During the first 3 or 4 weeks after the poults hatch, two-piece crockery
fountains are excellent milk containers. For water, galvanized metal
containers are more convenient. When the poults are from 4 to 10 weeks
old, water pails, metal troughs, or shallow tin or graniteware pans
provided with wire or wooden guards are more satisfactory than fountains.
A good method is to place the water or milk outside the wall of the
brooder room so that the poults can drink it through a wire screen.
From the age of 9 weeks until market age, a supply of running water is
preferable, although ordinary water pails set inside the range house on
the wire floor or nails or tubs set outside the fence, with openings in
the wire for the birds' heads, are satisfactory. Changing the position
of the watering devices every few days or setting them on wire-covered
platforms will aid in providing sanitary conditions near the watering
places where filth is likely to accumulate rapidly. A watertight barrel
provided with a drip faucet and a trough also makes a good watering
device. Shade should be provided to prevent the drinking water from
getting hot. Suitable equipment for feeding mash and scratch feed is
shown in figure 12.
[Illustration: Figure 14.--Diagram of end of mash hopper for
feeding young turkeys. Side view of same hopper shown in figure 13.]
[Illustration: Figure 15.--A waste-proof, portable, outdoor
shelter for feeder. The wire floor helps to prevent contamination from
the soil and the roof provides shelter when the birds are eating.]
[Illustration: Figure 16.--Large range house for turkeys. This
type is equipped with a wire-floored alleyway, as shown in figures 17 and
18. The antiflies on the roof prevent turkeys from roosting there.]
Small trough feeders made of lath (fig. 12, _A_) may be used from the
first day in the brooder and until the poults are a week old. Such
feeders are made with 1 lath for the bottom, 2 for the sides, small
sections for end pieces, and another lath for a guard to keep poults out
of the trough. For poults from 8 days to 4 weeks old it is better to use
large trough feeders made of 1/2- by 2-1/4-inch boards for the sides with
a top guard consisting of a free-turning reel. Baling wire stretched
inside the troughs (fig. 12, _C_) aid in preventing waste of feed and
also serve as beak cleaners for the birds. To prevent waste, it is better
not to fill most trough feeders more than two-thirds full. In the brooder
house it is important to place feeders on a wire platform made of 1-inch
mesh, 16-gage wire, and 1- by 4- or 1- by 6-inch boards. Poults 5 to 12
weeks old should have trough feeders made of 1/2- by 5-inch boards for
the sides, with a free-turning reel at the top. For poults from 12 weeks
old to market age the feeders should be even larger, as illustrated in
figures 13 and 14.
[Illustration: Figure 17.--End elevation of turkey range house
with alleyway.]
[Illustration: Figure 18.--Floor plan of turkey range house with
alleyway.]
After the age of about 12 weeks, and when feeding is done under shelter,
use a flat-bottomed trough from 12 to 18 feet long or several short
feeders made with a 1- by 10-inch board as a bottom, 1- by 8-inch boards
as sides, and with a guard of 1- by 4-inch center piece topped with a
free-turning roller or reel (fig. 14). For outside feeding a similar
trough is advisable. It should be divided into two sections each 6 to 9
feet long, set on 2- by 8- or 2- by 10-inch skids covered with 1-inch
hexagonal mesh, 16-gage wire or heavy gage 1-inch-mesh hardware cloth,
and provided with a gable roof and side boards to protect the feed and
the birds from sun, wind, and rain (fig. 15). The troughs can be removed
to be used as inside feeders and for replenishing the feed. Two 9-foot
feeders are sufficient for 150 to 175 birds. Inside feeding is preferred
whenever possible to provide it.
[Illustration: Figure 19.--Interior of 10- by 25-foot ran so
house showing wire floor and wire under roosts. Figure 17 shows the wire
nailed on the underside of the roost supports.]
[Illustration: Figure 20.--This shed-roof range house will
accommodate from 130 to 150 growing turkeys to market age. The plan of
this house is shown in figure 21.]