How to increase egg production during turkey breeding

1. Set up more nest boxes early.

Turkeys reach sexual maturity at 6~7 months of age and begin laying. Generally, by the time turkeys are 5 months old, one nest box should be set up for every 3~4 hens, so that the turkeys do not delay the laying period because they cannot find a suitable place to lay.

2. Light stimulation.

During the growth stage, turkeys should have their light restricted. At 5~6 months of age, provide 10 hours of light per day; at 6~9 months of age, up to 14 hours; after 9 months of age, it can be increased to 16~18 hours of light per day. If sunlight is insufficient, artificial supplementary lighting should be used, with an intensity of 15~20 lux (that is, 3~4 watts per square meter). Light stimulation can extend the laying period, increase the laying rate by 10%, and produce eggs that are large, uniform in size, and have strong shells.

3. Comprehensive nutritional formulation.

During the laying period, the crude protein content of turkey feed can reach 23%~28%, with metabolizable energy of 12.1 megajoules per kilogram, ensuring the laying turkey's requirements for vitamins and trace elements.

4. Sufficient drinking water and scientific feeding.

During the laying period, turkeys should be given increased amounts of clean drinking water, following the practice of “changing the water often and never letting it run out.” For turkeys, 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. every day are the key feeding times for the whole day, directly related to the turkey's egg production.

5. Various other supplementary methods.

Adding a small amount of manganese to the chicken feed can allow hens to produce hard-shelled eggs without increasing shell thickness, improving the effective rate of eggs laid by the chickens; adding methionine and 0.05% choline can save 50% of the feed and increase the laying rate by 5%~8%; a certain amount of traditional Chinese medicine additives such as mugwort leaf, bupleurum, skullcap, Sichuan pepper, and licorice can also be added, which not only increases the laying rate but also has disease-prevention effects.

6. Adjusting broodiness.

Turkeys have a very strong brooding instinct, naturally sitting to hatch once every 15~20 eggs laid, regardless of season and unrelated to external conditions. To increase the turkey's laying rate, the “combine two into one” method can be used for natural incubation or artificial incubation can be adopted, so that mother turkeys with brooding behavior are awakened from brooding in time and thus enter the laying period promptly. In this way, a mother turkey can be raised from the original annual egg production of 80~120 eggs to 150~190 eggs.

7. Deworm often and supplement more.

Laying hens at 3~4 months of age should be dewormed once with 0.04% furazolidone or Jichongjing tablets; before laying begins, mother turkeys at 5~6 months of age should be dewormed once with levamisole or Jichongjing tablets, to achieve the purpose of cleaning up the flock. After 4 months of age, feed sand grains the size of rice grains once every 2 weeks, accounting for 1%~2% of the daily ration.