There are many kinds of turkeys, such as Nicola (also known as American broad-chested white feather), bronze and Bethune. Among them, Nicola is a large and fast-growing turkey, which is the most popular turkey variety. Nicholas's adult cock weighs 2-25 kg, hen weighs 12-15 kg and lays 12-14 eggs a year. Bronze and Bethune are smaller individuals, but they lay more eggs. At the age of 6 months, roosters weigh 12-15kg, hens weigh 6-8kg, and the annual egg production is 14-16.
Nicholas began to lay eggs at the age of 7 months (3 ~ 31 weeks). Under natural feeding conditions, there are two egg-laying peaks in spring and autumn, and eggs can be laid and propagated all year round under the condition of artificial light and temperature control. Nicholas breeder hens usually lay 1 ~ 12 eggs a year, with an egg weight of 75 ~ 8g and an incubation period of 28 days. A 1-day-old turkey weighs about 65 grams, a 1-week-old rooster weighs 5 kilograms and a hen weighs 4 kilograms. At the age of 6 months, it can reach the weight of adult chickens. Commercial meat turkeys were slaughtered at the age of 14-22 weeks, weighing 5-12 kg, with the feed-meat ratio of 2.5-3: 1, the slaughter rate was 85-9% of the live weight, and the breast and leg meat accounted for 4-5% of the body weight, which was suitable for mechanized slaughter and segmentation processing.
Turkey has the characteristics of wild animals, with high protein (protein content is 27%, while common broilers are only 23%), low fat (2-3%) and low cholesterol (.6-.1%), and its meat is tender and delicious. It is a health food for women, children and the elderly, and an ideal diet food for obese people. Eating turkey meat regularly has preventive and therapeutic effects on hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Not only is turkey meat delicious and of good quality, but also turkey eggs are excellent food. Turkey eggs are rich in yellow and good in toughness, belonging to high-quality poultry eggs.
Turkey is omnivorous, has a wide range of feeding habits, can tolerate rough feeding, and can feed on a variety of green feeds such as grass, vegetables, grass seeds, leaves, melons and fruits. Turkey has strong adaptability to the environment, and has low requirements on the conditions and management level of chicken houses, and can be grazing, free-range breeding and captive breeding. Raising turkeys has the advantages of low investment, quick effect and high benefit, which can not only increase employment opportunities, but also make full use of feed resources. Turkey is a kind of coarse feed and grain-saving special breeding variety suitable for China's national conditions, which is worth popularizing in urban and rural areas of China. In the case of feed grain shortage, developing turkey breeding industry is an ideal way to use low-quality feed resources and obtain high-quality poultry eggs. In the vegetable basket project from 1988 to 2 formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture, turkey farming was listed as one of the scientific and technological projects of the National Spark Plan.
Common turkey varieties:
Heavy Nikolai Turkey (also known as American Broad-chested White Feather): an excellent variety artificially selected by American Nikolai Turkey Breeding Company for 45 years. 6-month-old cock weighs 2 ~ 25 kg, and hen weighs 12 ~ 15 kg. Hens began to lay eggs at the age of 7 months, with an annual egg production of 12 ~ 14.
Bronze turkey (black flower): It is the most famous and widely distributed turkey variety. Young turkeys have black face plates, and adult turkeys have black-gray faces. 6-month-old cock weighs 12 ~ 15 kg and hen weighs 6 ~ 8 kg. Hens began to lay eggs at the age of 6 months, with an annual egg production of 14 ~ 16.
Bethune (white): The weight, egg-laying age and egg-laying ability are similar to those of bronze turkey.
Dutch white turkey: The standard weight of adult turkey is 15 kg for male turkey and 8 kg for female turkey.