BEAK TRIMMING OF TURKEYS .1. EFFECTS OF 3 METHODS OF BEAK TRIMMING ONBODY-WEIGHT AND MORTALITY OF 6 GENETIC LINES

An experiment was designed to compare BW and mortality of turkeys when three methods of beak trimming were utilized. Turkeys from six geneti c Lines were assigned to three beak I-rimming methods: are beak trimmi ng at hatching, hot-blade block trimming at 13 d, or hot-blade top-bea k-only trimming at 13 d. Beak trimming method influenced 8-wk BW of th ree lines of females, but did not affect female BW at 16 wk. Beak trim ming method influenced 8-wk BW of males from one Line and 16-wk BW of a different line. There were no effects of method of beak trimming on 20-wk BW of either males or females from any Line. Neither lines nor b eak treatments differed in mortality.