Taking care of turkeys

Keeping turkeys happy and healthy by understanding what they need

Turkeys will thrive if you attend to their needs and care for them daily. Apart from suitable housing and a fenced area in which to roam, they also need quality feed and fresh water. Feed the birds the appropriate formulated turkey feed for their age as they need adequate protein. They also like a few treats occasionally and these can be apples, plums, grapes, cabbage, kale, corn on the cob, sunflower seeds, raisins, even a little granary bread.

Like other poultry, turkeys will require worming, especially if they are freeranging on pasture. The most common internal parasite is the Ascaridia dissimilis (Roundworm) but turkeys also suffer from Capillaria contorta (Hairworm), Cestodes (Tapeworm), Syngamus trachea (Gapeworm) and Heterakis gallunarum (Caecal worm). Worming treatment is usually done at around 7 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks and thereafter about four times a year. If they are running with chickens then worming every six weeks will interfere with the life cycle of the Heterakis worm, which is responsible for the disease Blackhead. The poultry wormer licensed for use in poultry in the UK is Flubenvet. This is a pre-mix powder available in 60gm pots from veterinary practices, pet shops and agricultural merchants that are licensed to sell veterinary medicines and it is mixed into the feed for seven days.