Breeds of turkeys. Turkeys of the Canadian breed. The largest breed of turkeys

And in the private subsidiary farming, and in industrial poultry farming, the breeding of turkeys is gaining momentum. It is a cost-effective branch of agriculture, which benefits in several directions: the realization of young animals, turkey meat, eggs and down.

General characteristics of turkeys

Turkeys are the largest domesticated bird. They are characterized by a significant difference in the mass of males and females. If the males weigh on average up to 20 kg, then the mass of adult females is on average 10 kg, ie, 2 times less.

These birds have bright plumage of the most diverse color - snow-white, bluish with a green tint, iridescent shine, silvery-gray, bronze and blue-black. The powerful beak of males is adorned with a beautiful bright red burrow-earring. These are strong, muscular and fast birds. The turkey can run at a speed of 50 km / h and can fly up to a height of 2.5 m.

Reproduction of turkeys

Bear turkeys in the spring-winter period, laying for 2.5-3 months on average 50 eggs or more. Chicks hatch 28 days. Out of the females are obtained excellent hens, they never give up their nests. They are often used on goose or duck masonry. The turkey cares very carefully for its brood - heats the chicks, takes care of their food and jealously protects from dangers.

To the turkey was a good kvochkoy, she must sit out her chicks. The adoptive woman almost always pecks. Experienced business executives advise that they put turkeys on a turkey at the end of daylight hours, after giving them a couple of days to sit on eggs to meet the instinct of a hen.

Maintenance and feeding of turkeys

The bird house for turkeys should be spacious, dry and warm, without drafts and dampness.

To prevent the death of birds from diseases, it is necessary to vaccinate turkeys in time and strictly observe the sanitary and hygienic standards for their maintenance.

Turkeys are indiscriminate in nutrition. Even from normal fodder, they gain weight very well. Good eat oats, corn, wheat, barley. They like green forages: nettle, wild garlic, green onion, dandelions, other greens, which must be given in large quantities. In the summer, it is advisable to keep them on pastures.

Large turkeys are grown with the use of special balanced mixed fodders with vitamin and mineral supplements. Intensive technology allows you to get real giants weighing up to 30 kg!

For chicks, steamed buckwheat, as well as dairy products are very useful: curd, curdled milk, powdered milk, and also added hard-boiled eggs to the food. As mineral additives it is possible to give crushed river cockleshells, egg shells, chalk, calcium gluconate. It is necessary to add fish or meat-and-bone flour to the diet.

Very important in growing turkeys is the right watering. Water should be a lot, it should be clean and at room temperature. It is very important to protect the chicks from getting wet, because they suffer very much from dampness.

Variety of rocks

The method of breeding, the conditions of keeping and the diet largely depend on the breed of turkeys. Conditionally they all fall into such groups:

• Lungs. Breeds of this group are small. The weight of males is only 10-12 kg, females - up to 5 kg. However, they are very egg-bearing, hardy, unaffected by disease. The most common representative - Tikhoretsky black turkey, Norfolian black, white Dutch, small beltsvilsky.
• Medium. Weight of adult turkeys of this group is 15-16 kg, turkeys - 7 kg. Presented by more productive meats. These are Moscow white, Moscow bronze, Moscow pale, North Caucasian white, North Caucasian bronze and others.
• Heavy. These are large and very large meat turkeys. The weight of adult male individuals is 25-30 kg, females reach 11 kg or more in weight. The main broiler breeds are bronze broad - chested, white broad-chested, Canadian broiler broad-chested, cross big 6 and others.

In homestead non-specialized farms, the so-called "local" breeds of turkeys, obtained through the haphazard crossbreeding of different species, are most often grown. They are distinguished by good survival, unpretentiousness to the conditions of detention, resistance to various diseases. At the same time, these are low-productive breeds. Their average weight does not exceed 10 kg.

Description of breed Canadian broiler broad chest

Turkeys of the Canadian breed are highly productive broilers. To obtain this species, a long selection selection was conducted, as a result of which these giants were withdrawn.

Chicks are not fastidious in food, they grow well from any feed. But to get high-quality meat, preference should be given to high-calorie nutritious food with vitamin and mineral supplements. With the correct cultivation of the turkey, very quickly gain weight and by 6 weeks weigh 5 kg. They are clean, do not rake the ground. They need a lot of water. Fossils must always be clean. It is desirable to give water a non-cold, room temperature.

After 90 days the carcass already has an excellent marketable appearance, so the turkeys at this age are killed in meat.

Eggplant in females is good, it starts at nine months. Almost all of the eggs laid hatching chicks.

Features of Canadian turkeys

• The bird takes the optimum weight in just 3 months, after growth it slows down sharply. Further fattening is unprofitable for two reasons:

1. With a high feed intake, a low increase in the live weight of the bird.
2. The complexity of selling too large carcasses.

• It is believed that the Canadian is the largest breed of turkeys. Adult male with intensive feeding can reach a record weight - up to 30 kg.
• The chicks of this breed of turkeys are very sensitive to various kinds of diseases. Especially often suffer from intestinal and infectious ailments. In addition, they very poorly tolerate dampness and have a low adaptive capacity for adverse climatic conditions. This causes certain difficulties in their content. Much attention should be paid to preventive measures to prevent diseases, as well as the improvement of the house with the maintenance of a constant temperature of + 22-25 ° C. This was the main reason that the turkeys of the Canadian breed did not receive a sufficiently wide distribution among business executives.
• The weight of an adult turkey reaches 25-30 kg, and the weight of an adult turkey does not exceed 11-15 kg. This difference causes difficulties in pairing, so when breeding Canadian breeds artificial insemination is practiced. Therefore, to acquire the chicks of this breed follows only the professional breeders.

Description of the White broad-chested breed

The breed was bred in the USA in the 60s of the last century. Birds are beautiful white snow plumage with a small black bow on his chest. They have a large oval trunk, a broad convex chest, a neat head and a long bright red earring with a growth on a strong beak.

This meat breed is widely used in modern industrial poultry farming. Live weight of males reaches 25 kg and more, females - 11 kg. Therefore, the bird deservedly claims the title of "the largest breed of turkeys." They are less precocious than Canadians. They reach weights of 7 and more kg at the age of 18-20 weeks. Their advantage is the excellent adaptability to the content in the cells.

This breed, along with meat, has good reproductive qualities. The females begin to lay eggs at the age of 9 months. The laying period is several months. During this time, the turkey lays about 100 eggs, 85-90 of which are fertilized. The female is a good hen. Out of 30 eggs, 20-25 chicks are hatched. They hatch weak, need a dry and warm place of detention.

Turkeys of the white broad-chested breed are fastidious in nutrition. They are fed mainly high-calorie nutritious food with special additives of vitamins, minerals and medicines.

Big turkeys breed

Of great interest are birds of the same breed of turkeys as Big 6. This is a super-heavy cross, reaching a mass of 30 kg. The commodity output of meat exceeds 80% of the live weight. This indicator is not found in any other domestic animal.

Externally, the birds are very similar to turkey white broad-chested breeds. Plumage is also white with a characteristic luster. The hybrid was obtained by a British company in 2007 by crossing male heavyweights with the females of the light group. This made it possible to obtain stronger offspring with high meat productivity.

Young growth, like other heavy species, is killed after 3-4 months of intensive fattening by special feeds.

Specificity of broiler breeding

Many professional poultry farmers are interested in precisely heavy species. To achieve maximum profitability and reduce losses when growing large breeds of turkeys, one should take into account their overall specificity:

• It is best to use special mixed fodders with vitamin and mineral supplements.
• The diet of young animals should be rich in protein foods.
• Obligatory vaccinations, supplements for food antibiotics and other medications according to the recommendations of the veterinarian, as these birds are prone to infections and gastrointestinal diseases.
• The optimal period of detention before slaughter is 3-4 months. During this period, the weight of the carcass reaches 6-7 kg. Further fattening reduces profitability.
• For fattening, meat is used for males.
• Given the difficulty of mating due to the significant difference in the weight of turkeys and turkeys, the chicks must be purchased only from professional breeders.

Nutritional value of turkey meat

The meat of turkeys has an excellent taste, it is soft and juicy. This is the leader in the number of proteins, which makes it a valuable product for athletes. Also this meat is rich in vitamins of the V.V. turkeys group contains a lot of trace elements, in particular it is valuable for selenium - a powerful antioxidant.

Meat does not contain allergens, it is well digested, which is the basis of dietary and baby food.