Why do you need a turkey roost and how to make one
Responsible farmers create great living conditions for their pets, thinking down to the smallest detail about their habitat, food, walking environment and other important factors. In the case of birds, it is necessary to create a special poultry house with all the amenities for a comfortable life, which contributes to the appearance of more product. The turkey roost is a must-have item for those wishing to get quality meat products.
The need for a turkey roost
Often, complexity of content this type of poultry exceed. Any animal requires attention, but if you organize the working moments correctly, then no difficulties will arise. What should be good turkey roosts?
Turkey roosts: DIY building tips
Some poultry farmers do not understand the need to create such places for turkeys, considering it a waste of money. What is the use of roosts?
Any bird, like a person, needs a personal place of residence, the role of which is played by a brood hen. What should it be? Recommendations for creating it yourself are as follows:
- It is located in the warmest part turkey poultry - in the back.
- The design of this part resembles an ordinary slide with many rows of different levels. Steps are necessary for conveniently lifting the bird to the height of its seat.
- Each cell should have dimensions of 70 by 70 mm and with a line spacing of at least one and a half meters.
- The recommended distance between places is 60 cm. Remember, every centimeter is important here.
- For comfortable straw harvesting in the perch, you can make a structure with wheels. How it should look in reality can be seen in the video from experienced farmers.
The location of hens should be in different rows. If this condition is not met, then it is likely that all birds will choose one place for their purposes.
By looking at the photos of ready-made hens, you can make sure that each turkey should have its own nest, the arrangement of which must be taken seriously. It should be located 30 cm above the floor, with a total height of 50-60 cm. To keep the eggs safe and sound, make a 20 cm threshold and cover the bottom with a thick layer of hay.
You can attract the attention of a bird by putting one egg or its dummy in the house, because if it is hollow, then the turkey can go away.
Mother hen: materials needed
It is not at all difficult to create a comfortable habitat for these birds, namely living quarters. But it is still worth thinking over the building plan in order to avoid such problems: frequent turkey diseases, poor and slow growth, tightness and struggle for a more spacious place, low egg production and constant stress.
First of all, it is important to decide on the materials and tools in order to create a good place of residence with your own hands. Among the abundance of construction facilities, there will be a need for:
- the building level to make the walls and floor of the perch as even as possible, adhering to right angles;
- tape measure for measuring the length, width, height of the building;
- drills, the purpose of which is to quickly create neat holes in the right places;
- a saw for cutting wood into specific parts;
- screwdriver for easy and quick screwing in or out of metal structures or elements;
- self-tapping screws;
- nails to connect the walls and floors of the hens;
- hammer for hammering in nails and other parts.
Bars of deciduous trees are suitable for roosting.
Often farmers have a question: what type of tree is best suited for a hen, created with his own hands? Experts advise using hardwood blocks. They are distinguished by high strength, practically do not lend themselves to external influences and are not characterized by such a problem as the release of resin and other harmful substances. You don't have to worry about whether the floor will sag under the weight of the bird and whether the turkey will feel comfortable.
Conifers are also suitable, but their quality is much worse. Accordingly, the duration of operation of hens made of this material will be much shorter.
Perches for turkeys: drawings and building instructions
Having decided on the materials and finding the necessary tools, you can start drawing up and developing a drawing. Even if there is a desire to embody personal ideas for building a unique cell for turkeys, you need to be guided by already proven and invented schemes.
Consider the overall dimensions of the entire turkey house and the location of windows, doors, walls in it, feeders, drinkers, ash and sand trays and other details. The location of the walking area in relation to the entrance to the turkey poultry is also important. According to farmers, the window should be easy to open and provide a powerful stream of light for the comfort of turkeys. The feeder is located along the walls or wall of the turkey house at the level of the bird's body for convenient feeding.
Please note that the proper level of the location of the turkey's place of residence is not located in a draft, because this will lead to diseases of birds and the impossibility of performing an important function: egg production. The breeder should be comfortable with feeding, adding water and collecting eggs from the perches, so consider their general placement in the poultry house. The turkey should also have easy access to these items.
How can you build a roost quickly and at minimal cost? Follow these directions from experienced farmers:
- Sand the wood blocks to make them smooth, even, and free from bumps. The most convenient size for one shoe is 7 * 7 cm.
- Calculate the blocks into pieces of a certain size in accordance with the drawings, rounding off the top of them with sandpaper or a plane.
- If it is necessary to hang houses for turkeys, then there is a need to create supporting elements, the length of which should be several cm longer than the size of the block. Attach them to the wall with a screwdriver.
- A ladder is not always a required attribute, but its presence will greatly facilitate the stay of turkeys. The main requirements for it are manifested in the angle of inclination, which should not exceed 60 degrees, and the optimal distance between the beams is 20-25 centimeters. In this case, the turkey will easily climb to its place.
- If you want to build a multi-level roost, think about how the bird cleaning will be done. It is best to make pallets so that it is comfortable to clean. It is important that its dimensions exceed the dimensions of the bird's place by 20-30 cm on all sides. Use plywood or tin linen as the material so that the turkey does not feel uncomfortable.
Conclusion
If the poultry farmer wishes, you can independently make a portable hen for turkeys, but the technology for creating it is significantly different from that described above. You will need galvanized roofing sheets, perches, boards. If he talks about construction equipment, then you can use a grinder, jigsaw, grinding angle, hammer and others.
This whole setup is on a turkey deck, which is covered with a small amount of sawdust or thyrsa.
Remember that the taste of meat, egg production, consistency and size of eggs, and the size of the turkey depend on the quality of care and maintenance of the birds. A turkey is a clean bird, maintaining simple hygiene rules, for which it is very important. Following the basic rules of farm management will help you achieve the desired results. Having problems? Review the video from experts to find out the nuances when constructing hens.