Best Place to Get Turkey Poults?

[R2elk]

Maybe that was it? I think it was overnight but who knows how they were treated before I got them. I’ve read horror stories of boxes of dead ones and I’d hate to lose them all. Porters has been the number one for quality and health that I’ve seen, I’m hoping I can get an order in buuuut just in case

Lots of people have high losses with turkey poults because they don't understand that poults are not chicks and have slightly different brooder requirements than do chicks.

One such example is that poults should not be kept on wood chips until at least 2 weeks old. If they are kept on wood chips, they need to have appropriate sized grit available.

 

[ChookyChooks&Turklets2]

Lots of people have high losses with turkey poults because they don't understand that poults are not chicks and have slightly different brooder requirements than do chicks.

One such example is that poults should not be kept on wood chips until at least 2 weeks old. If they are kept on wood chips, they need to have appropriate sized grit available.

They had crushed granite chick grit, kept on layered paper towels for the first few weeks in case they had strange poops. It wasn’t “cold” when they shipped but if they were a day or two old and got too cold or hot shipping could that have done it? I figured at the time it was shipping problems or something unknown

 

[fat brown hen]

I got heritage turkey poults from cackle hatchery this year. They let you order as few as 3, and can combine with chicken chicks. The order arrived overnight across the country, it was so amazing. Did not lose a single one.

 

[Berd Man]

I’m new to ordering poults… my first experience with poults was hatching eggs from a close neighbor that raises turkeys. Had great success and didn’t lose a single poult. Had a few infertile eggs but that’s nothing concerning.

Cackle has a pretty good reputation. So does Porters. I’ve used both.

I ordered 15 from Porters about 4 weeks ago and within the first few hours 6 died. The rest are doing fine. Some of the poults I ordered from porters were different sizes and had more feathering than others… probably not all day olds (I compared them to photos I’d taken of my first turkey hatchlings) but I’m speculating they died of thirst and hunger.

If your poults don’t spend lots of time in shipping they have a yolk sac that they are sustained by. But if it’s very hot or cold you will likely have stressed poults and stressed poults can die more easily. The postal service is not what it used to be and even though you may be close to where the hatchery is, from my experience the longer they stay in the hands of the postal service the less survive.

 

[ChookyChooks&Turklets2]

I’m new to ordering poults… my first experience with poults was hatching eggs from a close neighbor that raises turkeys. Had great success and didn’t lose a single poult. Had a few infertile eggs but that’s nothing concerning.

Cackle has a pretty good reputation. So does Porters. I’ve used both.

I ordered 15 from Porters about 4 weeks ago and within the first few hours 6 died. The rest are doing fine. Some of the poults I ordered from porters were different sizes and had more feathering than others… probably not all day olds (I compared them to photos I’d taken of my first turkey hatchlings) but I’m speculating they died of thirst and hunger.

If your poults don’t spend lots of time in shipping they have a yolk sac that they are sustained by. But if it’s very hot or cold you will likely have stressed poults and stressed poults can die more easily. The postal service is not what it used to be and even though you may be close to where the hatchery is, from my experience the longer they stay in the hands of the postal service the less survive.

I’m thinking that was the case with the first round. Lost a lot of workers and funding but the hatchery side matters a lot too. How did you incubate yours that were local? No losses is excellent and always the goal!

 

[Berd Man]

I’m thinking that was the case with the first round. Lost a lot of workers and funding but the hatchery side matters a lot too. How did you incubate yours that were local? No losses is excellent and always the goal!

I used the same settings as I do for chicken eggs. incubated them dry until lockdown, then increased humidity to around 60-70%. Most were all out within 24 hrs of external pip. I did have one that was a straggler, probably because I opened the incubator to remove poults that were crashing into its egg. I helped that one because I think the membrane dried.