In Minnesota a successful system of moving poults around the colony
brooder house has been devised and is giving excellent results. The house
is built with a small opening in each side, and a portable frame is so
placed that the ground on each side of the house can be used as a small
outside run. The birds are allowed to range to the south for from 5 to 10
days; then the house is thoroughly cleaned and the range changed to the
west; and so on until the land on all four sides of the house has been
utilized. The house is then moved to a clean spot, and the rotation is
repeated. After the birds are from 8 to 12 weeks old the house is again
moved to a clean place. Turkeys may be raised successfully on a small
acreage if they are moved to a clean area each week or two and to an
entirely different, clean area each year.
Other systems of yarding have been devised, but the value of most of them
has not been proved experimentally. Some system of rotation is necessary
on a farm where turkeys are raised regularly. For fenced ranges where
the semiconfinement method is to be used, the Minnesota plan is entirely
satisfactory for small flocks. For large flocks the use of large yards
in the double or triple yarding system has given good results. Under
this system, after 8 or 10 weeks of brooding, the poults are put on
range, which may be divided into 2 or 3 equal parts. The range used is
changed yearly or biennially either by moving the equipment or by having
permanent equipment for each range. In the absence of fences, turkeys
may be herded so that they are protected from enemies and kept within
the clean area allotted to them each season. The use of portable fences
and portable roosting shelters enables the grower to move the entire
flock to clean range each season or several times each season. This
method is practical where large areas of suitable range are available,
so that the birds can be reared each season on land that has not been
used, or on which no droppings have been spread, for the preceding 2
years. In wet climates it is probably safer to allow a rest of 3 or 4
years. Enough range should be provided so that plenty of growing green
feed is available in each yard at all times during the season. When
the same ground is used for a whole season, and rainfall or irrigation
is adequate, an acre of grass pasture should provide range and green
feed for about 100 growing turkeys. An acre of alfalfa or clover would
probably provide feed for 150 birds, under favorable conditions.
In arid or semiarid sections, during very dry seasons, it may be
advisable to provide fresh, green feed, or legume hay in abundance to
discourage the turkeys from eating undesirable green feed on the range. A
complete ration must be provided for such conditions.
Where the range is limited to small areas of fenced land, the use of a
number of permanent range houses set in a row, preferably 200 feet or
more apart, in the middle of the range and along the dividing fence is
a practical method of range utilization. The dividing fence should be
double so as to provide a neutral area between the two ranges. Under this
plan the birds can use one-half of the range for 2 years in succession
and the other half for 2 years without the buildings being moved. If
individual range lots are desired for each flock of birds, permanent
range shelters arranged on either side of a service lane, each with
double or triple yards, are a solution to the clean-range problem.
If double yards are used for each house or if the range as a whole is
divided into 2 sections, a rotation of 2 seasons of use, followed by 2
seasons of rest may be the best plan. Where 3 yards for each house can
be arranged or where the whole range is divided into 3 large yards, each
yard can be used for 1 season and allowed 2 seasons of rest.
Under any system of permanent yards, certain sanitary precautions are
essential. Among these are the following: (1) Select such a location or
modify the one available in such a way that there is as little drainage
as possible from the yards that are being used to those that are being
rested; (2) each season, or several times each season, remove the
accumulations of droppings from the ground around the houses, feeders,
and water vessels; (3) grade up around each house with fresh earth each
season or whenever it is necessary, to prevent water from standing near
the buildings; (4) fill in or drain all depressions so that water does
not stand for any length of time anywhere on the range; (5) use antiflies
and, if necessary, clip one wing of each bird to keep it from flying
into and contaminating the yards that are being rested; (6) prevent
birds or persons from going in and out of yards that are being rested;
(7) move feeders and water vessels frequently, feed and water the birds
inside the range shelters on the wire floors, or place the feeders and
water vessels outside on roofed wire platforms so that the droppings
that accumulate near them will not become sources of infection; (8) use
contamination-proof feeders and water vessels; (9) see that flies do not
breed extensively in or near the houses and feeders; (10) place wide
boards set into the ground, an inch or two at the bottom of the fences
and extending for about 10 yards out from the buildings to prevent refuse
spreading to the adjoining yards.
When birds are herded on free range some growers move the roosts,
feeders, and water vessels to clean ground several times each season,
whereas others use permanent roosting and feeding quarters and bring the
birds back each night. In either case excessive contamination at any one
point should be prevented so far as possible.