Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 3, Number 6, DeMotte, Jasper County, 22 June 1933 — POULTRY [ARTICLE]

POULTRY

CARE WITH POULTS MAKES TURKEYS PAY

Brooding Period Is Always Most Critical Time.

Getting the poults through the brooding period into free range is the most difficult job in turkey raising, and this requires management and clean sanitation. “The first requirement for a successful hatch with turkeys is the use of strictly fresh eggs,” says C. J. Maupin, extension poultryman at North Carolina State college. When turkey hens are confined to a small range or yard, the eggs may be gathered twice each day and then stored in a well-ventilated room or cellar where the temperature is not over 60 degrees. It is better to set the eggs when only seven to eight days old, whether a hen or incubator is used. When poults are first hatched they are less active than chicks and must be kept warm. The temperature in the brooder house needs to be kept around 90 degrees for several days.” Maupin says the homemade brick brooder may be used for poults, but it is well to make some wire partitions in the house to separate the ages. Feeding the poults is about the same as for baby chicks. Hard-boiled eggs with some of the shell left in has worked out well for the first feed. Give one egg to each twenty poults. Water should be given at 36 hours, and the first chick starter or chick scratch given by the second day. Sour skimmilk may be added when the poults are from 36 to 48 hours old and then kept before them thereafter at all times. Maupin also suggests gradual changes in feed as the birds grow older and then when they are ready for the range, the ration may be simplified and reduced to whatever grains are available on the farm.