All but one of my turkey poults died mysteriously!!!!!

I have 4 BBB from Ideal. They are 3 weeks old yesterday and looking really good. I hope I don't have this problem. I'm feeding 28% Purina medicated turkey starter. They've been living outside for a week with some beautiful warm Texas weather.

You didn't say how old they were??? I heard it's pretty vital to have them on 28% protein...and there are mixed reviews on whether the food should be medicated. I really don't know the answer, but I'm curious t hear the responses considering I have 11 BS eggs due to hatch in about 12 days and whatever is going on with yours could happen to mine.

If you've had the poults since Feb 22 it's not a fault with Ideal. Are you feeding medicated food? Turkeys are much more susceptible to disease than chickens are and must have medicated food. I would guess they all contracted some disease and I would certainly disinfect the area you had them to keep it from spreading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicken danz 

If you've had the poults since Feb 22 it's not a fault with Ideal. Are you feeding medicated food? Turkeys are much more susceptible to disease than chickens are and must have medicated food. I would guess they all contracted some disease and I would certainly disinfect the area you had them to keep it from spreading.

See..that's good to know, because I've read several posts saying they should NOT have medicated food. Since I already bought UNmedicated food, would I be able to put Duramycin in their water and compensate that way? Or should I just go buy a new bag of food all together? (plus my starter gamebird feed is only 26%...couldn't find 28% ANYWHERE.)

hi, 26% protein feed is fine, it is important however to make sure that it is a turkey or gamebird starter. many chick starters do not have the proper % or kind of vitamins and minerals for poults. In terms of medication in the feed this is a personal choice however i recommend against it. I used medicated feed for several years when i first started raising poultry but switched long ago to non-medicated feed with no increase in my % of poults lost. Unless you are ordering a specially mixed feed a medicated turkey or gamebird starter will contain only a medication for coccidiosis. the medication will do nothing against any other illness, also medicines only work against bacterial illnesses and will not help if your birds are infected with a virus. I recommend against medicated feed because it is not a good method of administering medication to birds and can possibly harm them. the risk with administering medication via feed or water is that the bird will get not enough or too much of the medication. For medications mixed into feed high brooder temperatures will make the birds eat less as they use less energy to keep warm. in this case the bird may not get an adequate amount of medication. alternatively if the brooder is too cold the birds will eat more in order to produce more energy to keep warm causing it too ingest too high of a dose of the medication. Some medications that are safe for animals at a normal dosage are quite lethal when administered at higher doses (ivermectin for instance). some strains of birds have very little tolerance for high doses of coccidiosis medicine. the same general idea goes for administering medication via water. hot brooder, higher water intake+too much medication etc. Although it is more expensive and less convenient i recommend only administering medication to birds that show signs of illness and doing so by giving each individual bird a proper dose of the given medication. If you have a coccidiosis problem most feed stores carry coccidiosis medications that can be mixed with water and administered orally with a syringe (the type without a needle available at most feed stores and pharmacies). Other medications are available at most feed stores or through the gamebird supply companies if you think that your problem is not coccidiosis, which it sounds like it is not. if a bird has coccidiosis they almost always show symptoms for at least a day prior to death.