Clearings also serve as brood range, where baby turkeys poults can find protein-rich insects and spiders that make up their primary food sources during their first month of life. Wild turkeys will range over several miles to find suitable areas for roosting and food.
High-quality turkey habitat will support one bird per 30 acres or a flock of 18 to 20 turkeys per square mile, according to North Carolina state forestry specialists. Since turkeys often travel in flocks, you may want to cooperate with other adjacent landowners to maintain a habitat of suitable size.
According to Clemson Extension Forestry and Natural Resources, nesting cover and mature timber for roosting are critical. Turkeys also will use natural land contours, such as rolling hills in pastures, as a form of cover to hide from predators. Turkeys don't often roost in the same place each night and so need access to multiple sites suitable for roosting. Penn State Cooperative Extension notes that landowners also may do well to promote the growth of warm-season grasses, also known as "bunch grasses.
Groups of these bunches, allowing for access gaps and open spaces in between, serve as cover for nesting and foraging turkeys. Perhaps the most important land management technique to promote wild turkey habitat is not cutting too many mature oaks and other mast-producing trees. Clearing too much land or planting all of your land to pines will limit the amount of turkeys that can live in an area. Turkeys, however, can thrive in pine forests with some undergrowth and near agricultural areas, provided that suitable stands or strips of mature hardwoods are preserved nearby.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension recommends that each acre of a tree stand should include several large acorn-bearing oaks from the ages of 50 to years. For landowners managing forests for hardwood timber production, they recommend following a 70 to 80 year rotation. For a turkey to be considered a heritage breed, it must meet three criteria as outlined by The Livestock Conservancy 1 : Toms and hens must mate naturally to preserve the genetic family tree.
The heritage turkey should have a long, productive lifespan in the outdoors. Heritage hens are generally productive for years and toms for years. Heritage turkeys should have a slower growth rate to develop a strong skeleton before building muscle mass. It usually takes seven months for them to reach their mature weight of 15 to 25 pounds.
What do turkeys eat? Since turkeys have different growth and nutrition requirements than chickens, it can be helpful to raise them separately, especially in the beginning. Turkeys need a high protein diet when they are young as they grow and gain muscle quickly. Turkey eggs are known to be just as nutritious as chicken eggs with a strong shell and larger yolk. Hens lay an average of two eggs per week compared to the daily egg of a chicken. If you are raising hens for eggs, calcium becomes the key nutrient they need to stay healthy while laying.
Raising turkeys and chickens together can be a delicate topic. Generally, meze is served at the beginning of a meal accompanied by either soft drinks, wine or Turkish raki, where you can relax, eat and socialise.
For the ultimate carb-loading, a Turkish baked potato is like no other. This tasty dish is a very popular street food and can be found throughout Turkey. Is your mouth watering yet? Like messy scrambled eggs or a take on shakshuka, mememen is a breakfast dish of spicy eggs cooked with oil, tomato, peppers and spices. Who loves pizza? We do! Lahmacun is essentially a Turkish pizza which has a thin crispy crust and is topped with a delicious fresh sauce composed of tomatoes, peppers, flavoursome minced meat and herbs.
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