If you were dismayed at the price you had to pay for the turkey that you devoured at your Christmas dinner , now is the time to start growing your own for this year ' s festive season , and maybe even considering growing turkeys as a business prospect . Almost all the turkey sold in South Africa is imported . If you start planning now you will have adult turkeys available for sale by December . If you raise them to eat , you ' ll have a much more wholesome and flavourful turkey than anything you could buy at the supermarket and even if you just want to have them wandering around on your plot to help in pest control , they are relatively easy to keep , once they ' ve got past the early stages .
If you are new to the turkey world , here is some basic information . The male is called a tom , the female a henandababyisapoult . The female is smaller than the male and generally less colourful . Turkeys have wingspans of 1,5 – 1,8m . Noticeable features of turkeys are the red , fleshy stretches of skin and bulbous growths located around the head and neck region . These structures are the : ❑ Caruncle , which are fleshy bumps on the head and neck ❑ Snood – the long flap of flesh that hangs over the beak
❑ Wattle , which is the red skin that hangs from the neck Another prominent and noticeable feature of the turkey is its plumage . Voluminous feathers cover the breast , wings , back , body and tail of the bird . Male turkeys have what is called a beard located in the chest area . Male turkeys also have sharp , spike-like projections on their legs called spurs . The usual lifespan for a turkey is ten years , and pure breed turkeys take approximately four to five months to grow to full size . The hen turkeys take 16 weeks to mature completely ,
POULTRY
Christmas turkey ? Now grow your own
and average 3,6 kg to 7,2 kg in weight . The tom turkey takes approximately 19 weeks to mature and weighs between 7,2 kg and 10,8 kg . Larger tom turkeys may weigh up to 18kg , but take a few more weeks to mature . For breeding purpose keep one tom for each ten hens . Turkeys are highly social and become very distressed when isolated . As with all poultry , it is preferable to keep pure-bred birds , bought from a reputable breeder . Like most agricultural businesses , turkey farming requires adequate knowledge and careful planning of how to raise turkeys , even if you do allow them to roam around free in a range . If considering turkey rearing as a small business , do some
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