And then there was one...

[Bookspryte]

Two weeks ago I purchased three Rio Grande turkey poults at a flea market. I've been keeping them in a separate brooder away from my chicks.

I was out of Friday and part of Saturday and thought everything was under control. Their water bottle was full of water, but failed to feed into the bowl. I don't know how long they were without water until I got home Saturday afternoon. To make a long story short, all three baby turkeys looked fine and were jumping to get away from me. I fixed their waterer and went to take care of my other animals.

When I went back to check on them, two were dead. And the sole survivor was looking at his/her friends and giving this sad peep. It was enough to break my heart.

My question is what do I do with this guy? I have 13 nearly 3 week old chicks that are smaller than him/her and 23 7 week old chicks that are much bigger.

Will he/she be OK alone or should I put him/her in with a group of chicks? And if I do, which group?

I've been lurking on here for weeks, but didn't expect my first post to be about bad news.

Thanks for your help and sorry for the long post.

 

[kimnkell]

I would put him/her in with the smaller chicks.
I recently tried smaller poults with larger chicks and they were terrified, even though the turkeys were twice the size of the chicks. They aren't nearly as aggressive as chicks.
I have many times put my poults in with much smaller chicks and have never had them pick on the chicks. I have some 2 week old poults in with newborn bantam cochins right now! they all get along fine.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

I agree, put the 1 in with the smaller chicks. Turkeys are flock birds and need company.

Steve in NC