Midget White Turkey Poults Dying

I got 15 poults from Strombergs on Thursday, started them on a 28% medicated grower made sure everyone was drinking and included a vitamin/electrolyte solution in the water (approved for turkeys). Saturday one died, yesterday 3 died and one died last night. They all appear active and healthy one minute and dead the next. They are in a stock tank (which sat empty for a year and was then disinfected) and I purposely bought brand new 1 gallon feeder and waterer so as not to risk contamination of any kind. They do not appear cold or crowded under the light. Any ideas?

Try a mixture of cooked egg yolk crushed, mixed with some unflavored yogurt, and
the turkey cumbles, a few drops of vitamins..mix all together in a food processor, add some warm
water. Put in their water teaspoonful Apple cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup or brown sugar, couple drops of vitamins... per quart of water. Make sure the water is warm, not cold.
Poults are tough to start, might try hand feeding them some, they do seem to thrive
on human contact.

Above helped my poults get thru the first couple weeks, now they are monsters !!!

Stupid question, but the medicated feed you mentioned is specifically for turkeys, right? I"ve heard that the medication in chicken starter is toxic to turkeys! I always feed mine unmedicated to be sure. If they need medicating, I add it to their water.

Good luck!

~S~

Not a stupid question at all....but a valid one Yes, it is 28% Turkey and Gamebird starter. So far I have 9 holding in there....... Hoping it gets better from here .....

What is the temperature range in your brooder?

95 under the light..... they don't appear either too cold or too hot..... (crowded or spread way out)....and they've got plenty of room to go out further if they want. I lost 6 total.... i'm down to 9..... keeping my fingers crossed as it's been an entire night and day without losing one...... with my luck they're all Toms......

ScottnLydia said:

Stupid question, but the medicated feed you mentioned is specifically for turkeys, right? I"ve heard that the medication in chicken starter is toxic to turkeys! I always feed mine unmedicated to be sure. If they need medicating, I add it to their water.

Good luck!

~S~

Click to expand...

Where did you hear this? Have you experienced losses yourself? Is it a particular medication? I don't think this is true. I feed purina medicated chick starter to turkey poults and know other people who do as well with fine results.

In my experience poults are just more fragile than chicks.

I like zekii's suggestion about the food.

My suggestion on the food was found after much reading... poults need lots of protein to get started, and yes I have also read that
starter feeds with antibiotics can sometimes throw the young poults and extra blow, so try to avoid medicated feeds with turkey poults.
The idea behind the ACV & yogurt is to build their immune systems...gi tract, cooked yolk added protein.

cielo said:

Where did you hear this? Have you experienced losses yourself? Is it a particular medication? I don't think this is true. I feed purina medicated chick starter to turkey poults and know other people who do as well with fine results.

In my experience poults are just more fragile than chicks.

I like zekii's suggestion about the food.

Click to expand...

cielo said:

Where did you hear this? Have you experienced losses yourself? Is it a particular medication? I don't think this is true. I feed purina medicated chick starter to turkey poults and know other people who do as well with fine results.

In my experience poults are just more fragile than chicks.

I like zekii's suggestion about the food.

Click to expand...

I only read it, but I think in several different places. I'm just not sure where, I think one was the book "Not Just For Christmas", but I can't swear to it. Anyway, I just assumed it to be true and since the turklet starter I have available here is unmedicated I just use that. As I mentioned, if I DO need to medicate, I add it to the water.

As a side note though, (which will probably get me in hot water,) I also raise sheep. Occasionally there is a need to raise a lamb on a bottle with milk replacer. I drive the feed store guy nuts by making him order in special "lamb" milk replacer instead of just buying the universal stuff he keeps in stock that "...everyone else buys!" The problem is, it's not formulated for lambs who are copper-sensitive and the stuff contains copper. Copper builds up in a sheeps liver so given enough of the stuff could make them sick or potentially kill them. Sure, there are lots of shepherds that feed lambs universal milk replacer, and they will say "sometimes you just lose bottle lambs." Anyway, I'm just not always that comfortable with someone telling me something is O.K. until I check it out.

As always, it's just my 2 cents. Anybody can do what they want, but I still prefer to err on the side of caution.

~S~

(post-script) I just checked my reference. It is indeed in "Not Just For Christmas" by Janice Houghton-Wallace on paige 56 that she warns "Chick crumbs should certainly not be given as not only do they not contain sufficient protein but some formulations contain the coccidiostat salinomycin which could kill the poults." Since this is a British publication I have no way of knowing if that is the same medication they use here, perhaps not, but that is what I based my concern on.