Baby Turkey Help

Thanks Steve, but you that does not answer the question on how feeding med feeds will keep them alive in the first 2 weeks of life ??

If you start every batch on sterile conditions new litter and disinfected between batches how would they develop the disease in the first 2 weeks ??

The answer is they can't.

on the meds that are in the feeds, but what if any of those can aid in keeping a chick alive in the first week or two ??

I'm basing everything on a sterile clean brooder, with new litter each batch or on a deep litter pack that is properly aged.

Here is a piece from a university study that was done on this same thing......

Coccidiosis is an intestinal parasite that exists just about everywhere. It can take a heavy toll on chicks, starting from about three weeks of age. The parasite multiplies greatly in the gut of the chick, and vast numbers of "oocycsts" (think of them as eggs) come out in the manure. Chicks raised on litter floors scratch and peck at the litter, looking for food, and become infected. The explosive multiplication of the coccidia can lead to dead, stunted, and sick chicks.

Chicks that are exposed to only low levels of coccidia become immune without becoming sick.

Control is achieved by breaking the reproductive cycle. Chicks raised on wire floors don't get coccidiosis because they don't have enough contact with manure. Chicks raised on free range from a very early age tend not to get it because they also don't have enough exposure. Chicks raised on old litter (used for at least six months) tend not to get it because the litter eventually harbors microscopic creatures that eat coccidia. Medicated chick starter contains drugs that suppress coccidia directly.

Wet litter, crowding, intermittent feeding, and any type of stress tend to increase coccidiosis. (If the feeders are empty, the chicks will spend more time nosing around in the litter.)

Again not trying to start an argument here but really ask yourself why would any of the med feeds help keep them alive in the first week or two, if you have everything done correctly ???

If you keep everything clean and run a good program you would not ever loose one in the first week to coccidiosis or anything else that the med feeds would help anyways.

In 3 years of raising poults I have never lost one in the first week or two due to Cocci or anything else that the med feeds would prevent from happing in that time frame.

Only thing the meds will do is help play a role in building a immunity to the disease, if and when they come in contact with them.

On the ACV you are right, so why not use natural methods and destroy them instead of feeding meds ??

It is not the med feeds that keep them alive it is husbandry that keeps them alive.

Usually what happens is they start off the non med feeds and some start to die, that would have died anyways even on med feeds, and then they switch and by then they are at end of week 1 or week 2 and no more die so they assume the med feed helped save them when in reality they would have died no matter what, because something was not right to begin with.

And the first two weeks of a turkeys life is the hardest on them, and after that period none usually die unless human error.​
 
Last edited:
Then the question is.... What do they die of? "starve out" is a major factor most often with shipped poults and is usually the cause of death along with shipping stress.

Why do they do better with ACV or on medicated feed? do tell?

I'm basing everything on a sterile clean brooder, with new litter each batch or on a deep litter pack that is properly aged.

How do you do that? the litter isn't sterile, and the only way I know of keeping the feed and water clean is to stand over the brooder and empty the feed and water every time a poult takes a poo in it, and wash their feet every time they step in poo - before they or another can peck at it, and of course pick up each dropping before they have a chance to peck it.

I know what works here and since Jan 2009 to today we have hatched 319 poults and have lost 2 in the brooder. there were some that didn't make it out of the egg but that is another thread (to help or not to help) All were fed medicated feed from day one, something must be going right.

And as Forest Gump would say
"That's all I have to say 'bout that"

Steve in NC​
 
Why do they do better with ACV or on medicated feed? do tell?

No they don't. I use the ACV just the same reason you use the med feeds.

The molasses I think is the big difference in the first week. It keeps the poults drinking because the water is sweet and it has enough nutrition in it to keep them alive long enough to get them eating and drinking with no problems. And they can't starve out really if they have in it in their water, as long they start eating in a day or two. Plus it helps clean out their system and gets their system working good.

I have done a experiment side by side with poults with molasses and poults with no molasses and the ones with out were weaker looking in the first week then the others that had it.

Never had a poult starve out in our brooder. As it is small enough they can't help but find food and water.

We are just use to doing all the alts to med feeds as we are a ranch that is certified naturally grown, can't use no meds in feeds for any of the animals we raise. No chemicals of any kind on our place,used in raising the animals or forage, etc.

You can not use meds and have an organic animal or even natural animal.

We don't get that luxury of the early season here in the west, but since 3/15/09 we have hatched out 150 poults and have another 30 in the hatcher ready on Sunday and have not lost one.

Last year we hatched out over 500+ poults and only lost 15 and 10 of those were due to overcrowding with older poults and the smaller ones got crushed. and the other 5 were too weak to go on and I culled them. So it works just takes a few more precautions to make successful.

All my numbers are in the first month in the brooder phase, after that we have lost more to predators and what not then in the brooder phase.

The point is that you don't need to have med feeds to have success at raising poults.

My whole question was because all the time on here and other boards people state that to keep poults alive in the first 2 weeks of their life they need to be using med feeds which does really nothing on keeping them alive at all.

How do you do that? the litter isn't sterile, and the only way I know of keeping the feed and water clean is to stand over the brooder and empty the feed and water every time a poult takes a poo in it, and wash their feet every time they step in poo - before they or another can peck at it, and of course pick up each dropping before they have a chance to peck it.

No just disinfect the brooder before each use and we use Paper towels for the first week for litter and then they go to wire floors.

In the first week Cocci can not form in a clean brooder so getting in the poo or eating it will have no ill effects.

After they are on wire you don't have to worry about them eating poo or getting in to it as they can't,

The feed and water we actually elevated it so it is even with the poults backs or lower (sits on a 2x4), just off the ground so they can't get in to it easily. And then yes we clean the waters every morning and evening same with the feeders. sometimes even in the afternoon depending on how busy I am. Then we swap out the feeders and waterer's every other day with ones that went through a bleach bath so they are disinfected.

When I was a kid my mom raised exotic birds(parrots,macaws,etc) and had alot of them and they are so hard to raise after hatch as everything has to be so sterile that it is insane, so after doing that for years, it is second nature for me.​
 
Thank you all for your wisdom concerning sick poults. I used the ACV mixture and the poults responded very well. I had several that looked like they would be dead the next morning, we made up the ACV mixture and gave it to them around midnight and the next morning they looked much better and had more energy. We have not lost any more poults since we used the AVC. Thanks again, I appreciate your imput very much.
smile.png
 
Thank you all for your wisdom concerning sick poults. I used the ACV mixture and the poults responded very well. I had several that looked like they would be dead the next morning, we made up the ACV mixture and gave it to them around midnight and the next morning they looked much better and had more energy. We have not lost any more poults since we used the AVC. Thanks again, I appreciate your input very much.

Glad to hear your poults are doing better. Just continue the ACV mix with the molasses for a week and then after that just stop using the molasses and just continue the ACV till they are 8-10 weeks old.​
 
Would it hurt if you gave the poults water with a tiny bit of ACV in it right after hatching...just to keep the diseases away?

No, that is what you do. You mix 1 TSP of Molasses and 1 TSP of ACV to a gallon of warm water for the first week and then after that you just give them 1 TSP of ACV per gallon of water till they are atleast 8-10 weeks old or longer if you like, it also helps keep the green slimes (algae) out of your waterer.​
 
so I'm dealing w/ a few poults that need some help. How do you syringe it down? how much?> thanks

Just use one that is for like kids Tylenol or meds or ?? Then fill it up to 2 cc's per bird with mixture and then hold the bird in your hand on its back and get the tip in its beak get it in all the way to the back so the liquid goes down and slowly push the plunger till all the water mixture is gone repeat every 2-3 hours for a day or till its better.​
 
thank you for the info... just researching today, and will probably be ordering my poults in the near future (that is after i convince my husband that "yes it is a good idea!")

would you recommend giving them that avc mixture as soon as they are brought home? to ward off any potential weakness??
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom