The turkey is a large bird of the Pheasant family, a close relative of the hen. However, it is precisely this circumstance that makes even experienced poultry farmers, who have been breeding domestic chickens for many years, make a serious mistake, being guided in the cultivation of turkeys with accumulated knowledge and automatically transferring them to a completely different type of bird.
In fact, turkeys are fundamentally different from their smaller relatives in terms of their nature and conditions of detention, including the diet, which must be saturated with vitamins. What vitamins are needed turkeys, consider the article.
Proper nutrition - a source of vitamins
Nutrition, which includes a certain composition of vitamins, is the key to healthy and proper development of small poults.
Important! Adverse conditions associated with violation of the rules of maintenance and nutrition, including the lack of vitamins, especially A, B1, B2, D and E, lead not only to the disease of turkey poults, but also to the appearance of real nervous breakdowns in them. Birds begin to arrange bloody battles, often slandering each other to death, or fall into depression and may even commit suicide, smashing their heads against the wall with acceleration!
Thus, to ensure that the birds from the first days of life receive all the vitamins and minerals they need, for the farmer is a top priority.
The word "vitamins" (from the Latin "vita" - "life" and "amin" - organic compound) means both organic matter necessary for the maintenance of all life forms, and chemical compounds (special preparations) that contain synthetic analogues of such substances .
It is clear that in the wild, all the necessary vitamins animals receive from the usual food, especially of plant origin. Poultry are no exception, but if we are not talking about organic poultry farming, when animals are grazing freely throughout the day, sources of vitamin production have to be expanded.
Vitamins in greens
So, greens are the best source of vitamins for poults.
Important! Fresh greens can only be given to chicks from the fourth day of life.
At first, the grass, which is heavily crushed, is gradually added to cereal porridge and wet mash, including fresh milk and grated carrots (also an excellent source of vitamins).
As a green forage for small turkey poults are well suited:
- nettle (best burning, not dioecious, the latter does not like the bird);
- plantain;
- dandelion;
- clover;
- alfalfa;
- green onions;
- garlic (arrows);
- topinambur leaves;
- dill (young);
- shoots of wheat, barley;
- yellowcone (herbaceous plant of the Cabbage family, favorite turkey poultry delicacy);
- garden breech;
- leaves of quinoa (they can be dried from the autumn in the form of brooms and given to young stock in winter when there is no fresh grass).
Pay attention to the preparation of the diet for daily poults, grown turkeys and turkeys.
Vitamins in feed
Given the diversity and availability of herbaceous plants that are suitable for feeding turkeys, a professional breeder may well provide the youngsters with a complete set of vitamins using exclusively green feed. But for this, of course, it will take a lot of effort.
Therefore, many farmers come easier, including in the diet of feathered herds combined feed, which already includes the prescribed vitamin and mineral supplements.
Important! Today on sale you can see feed for daily turkey poults, but experts caution against their use. In the first days of life, the chickens stomach is still too weak to absorb solid food, even of a small fraction.
Start feed can be introduced into the diet of young stock from the second week of life. These mixtures are selected taking into account all the features of the bird and contain all the additives necessary for it.
It should also be borne in mind that special feeds with a high content of protein and vitamins are used for broilers and meat crosses.
Why do we need vitamin complexes turkeys
Strictly speaking, a healthy bird that feeds properly does not need additional vitamin complexes. Nevertheless, such preparations are widely used in poultry farming in order to achieve accelerated development and weight gain in young animals.
Also, their use is due to preventive purposes: in large farms, especially where hygienic standards are not given due attention, and the likelihood of the emergence and spread of dangerous infectious diseases is high enough, to prevent this risk, birds are fed with antibiotics, as well as vitamins and probiotics, which, among other things, should reduce the negative effect on the body of antibacterial drugs.
Did you know? The World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance the most serious problem of medicine at the present stage. Already today, only in the European Union countries, 25 thousand people have died of diseases caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics, and the additional costs of treating such diseases amount to more than one and a half billion euros.
Civilized countries today are directing efforts to improve the so-called bioprotection of livestock complexes, that is, the creation of conditions in which animals will not get sick. Unfortunately, this tendency is not outlined here, and potential problems are solved by the prophylactic use of antibiotics and, accordingly, vitamin complexes.
Additional need for vitamins in poultry livestock occurs in the autumn-winter period, if the farmer has not taken care of harvesting a stock of dried herbs since autumn, as well as if the poult poultry’s immunity is weakened due to the illness or, for example, after vaccination. In such situations, the use of vitamin complexes can be considered reasonable and justified.
What vitamins are suitable for turkeys
Vitamin complexes for poults are drugs in the form of powder or liquid concentrate, intended for oral use. All of them are aimed at eliminating the symptoms of hypovitaminosis, strengthening the immune system and resistance to pathogens of infectious diseases, as well as accelerating the growth and development of young.
As a rule, a course of vitamin therapy lasts 7 days, but each complex provides its own pattern of use.
Important! Vitamin supplements should not be given simultaneously with the feed, as this can lead to hypervitaminosis, which adversely affects the health and development of the young.
For clarity, we present the main characteristics of the most successful vitamin complexes for poults in the form of a table.
"Rich"
"Rich" - water-soluble premix, successfully used in poultry farming: in addition to turkeys, it is also suitable for chickens, quails, guinea fowls, ducks and geese.
The composition of the drug | Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, C, D, E, K. Minerals: iodine, iron, copper, cobalt, sodium, zinc, selenium | ||||
Basic properties |
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Dosage (in grams per bird depending on age) | Week 1 | 1 month | 2 months | 3 months | 4 months |
0,1 | 0,6 | 1,2 | 2,2 | 2,8 | |
Application scheme | The premix is added to freshly prepared food in the prescribed dosage and given to the bird once a day (morning feeding). |
Important! Many vitamins decompose even with slight heating, so all complex preparations should be mixed only in cold food.
"Ganasupervit"
"Ganasupervit" - this is a vitamin-mineral complex that has deserved a lot of positive feedback from poultry farmers, and one of the indisputable advantages of the drug is the quite affordable price.
The composition of the drug | Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, C, D3, E, K3. Minerals: iron, iodine, magnesium, manganese, copper, potassium, calcium, sodium, selenium, zinc |
Basic properties |
|
Dosage | 1 g of the drug per 1 liter of water |
Application scheme | The drug can be mixed either with food or with a drink, given once a day. |
Learn what and how to use "Furazolidone" turkey poults.
"Nutrilselen"
"Nutrilselen" - a drug specifically designed for use in animal husbandry. In addition to turkey poults and other species of agricultural birds, it is also used in the cultivation of calves, piglets, foals and lambs.
The composition of the drug | Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, C, D3, E, K. Minerals: Selenium Amino acids: methionine, L-lysine, tryptophan |
Basic properties |
|
Dosage | 1 g of the drug per 2 liters of water - based on 5 poults |
Application scheme | For prophylactic purposes, the course of taking the drug lasts 3-5 days, and with pronounced hypovitaminosis is extended to one week. The complex in the required dosage is dissolved in cold water, which feeds the young once a day. The break between courses is 1.5-2 months. |
Did you know? In the names of "life amines" letters of the Latin alphabet are not used in a row: there is a pass between E and K It turns out that the substances that were previously in these intervals were either assigned to a number of vitamins erroneously, or were subsequently transferred to group B, since they are water soluble and have nitrogen in their composition.
"Trivitamin"
"Trivitamin" - This is a complex of the three most important vitamins, which, as a rule, is used in the form of injections, however, oral administration of the drug is allowed.
The composition of the drug | Vitamins: A, D3, E |
Basic properties |
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Dosage | 0.4 ml when used as an injection, when added to a drink - 1 drop per 3 heads |
Application scheme | Injections are given intramuscularly or subcutaneously four times with a break of one week. Oral use is possible in two forms: by applying the drug directly to the root of the tongue (preferred) or by mixing with food. |
Did you know? Contrary to popular belief, it is impossible to stock up on vitamins in advance: these substances are usually very quickly excreted from the body. An exception is the fat soluble group - vitamins A, D, E and K.
"Sun"
Premix "Sun" - It is a universal vitamin-mineral supplement to the diet of turkey poults, goslings, ducklings, chickens and quails.
The composition of the drug | Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B12, C, D3, E, H, K. Minerals: iron, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, iodine, selenium | ||||
Basic properties |
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Dosage (in grams per bird depending on age) | Week 1 | 1 month | 2 months | 3 months | 4 months |
0,1 | 0,6 | 1,2 | 1,2 | 2,8 | |
Application scheme | The premix is first mixed in equal proportions with bran or dry wheat flour, and only after that the mixture is added to freshly prepared food (for example, a grain mixture) and thoroughly mixed. |
Find out what are the symptoms and how to treat turkey diseases.
"Chiktonik"
"Chiktonik" It is an unparalleled product containing an optimally balanced composition of vitamins and amino acids necessary for the health of poults. It is the lack of protein amino acids, which are maximally represented in the preparation, that is a very frequent cause of cannibalism in poults, mass fights, and cruel pecking of their own kind.
The composition of the drug | Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B12, C, D3, E, K. Amino acids: methionine, L-lysine, histidine, arginine, aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, cystine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, tryptophan |
Basic properties |
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Dosage | The drug is diluted with clean water at the rate of 1 ml per 1 l of liquid |
Application scheme | The resulting solution is sucked young turkeys 1 time per day. The drug is used from 7 days of age, but if necessary it is allowed to use for chicks from 4-5 days of life. |
To summarize: vitamins play a very important role in the proper development of turkey poults, but you should strive to ensure that the bird receives them in full from its natural products, primarily from greenery. When providing young animals with a balanced diet using only high-quality food, the need for special vitamin supplements will not arise.
The conditions of detention play an important role for the health of the bird, learn how to build a brooder, how to build a turkey-hen, make feeders, drinkers, roost in it.
But if sanitary and hygienic norms are not observed, and antibiotics are used to prevent the development of infections and stimulate the growth of the population, turkey poults have to be given vitamin and mineral complexes from the first days of life in order to strengthen the weakened immunity of the chicks and help them to live and develop in conditions that are far away. from natural.
Vitamins for turkeys: video
The specificity of the use of vitamins for poults: reviews
In the presence of a special bird feed, it can be given instead of a dry mix, and also used to prepare a wet mash with the mentioned protein supplements. The best for poults is chicken feed. From the age of two months, it can provide the complete nutritional needs of the young, and feed the adult poultry for four months old poults. Compound feed intended for pigs and cattle is not suitable for poults, as it has a high content of salt and fiber. Too much salt causes diarrhea in turkey poults and can lead to significant waste.
To increase the resistance of the organism to infections and stimulate growth, nutril-selenium makes half a teaspoonful of 3 liters of water from day 5 to day 11. or trivit is a vitamin concentrate 0.2ml. or 6 krapel na1 l. water.