping board, floor grid,
removable sides, feeders and waterer, using it only as a
source of heat and shelter on top of the litter), build or
buy a small auxiliary hover. (See Chapter on Broilers).
Such a hover, which can be quite simply constructed of
insulation board with either 2 or 3 25-watt bulbs or a
commercial heating element installed in the roof, must be
large enough and adjustable in height so as to accommodate
all the birds when they are ten weeks old, at which time
they should be more than twice the size they were at four.
The temperature should be gradually reduced (if necessary,
vary the number and size of the bulbs) so that the birds
get little artificial heat for the next to the last two
weeks and none whatever during the last two weeks.
Important considerations in selecting the poults' new
quarters are adequate ventilation facilities and a good
supply of sunlight, at times directly on the birds, if
possible. Be careful about direct drafts on the birds for
the first 3 weeks in new quarters. It would be much to your
advantage if you could provide the turkeys with direct
access to the air and sun in a small, fine gravel-covered
yard or wire-covered cage connected with their new
quarters. To accustom the poults to outside temperatures
and breezes, be sure to leave all ventilation facilities
wide open for the last ten days and nights.
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