we keep losing turkeys..down to just 3 now :(

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spish

spish

De Regenboog Kippetjes
13 Years
Apr 7, 2010
1,856
43
316
Belgium
i dont know whats going wrong.
1st flock last year..all dead by 16 weeks

2nd flock did really well got them to 20 weeks with no problems, then lost a few over winter, then we had the floods and lost a couple more to drowning
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so moved the turkeys onto the terras were they seemed to thrive. then last week my big tom died overnight (no injurys, no looking sick, not attacked just died...he was 7 months)
then we lost another yesterday (same story was fine the day before, was fine in the morning to..i go to work, come home and she was dead)

i cant understand what we're doing wrong...we've gone from 8 to just three in the last 2 months
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any ideas people cause im all out
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( have put my last three up for sale in the hope of recouping some of the money, have had lots of replies from people wanting to buy but then my conscience kicks in and says what if they are sick, your selling sick turkeys to someone knowing they'll die...so then i dont reply!
 
I am sorry to here that but I have had the same luck. I think Turkeys seem to be the hardest bird to raise!

last year 2009 we out first year and lost alot of them.. And then the same thing happened in 2010 so I would like to know too.

I started out with 66 BBWhites and ending up having maybe 12 that are goign to make it to the dinner table.
Also we have Blue Slates. I had maybe 6 hens and a tom that made it from 2009 till now and I ordered 40 this year. Needless to say I think my count right now is 5 Toms and 12 hens out of the 40 I bought and probably 20 I hatched. We haven't figured it out either but I am not ready to give up. We are going to build them a bigger pen this year I hope!

I will be watching to see if anyone has any ideas!
 
Were they heritage breeds? I know a lot of the meat breeds don't last because they just get too large and their heart gives out or legs give out on them. They'll die prematurely where the heritage turkeys won't. Beyond that
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Sorry you two have had such a rough go..I have a pair, and never had any trouble with mine otherthan a dog attack when the tom was 8 weeks, but he survived and has done really well. Mine are Eastern Wilds...or heritage bronze...can't really tell, they're so similar
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Either way they are NOT the big meat birds, and have had no issues thus far
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did you notice any yellow runny poo. any wheezing. could it be blackhead. i have lost several do to crd. cronic respitory disease.
 
mine were raised on medicated food against cocci and blackhead; no runny poops
mine are ronquieres turkeys
 
Gosh, that's tough. Do you have a vet or someone from the county extension service (or the Belgian equivalent, obviously!) who could make a visit to your site or necropsy one of your birds? It sounds like whatever is causing this mortality is systemic and isn't attributable to coincidence or weak individual birds. The challenge, of course, is figuring out what it is: contagious virus, parasites, exposure to toxin, inadequate diet or shelter, etc... Once you have your finger on the problem, it should be easier to address.

I don't ever want to claim to be the turkey expert. Far from it. But it has been my experience so far that they aren't too much different than chickens. I've experienced some of the same challenges you encounter with chickens: males fighting, outbreaks of external parasites, etc. Using common sense and the same husbandry techniques I use on chickens, we haven't lost a turkey yet. That's why I think that if you are having widespread mortality, something systemic is going on.
 
Ways I raise poults , this way I have raised 100% of all poults hatch my last year with them.

1. start them on a medicated turkey starter, on wire botton brooders. hard boil egg yolks over the feed first day.
2.Keep them on wire botton pens first 3 month and on the medicated feed.
3. DO NOT HOUSE WITH CHICKENS.
4. When moved to the ground, keep on medicated feed for another month.

Make sure to keep them wormed, blackhead is big killer of turkey and peafowl. Cocci. big killer of young poult and peachicks.


Yes I know alot of people raise them around chicken ,an no medicated feed. But talking with they people you will find, they lose some.


Hear poults and peachicks are weak and die for no reason.......NOT so ALWAYS A REASON.

Yes I know wild turkey raise there poults, but they lose alot.......
 
I am not sure what is in your medicated feed... in the US the coccidiostat commonly used is Amprolium. I did a quick search on it and wikipedia said 'The drug is a thiamine analogue and blocks the thiamine transporter of Eimeria species. By blocking thiamine uptake it prevents carbohydrate synthesis.' Not sure what that means? But I have always wondered about the fact that it's a thiamine blocker and what the possible consequences of that could be. If your feed works in a similar way, I wonder if problems show up with long term use? Could it be causing a defiency?
 
Quote:
what do you use to worm your turkeys

Same as my peafowl.

Safe guard for goats 3 cc per gal of water for 3 days ,then again in 14 days. Then ivomec pour on for cattle (brown box) 1 cc on the back base of the neck. (kills gapeworms, lice and mites) not at the same time. 3 times a year ivomec 30 days b4 laying.
 

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