Characteristics of the BIG-6 turkey breed: features of their maintenance and breeding

To date, not many poultry farmers breed BIG-6 turkeys. This is possible because of that, that not everyone knows about the peculiarities of caring for this unpretentious and precocious bird. In addition to dietary meat, from turkeys you can get another feather, fluff, eggs. Engaged in breeding this bird, you can always have a turkey on the table before Christmas and get a good income.

Characteristics of the BIG-6 cross

BIG-6 turkeys are record-holders among all turkey species. This bird is ideal for home breeding.

• Large and powerful turkeys BIG-6 have a stout body, small head and white, lush plumage. A fluffy bird looks like a big down ball.

• The down of the cross is soft and light, therefore highly valued.

• On the head and neck of males are well-developed jewelry in the form of bright red earrings and beards.

• The back of turkeys is straight, long, chest - wide, opukla.

• Birds have large wings and powerful, thick legs.

The average weight of a male of this cross is about twenty-three to twenty-five kilograms. Females usually weigh about eleven kilograms.

Turkey BIG-6 and its productive characteristics

According to the rate of excretion of the total mass among all poultry and animals, this breed of turkeys is a record holder.

• Almost eighty percent of the total muscle mass is lost.

• During the year of fattening, the male of the breed "White Broad-breasted" is able to gain twenty kilograms of weight. Turkeys of breeds "Bronze North Caucasian", "Black Tikhoretskaya", "Silver North Caucasus" gain up to fifteen and a half kilograms. Male BIG-6 can gain more than nineteen kilograms in one hundred and forty-two days of life.

• At three months, the average weight of a bird is three and a half, and at five to twelve pounds.

Due to the high percentage of net weight gain to contain turkeys of this breed is very advantageous.

Conditions of detention

Poultry house for turkeys BIG-6 should be built taking into account the number of chickens and the selected planting density.

• There should be no more than ten chicks per square meter of two-month-old chicks, adult birds in the same area - one and a half heads.

• Dry bedding should be prepared for turkeys, which should be updated annually.

• The poultry house must be provided with boxes, which must be filled with sand-ash mixture.

• When there are no birds in the room, it must be ventilated. In winter, this should be done carefully, only then, when there is no strong frost and wind on the street.

Before settling turkeys in the poultry house, it should be disinfected, warm up and equip feeders for drinkers.

veterinary support

This aspect occupies a special place in the technology of growing turkeys BIG-6. In order for the birds not to get sick, it is necessary to comply with certain conditions of their detention.

1. Turkeys should be reared separately from the adult flock and should never be kept with other bird species..

2. It is impossible to feed BIG-6 turkeys with poor-quality forages.

3. Drinking bowls and feeders must be protected from manure, dust and various debris.

4. Indoors, where birds are kept, there should be no drafts and moisture.

5. Bedding should always be dry and clean.

6. Contact of turkeys with wild birds should be excluded. This can be stressful for them.

Before planting turkeys, the poultry house must be treated with slaked lime, formaldehyde vapors or iodine beads.

Forage for cross-country BIG-6

Feed should be prepared about two days before planting turkeys.

• The feeder for chickens should be of the appropriate size.

• It should be filled with feed immediately before landing the bird, so that the food does not have time to collapse under the hot brooder.

• Do not place feeders near heat sources.

• In the first three to four weeks, BIG-6 turkeys should be fed a complete balanced diet.. They must have a micro- and macronutrients, vitamins and amino acids. It is best to choose large feeds, already proven manufacturers.

• They are interested in turkey food by the end of the second day of life. At this time, they can be given boiled, chopped egg and millet. To stimulate digestion, the egg can be sprinkled with chopped cereals.

• On the third day, grated carrots are added to the chicken feed, on the fourth - chopped greens.

• In the following days, fish and meat and bone meal can be added to the diet of turkeys, sour milk, dairy plant, cheese, milk powder.

• Turkeys are prone to intestinal disorders, therefore it is necessary to feed them only fresh and qualitative products.

• Always in the diet of young animals ??greens should be present. However, it should not be given too much, as coarse grass fibers can clog the bird's intestines. Therefore, it is recommended to add cabbage leaves to the feed, nettle, clover, beets with tops, carrots.

• Adult turkeys are fed wet mixes, which must be treated very carefully. It is necessary to monitor, that mixes were sticky and scattered in a hand.

• In the evening the young ??it is necessary to give crushed and whole grain of barley, wheat, corn.

• In summer, turkeys should be released for free grazing, and in winter to feed dried leaves and hay.

Wet and dry feed is poured into various feeders. Mixes are prepared twenty minutes before feeding, and dry fodder is added as the feeders are emptied.

Breeding of turkeys BIG-6

Young turkeys start to breed from seven to nine months. It is necessary to watch at this time, so that eggs do not accumulate in the nest, and pick them up in time.

• Eggs are placed with the pointed end down and stored at a temperature of ten to fifteen degrees. They need to be turned over every ten days.

• One spacious nest will be enough for four to five turkeys, in which the bird should be placed freely.

• The nest should have sides and soft bedding. It cannot be placed on the floor.

• It is recommended to plant turkey eggs at the onset of ten hours of daylight.

• Most often, the hen lays eggs for twenty-six to twenty-eight days.

• Turkeys should be grown dry, clean bedding, in conditions of good lighting and heating.

• For the first five days, the temperature should be at least thirty-three degrees Celsius, then twenty-seven, and after eleven days of life of turkeys - twenty-three degrees.

• To prevent injury to the beak of chickens, in the first days of life it is recommended to feed them from fabric or a thick sheet of paper.

The poultry house must be equipped with special drinking troughs, in which turkeys will not be able to fall and get wet. By one month of age, they are very afraid of moisture.

Prevention of infectious diseases

To increase immunity, prevention of stress and infectious diseases of turkeys is recommended to be fed various vitamins and drugs.

• From the sixth to the eleventh day they need to be watered with antibiotics. To do this, five grams of tilazine or Tila are dissolved in ten liters of water. In a month the procedure will be boring to repeat.

• From one week of age, turkeys should be fed vitamin D for ten days 3. Fifty days after taking the vitamins again.

• To prevent aspergillosis for three days per ten kilograms of feed is added one gram of nystatin. After that, the bird needs to sing metronidozole (half a tablet per liter of water).

After the use of antibiotics, turkeys should be watered for seven days with vitamin-amino acid complex "Chiktonik".

To have the main dish of this holiday on the Christmas table, the best time to hatch young turkeys is mid-summer. Therefore, at this time the cultivation of cross-country BIG-6 in private farms is most active.