How to Raise Domestic Turkeys

Raising turkeys at home is an effective way to bring in extra money, or to inexpensively provide yourself and your family with home-raised turkey meat. This is especially useful during the holiday season, when you will be able to feed yourself and make money selling your turkeys for others to enjoy. Raising turkeys requires dedication and may be time-consuming, but the end result is worth your hard work and patience.

Things You'll Need

  • Newly hatched poults
  • Brooder box
  • Red heat lamp
  • Turkey feed
  • Chicken waterer
  • Feed dispenser
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Instructions

  1. Brooding Box

    • 1

      Put newly hatched poults -- or young turkeys -- into a brooder that is approximately 24 inches wide, 48 inches long and 15 inches high. Cover the bottom with paper towels and scatter the feed onto the paper towels so the poults can eat on their own and get used to eating. After a few days, feed the poults with a small chick feeder. You should have one feeder for every 25 poults.

    • 2

      Keep a lamp above the poults with a bulb wattage between 75 and 100 watts, but do not use a fluorescent bulb. The temperature should be between 90 and 100 degrees for the first week. According to the Porter Turkeys website, using a red heat lamp can help prevent cannibalism amongst young poults. Hang it above the middle of the brooder, approximately eight inches from the brooder floor.

    • 3

      Place drinking water for the poults in a corner away from the heat lamp so that it does not get too warm.

    Food and Water

    • 4

      Administer water to young poults under four weeks of age using a chicken feeder. After this point, you can use a water can-pan with a wire guard.

    • 5

      Feed the poults a starter feed that contains 30 percent protein in starter rations for the first eight weeks. After 14 weeks of age, start feeding the turkeys small grains, corn and oats. After 20 weeks, feed the turkeys a mash and grain mixture. Turkeys can also graze in an open pasture.

    • 6

      Avoid commercial-grade feeding programs unless you desire bigger size over better quality meat; commercial grade can increase the size of your turkeys, but it decreases the quality of the meat.

    • 7

      Make sure the poults and older turkeys have constant access to food and water. Some turkeys may die if their food is not consistently in front of them, because they may not realize that it is there.

    Cannibalism and Disease

    • 8

      Do not overcrowd your turkeys. Provide a space for the turkeys to roam, such as a large pen or a pasture, once they start to roost. This will help decrease instances of disease and cannibalism.

    • 9

      Isolate ill birds from others to decrease the risk of the illness being transmitted between birds.

    • 10

      Change the litter in the pen often, or keep the pen in an area with ample sunlight, in order to reduce the risk of coccidiosis, which is a disease that grows in moist litter.

    • 11

      Allow turkeys to have a space to get away from heat, light and other birds. Feeding your turkeys consistently will also reduce the chances of cannibalism.

    • 12

      Debeak your poults when they are still young. This procedure removes a portion of the tip of the turkey's beak to lessen the chance of pecking and cannibalism among birds.