Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
Definition
The turkey was domesticated in Mesoamerica from the South Mexican wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo; the earliest confirmed captively reared common turkeys come from El Mirador in Guatemala, dated 327 BCE to 54 CE. It is kept almost entirely for meat, and stock differs sharply by system. FAO describes tropical village turkeys at 7 to 8 kg for males and 4 to 5 kg for hens, laying about 90 eggs a year, while the Large White strain that dominates commercial production reaches about 15 lb at 14 weeks in hens and 28 to 30 lb at 17 to 18 weeks in toms. Eggs hatch in 28 days, a week longer than the chicken, so chicken hatchery scheduling cannot be carried across. FAO records turkeys as more susceptible to disease than either chickens or ducks, and the species-defining example is histomonosis: Histomonas meleagridis, carried in eggs of the caecal nematode Heterakis gallinarum, produces severe necrotic caecal and liver lesions with high mortality in turkeys while chickens usually show milder, caecum-limited disease. Effective drugs have been withdrawn, leaving management and a live-attenuated vaccine. Avian influenza is notifiable.
Vital facts
- Incubation
- 28
- Adult weight
- 4 – 17.2 kg
MATURE weight, sexes separated. Ceiling and standard-bred range from The Livestock Conservancy's heritage turkey breed pages, which print Young and Mature weights as two separate rows - only the Mature row is used here. Mature toms: Royal Palm 20-22 lb, Narragansett 28 lb, Bourbon Red 32 lb, Slate up to 33 lb, White Holland 33 lb, Bronze 35-38 lb = 9.1-17.2 kg. Mature hens: Royal Palm 12 lb, Bourbon Red / Narragansett / Slate / White Holland 18 lb, Bronze 18-22 lb = 5.4-10.0 kg. The 4.0 kg floor is FAO's adult tropical village hen (FAO Small-scale poultry production, Chapter 2, verbatim: 'Body weight ranges from 7 to 8 kg in males and from 4 to 5 kg in hens', https://www.fao.org/3/y5169e/y5169e03.htm) - lighter than any standard-bred breed and the likely backyard patient in MENA. So: adult hens about 4.0-10.0 kg, adult toms about 7.0-17.2 kg. Deliberately excluded: the withdrawn 13.6 kg, which was a commercial Large White MARKET weight at 17-18 weeks, on a growth curve. Commercial Large White breeder toms kept to maturity exceed 17.2 kg, but no source stating their mature weight was found.
Only sourced measures are shown. A measure missing here means no reliable reference states it for this species — not that the page is incomplete.
Breeds
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Clinical signs — nothing linked
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