Content
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Basic information and varieties -
What and how to do?
Turkey breeders know that this bird can provide delicious dietary meat and healthy eggs. Body weight gain is very fast. But a necessary condition for this is the correct arrangement of feed devices.
Basic information and varieties
Feeders for turkeys can be made from:
- wood;
- black metal;
- of stainless steel;
- plastics;
- mesh or rods.
Wooden products are good relative strength and stability. But washing them will be difficult. Disinfection is even more difficult given the presence of a large number of pores. Therefore, wooden feeders are suitable exclusively for laying dry food.
Metal, even the thinnest, is definitely more reliable than wood. It is easy to wash it and ensure that the infection is eliminated. However, you will have to carefully control that there is not a single sharp corner or cutting edge. Moreover, even protrusions should be disposed of: they often cause injury to animals. To make the protrusion disappear, the sheet is simply folded inward. These shortcomings, as we see, are not very significant. Therefore, sheet metal suitable for laying wet food is used very often.
As for plastic, only the most solid and stable varieties of material are suitable here. Lighter structures will be quickly destroyed by the heavy bodies of turkeys. But plastic is ideal for feeding all kinds of food.
Netting or steel rod structures are suitable when you need to give the birds fresh greens. Such designs will exclude the escape of turkeys and at the same time allow them to feast on grass without any danger.
There is another division of turkey feeders – no longer by material, but by execution. The classic option are trays with special sides. A more complex type is sectional devices.
The bottom line is to divide the feeder into segments for different top dressings. Usually allocate compartments for:
- lime;
- gravel;
- seashells.
Automatic, they are also bunker, feeders, allow farmers to get rid of continuous control over the amount of food laid out. From the main storage, it will flow on its own as soon as the bird has eaten the food. A similar solution is intended for the issuance of dry varieties. An alternative solution is the use of structures with a rising lid. Approaching the feeder, the birds press the lever at the base; when they leave, the container immediately closes.
For turkeys, mainly floor structures are used. A feeder hung on a wall or on another surface is needed for an adult bird. The standard height of the product is 0,15 m. Most often, a continuous feeder is used for daily nutrition, and a sectional feeder is used for feeding purposes. Some farmers make a long feed fixture, others prepare several feeding points in different places at once.
The choice is determined by the size of the house. Since the bird feeder can easily tip over, it will have to be strengthened as much as possible. Important: once the devices are installed, it is advisable to observe the livestock for at least a few days. The behavior of the turkeys will tell you if everything suits them. If this is not the case, then something will have to be redone.
What and how to do?
Dealing with original ideas on how to make a feeder with your own hands, you can give preference to plastic pipe products for plumbing needs. Such a product is quite simple, but it eliminates the unjustified costs of equipping a poultry house. Feed will not be scattered on the floor. Cleaning tubular feeders is easier than in other cases. The product is designed for 10 birds.
For work you will need:
- plastic pipe with a diameter of 0,1 m and a length of 1 m;
- a pair of plugs;
- plastic cutting tool;
- tee.
They start by cutting the pipe into 3 segments: 0,1, 0,2 and 0,7 m each. The longest part is left alone. On shorter parts, round recesses are cut. A plug is mounted at one end of a tube 0,2 m long, a tee is installed at the other. Then the shortest piece is inserted into the tee.
The remaining splitter input is used to set up the last segment. At its end, a second plug is mounted. The feeder is attached to a suitable vertical surface with the longest section. In this case, tubes with holes should be at a height of 0,15 m from the floor. It is necessary to ensure that the exits are directed to the ceiling.
You can make an interesting feeder from an ordinary plastic bottle. It is used for feeding chicks or in the form of feeders for individual individuals. You need:
- PET bottle with a capacity of 5 l;
- board or plywood;
- strong rope;
- insulating tape;
- saw for plastic;
- fixing corners;
- nails;
- self-tapping screws;
- plastic pipes (with a diameter of 0,3 m and such that it will allow the introduction of a bottle neck).
A piece of suitable length is cut from the largest PVC pipe. It is from there that the birds will be more comfortable pecking food. The ideal fragment should have such a height that the birds do not have to overcome obstacles. From the other pipe it is necessary to separate a fragment that is twice as long as the first. It is sawn longitudinally, but about 0,1 m does not reach the center.
One of the sawn parts is cut out to the end. You should get something like a scoop for bulk products that sellers use. A plastic plumbing pipe is attached to the board, which will be the base, corners and self-tapping screws. Its diameter is 0,3 m; the pipe must point upwards. Mounting angles are placed in the inner part of this tube.
Attention: do not allow the fasteners to protrude from the walls. Often this provokes severe injuries to birds. The bottom of the bottle is removed. Then the neck is inserted into a smaller pipe (from the side that was not cut). The junction is wrapped with electrical tape.
It remains to attach the cut part of the pipe inside to a wider pipe. Its end should touch the board at the base. Next, the feeder is placed in the poultry house. For maximum stability, it is attached to a vertical surface with a rope. Tests are carried out immediately, inviting turkeys “for lunch”.
There is another option – the manufacture of bunker wooden structures. To do this, they hammer together boards and plywood. The resulting feed container is fixed under the bunker for the accumulation of feed. The bunker itself is made according to the type of funnel. Depending on the technical nuances, the structure is either placed on legs or attached to vertical surfaces.
See below for how to make a turkey feeder.
