Turkeys have long been bred in households as poultry.
These animals are valued for their excellent weight gain, as a good turkey can weigh about 20 kg in weight.
In addition, turkey meat is highly valued by the consumer due to its dietary properties and taste. On large farms there are as many turkeys as there are chickens, because breeding these birds is extremely cost-effective.
Black Tikhoretsk turkeys are very popular among livestock specialists due to all their positive qualities.
A general description of the breed, as well as all the details of care for these birds are described in this article.
The Black Tikhoretskaya turkey breed originates in the 50s of the 20th century.
This type of zootechnician from the Krasnodar region. The poultry farmers of the Tikhoretsk district selected the best individuals of local turkey breeds and crossed them with representatives of the Bronze Shirokogruday breed. Then the best birds were selected from the brood, which were crossed among themselves and with bronze turkeys.
The distribution area of these turkeys is quite wide - representatives of these breeds can be found on many farms in the CIS countries.
Black Tikhoretsk turkeys are representatives of light turkeys. They got their name due to the color of their plumage - it is black, glistens in the sun, and the tail also has a bronze tint.
The torso of these birds is strong, the body is slightly oblong, but wide, the head is average.
These turkeys have a distinguishing feature - thread featherswhich hang down in a bunch from the base of the neck. This feature is well marked in adult turkeys. The beak of these birds is oblong and wide.
Black Tikhoretsk turkeys are extremely active, characterized by excellent adaptability to any conditions of detention, that is, the birds will be good and in conditions of free range, and when kept in cages. But they need to be provided with a territory where they will be able to walk, since the activity indicators of the representatives of this breed are going wild.
Adult An average turkey weighs about 10–11 kg, and a turkey weighs about 5–6 kg. About 60% of the mass of poultry is meat, which is suitable for consumption.
Seventeen-week-old baby turkey poults weigh mainly between 3 and 4 kg. You can score them already at this age, but often they do not, because the bird can gain even more weight.
The quality of meat in young animals is excellent, despite the early age. In general, the quality of poultry meat of this breed exceeds even a white wide-chested turkey. Also superiority can be seen in the issue of fat deposits in the body.
Black Tikhoretsk turkeys and turkeys are stress resistant enough. Females of this species are excellent mothers.
In one season, no more than 80 eggs can be obtained from each turkey, which is an average figure compared to the other breeds. Approximately 80% of eggs placed in the incubator will develop turkey poults.
It is also interesting to read about the treatment of turkeys.
When keeping birds of this breed, it is necessary to provide them with a warm and dry room, where drafts do not walk even in winter. These turkeys will tolerate cold well, as long as the house is sealed as much as possible.
Until there is a strong cold, the room can not even be heated, but when the weather becomes really winter, you will have to provide additional heating for the birds.
In the issue of feeding the birds of this breed, everything is quite simple. Cereals should form the basis of the diet, both in dry and swollen form.
With the onset of spring in the diet you need to enter the greens in the form of grass or tops of root crops. It is also advisable to give the turkeys for the winter chopped vegetables that you prepare for the winter.
In a specialty store is desirable purchase vitamin supplementswhich will help the birds during the winter to maintain a balance of trace elements in the body, and also not to lose weight.
This breed is rare because these birds live well only in a warm region.
But if you take care of the turkeys adequately, then you will not need to buy broilers that are unknown how they were bred.
It is better to buy small turkeys of the Black Tikhoretskaya breed and raise healthy turkeys.
