what to feed your turkey to fatten them up

• Feed High Protein Feed. When finishing out turkeys for the table, you can continue to feed them a higher protein feed, much as you would a younger bird.
• Feeding Extra Grains. Consider adding corn and oats to your turkey’s diet in larger quantities. ...
• Keep Feed Located in One Spot. While I don’t like the idea of confining turkeys to help them gain weight, you can somewhat curb their desire to roam and “exercise” ...
• Precautions. It is important to note that, even though your turkeys are destined for the table, they should be allowed to grow and develop properly.

How to fatten up a Turkey?

Some efficient methods that can be used to ensure a fattened, juicy meal are adding corn and oats to your turkeys’ diets, giving them high protein feed, and keeping feed located in one place. It is advised to use a 30% protein gamebird feed for fattening up a turkey.

What is the best food for turkeys?

Besides commercial feeds that contain high levels of protein, turkeys can be supplied with alfalfa hay as their main feed. In contrast, inadequate or excess protein may be detrimental to the health of turkeys. Plus, corn contributes to weight gain but typically results in birds gaining fat and not muscle.

What should I Feed my 5 week old Turkey?

If at 5 weeks old you still have half a bag of high protein turkey starter, just feed it till it is gone and switch when you buy a new bag. At about 13 weeks or so, your turkeys can start eating a regular turkey or game bird feed. At this stage, you can start feeding a lower percentage protein.

How much protein should I Feed my turkeys?

So, if your bird doesn’t need the extra protein, you can save some money by feeding a lower protein feed. For adult turkeys, you can use a 16 – 20% protein feed. Most feed companies are, once again, going to brand this as a game bird feed.

How can I increase turkey growth?

Egyptian research has found that feeding turkeys mainly or totally in the afternoon can be used as a good strategy for improving growth rate, feed utilisation, carcass and meat quality in birds reared in hot climates.

How long does it take to fatten up a turkey?

How Long Does it Take to Raise a Turkey? If you are raising BB turkeys, they will reach butchering weight faster than a heritage breed. I found that in about 3 1/2 months I had Broad Breasted turkeys that dressed out at around 12-14 pounds. After 4 1/2 to 5 months they dressed out in the 15-19 pound range.

What is the best feed to feed turkeys?

FEED turkeys cracked or whole kernel corn, sunflower seeds, oats, wheat, or non-medicated commercial poultry or turkey rations. FEED turkeys daily by broadcasting food at a rate of 2 large handfuls (or 1/2 cup) per turkey per day.

How do I fatten my turkey for Christmas?

At the end of the season (around the end of September/early October), home grown oats are incorporated into the turkey's feed. Oat is good feed for turkeys as it is an oil-based cereal. Turkeys become really nicely flavoured and well fattened when they are fed on oats.

Should you hang a turkey?

This will ensure the crop and bowels are empty and will be much easier and cleaner to process as a result. i hang my turkeys for 5-6 days in a cold room intact, dry plucked make sure to dislocate neck properly to drain all blood from the meat. careful now they do taste amazing!!!

When should I start raising Thanksgiving turkeys?

Most turkey breeds will mature between 14-22 weeks of age, which means you will need to purchase birds early in July to make sure they have enough time to grow. Heritage breeds will take a bit longer, 25-30 weeks, so those birds would need to be purchased in late May or early June.

Is Cracked corn good for wild turkeys?

Cracked Corn-Corn is chocked full of protein and fiber that makes a great wild turkey food. Cracked corn is simply corn that has been dried and broken into pieces. This process makes it easier for wild turkeys to digest.

Can turkeys eat rice?

We've all heard the warning: don't feed rice to birds or don't throw rice at weddings because birds will eat it. Fact is, rice cooked or uncooked won't hurt wild birds at all. The rumor is that uncooked rice hits the bird's tummy and then swells causing its stomach to explode. It's simply not true.

Do turkeys eat bird seed?

Foods They Eat Seeds and grain, including spilled birdseed or corn and wheat in agricultural fields. Berries, wild grapes, crabapples, and other small fruits. Small reptiles including lizards and snakes. Fleshy plant parts such as buds, roots, bulbs, succulents, and cacti.

What do you feed turkeys in the winter?

Winter Feed for Turkeys In addition, I suggest a late day feeding of corn, wheat, or both. Corn adds calories and fat to the diet and gives the turkeys something to burn to keep them warm at night. Wheat generates a lot of heat as it is digested, and so is an excellent winter feed.

Will turkeys overeat?

2) Not understanding their shortcomings – they will literally starve to death or overeat, drink themselves to death or drown or thirst to death. Turkeys need a lot of babying when they are young. A LOT more than you would expect with normal poultry.

When should I start rearing my turkey for Christmas?

Therefore, 26-weeks-old is the ideal slaughter age. At this age, they will self-baste and develop lots of flavour from their bone marrow. Aim to pluck the turkey in early December and leave 14 days to hang.

What age should you butcher a turkey?

Butchering, Processing, And Cooking Turkey With that being said, at 16-22 weeks they should be weighing at around 12-14 pounds. A heritage breed turkey will mature at 25-30 weeks. So when you have determined they have reached the appropriate weight, you will pull your turkeys out and butcher them.

How long does turkey fat keep?

Storing rendered fat Turkey fat (or any other sort) will keep for a long time. Store in jars, in the refrigerator, it will be fine for at least 6 months and up to 1 year.

Should turkeys be kept fat?

but don't give turkey fat to garden birds. It's a widely held belief that offering turkey fat to birds is a good use of the leftover. But, it would seem, it's not. According to the RSPB, because the fat remains soft it can ruin their feathers and also run the risk of giving them food poisoning.

What is turkey fat called?

This fat, which they called schmaltz, became the most popular cooking fat used in the shtetls (Jewish villages) of central and eastern Europe. It was commonly used in a multitude of dishes served with, or containing, meat in accordance with kosher dietary laws.

The nutritional needs of a turkey

At different growth stages, the feed needs to be changed to meet nutritional requirements.

Turkey feed to provide

Turkey can eat a variety of foods, which can be mixed for specific requirements of nutrients.

Fatten up a turkey

Some efficient methods that can be used to ensure a fattened, juicy meal are adding corn and oats to your turkeys’ diets, giving them high protein feed, and keeping feed located in one place.

Conclusion

The role of feeding, especially what to feed a turkey, should not be overlooked when raising turkeys. They are large birds with healthy appetites, thus you can sate their appetites by a wide range of different foods.

Nutrition Requirements

When looking at nutrition requirements across the board for turkeys, one thing you may encounter is many different theories on how much protein birds should receive at each stage of growth.

Foods Turkeys Can Eat

When it comes to feeding turkeys or any other backyard fowl, you have a lot more options for food sources than you might think. Of course, the obvious option for most chickens and turkeys is to use a pre-formulated feed. Other options include an all-natural / home-made diet and “grazing” your turkey’s on pasture.

Foods Turkeys Should Not Eat

When it comes to turkeys, there are definitely some foods they should not eat. Generally speaking, don’t feed your turkeys anything you wouldn’t reasonably consume. Things like moldy bread and rotted food should be thrown in the trash and not given to your birds. Let’s explore foods turkeys should not eat in a little more detail.

How to Fatten Up A Turkey

While all of my turkeys were pets, not headed for the table, I know that for some turkey farmers, some birds will become food. In that case, here are some ideas to help fatten up your turkey.

Your turkeys will eat 64 pounds of feed by 16 weeks

At 16 weeks old your broad breasted turkeys will have eaten 64 pounds of feed each for toms and nearly 46 pounds of feed each for hens.

Heritage turkeys will eat 73 pounds of feed by 28 weeks

A beautiful Blue Slate turkey at our county fair. This is a breeding tom, look to the lower left for the beard!

Broad breasted turkeys have a 2.5 to 1 feed to gain ratio

Broad breasted turkeys will gain weight at a 2.5 to 1 feed to gain ratio.

Turkeys need high protein feed

Start your turkey poults out on a 28% protein feed. Ideally, you’ll be able to find a feed made specifically for turkeys, but that’s not always the case.

Do not feed chicken feed to turkeys

It may be tempting to feed your turkey poults broiler feed or an all flock feed instead of the more expensive turkey feeds, don’t!