8 White breasted 8 week old Poults

[brbeck92]

Hello! My Turkeys are 8 weeks old. They kept jumping out of their brooder, so we decided to move them outside. They have a basic chicken coop (I know we will need to get bigger but for not that is all I have), several heat lamps and a mixture of straw and pine shavings. Their food and water are up there with them. They have plenty of room to roam. They don't seem to want to leave the top (inside) of the coop. I live in Ohio so it has been pretty chilly. However, I don't want them to die of boredom and want them to get exercise. Are there things I can do to encourage them to get out? Or is it simply they are probably just too cold and will venture out as they get older.

 

[R2elk]

Hello! My Turkeys are 8 weeks old. They kept jumping out of their brooder, so we decided to move them outside. They have a basic chicken coop (I know we will need to get bigger but for not that is all I have), several heat lamps and a mixture of straw and pine shavings. Their food and water are up there with them. They have plenty of room to roam. They don't seem to want to leave the top (inside) of the coop. I live in Ohio so it has been pretty chilly. However, I don't want them to die of boredom and want them to get exercise. Are there things I can do to encourage them to get out? Or is it simply they are probably just too cold and will venture out as they get older.

At 2 months old your poults should not need supplemental heat. Since you haven't acclimated them to life without supplemental heat, you will have to wean them off of it. By providing supplemental heat long past the time they should have been acclimated to ambient temperatures you have prevented them from properly adjusting to current temperatures.

Take them out for supervised walks.

FYI, there is no such thing as a White Breasted turkey. There are Broad Breasted Whites, Holland Whites, Beltsville Small Whites, Midget Whites but no White Breasted ones.