Brats!!!!

[Turkeyrangler]

So I spent a good deal of the weekend building a larger brooder that is 3x4x2. Right now I have my three week old poults in a large rubbermaid tote. This new brooder would basically double the area for them and it would get them out to the garage rather than in my computer room. I'm really getting to dislike turkey dust. Anyway, I get everything set up, temp right around 80 which is the temp in the old brooder. Have the water, roost and feeder oriented the same as in the small brooder so they will figure out where everything is. I put them in and for the first half hour everything is good. Then they start calling loudly and pacing back and forth. Then two basically flop over and will not get up. The third is pacing back forth at the far end of the brooder. I quick mix up a concentrated dose of molasses and water in my eye dropper and attempt to give the two some. This worked when one got stressed when I move them from the incubator the brooder. When I first picked them up they were listless, but then they became prizefighters and the eye dropper idea became a battle which I gave up on since it seemed to cause even more stress for them. I quickly move them back to the old brooder and within a minute all three are up, purring, cooing, happy as clams. So is this normal?? They scared the c#%$ out of me!

Here are the new digs.

Back in the old brooder less than a minute after being put back.

Right now they are all dustbathing next to the waterer because they are not happy unless it is full of wet pine shavings. When I go and look at them one of them throws me the stinkeye and starts in with a warning putt. Guess I'm the badguy today.

 

[ziggywiggy]

I don't know if that's normal but that's a nice brooder you built. Most people brood at 90 or a little hotter. I try to keep it between 90 and 95. 80 seems a little cool to me.

 

[Turkeyrangler]

Quote:
They are at the end of week three and I've been dropping the temp a couple degrees every couples days. Started at 95. I've been moving the lamp up a bit every couple days rather than all at once. They seem to like it at 80, maybe a couple degrees more, no one huddles under the lamp or sits at the edge, They mill around anywhere in the brooder and sleep most anywhere as well. The temp in the garage was actually right at 82 without the lamp. I think it was more about the change in the environment than anything else. They were back to their old selves in less than a minute. I could try them at a higher temp to start when I put them in then work back down.

Thanks for the comment on the brooder. My garage is attached, but small critters such as mice and rats can get in, I think they will be secure for now in that brooder once I can get them used to it. I need to get to work on my coop and run. I'm getting a tom and hen soon and need to have that set up soon. Since the days are long here now this far north (it's still light at 9:30-10:00pm) I can probably put in some evenings after work to get that set up and more next weekend.


BTW-I heard one of them make a sound that sounded like a yelp today.


.

 

[ivan3]

Please describe exactly what you mean by "flopped over".

I'm guessing it is just stress from the sudden move. Get a cardboard box with a lid. put a towel in the bottom (no slipping around) and another towel for the top. Get them out of the indoor brooder and place them in the box (keep towel on top and slip them in. Carry them out and reverse the process into the new cage. Get a chair and sit there for a bit, observe. Get up and step out of sight (listen - louder/going all `James Brown' on you?). Move them back and forth and leave them for longer periods each day.

We did this from indoor brooder to outdoor dog run, on warm days, for about a week and a half before they'd walk up to the open brooder door, step onto our hands and expect to go out.

You might consider placing both the feeder and waterer up on bricks in one end of the cage (very nice, by the way) and secured to the sides by a twisty ties wrapped around a little wood screw in wall, or through the mesh. This will keep them and the bedding out of the food and water (saved us a lot of time). A roost can then be placed in the other end of cage. You could also put a portable radio out there with them (ours would quiet down faster when we kept the classical station on).

Sounds like a serious case of `imprintation' and too much to take in all at once.

 

[Turkeyrangler]

It was more like flop on the side, then sit up and just lay there being catatonic kind of a thing, not sure how else to describe it. Nothing I had seen before. They didn't focus on one part of the brooder or another. I think your right in that it was too much too soon. Usually when I clean the brooder I put them in a box with a towel and cover it. I'll try that the next time I move them, probably much less traumatic. thanks. I'll start that tomorrow night.

BTW- The chair was already in place, sat there for a full hour to observe. They did the "where are you call" anyways even though I talked to them the entire time. I watched the flop after about an hour and moved them. I had the water up on blocks and the food sitting down low. I plan on raising both up even higher. I have a few spare bricks to raise them. Funny thing is that the one that has imprinted the most fared the best.

 

[ivan3]

Keep us posted on any continuation of that behavior (ours would just raise hades).

Good luck!

 

[Animallover606]

Very nice setup what kind of turkeys are those? Mabye they like being inside close to you?

 

[Lotsapaints]

I see your turkeys have already learned mind control.....really though it was probably just the change too much all at once. I have some 4 weeks old that I will be moving in with the gang and I hope that goes well.....birds really do not like sudden changes they fuss over it but I'm moving all the chicks out of the turkey brooder going to add the month old poults and I'll see if it works the oldest poults are 7 weeks and I want them to run together.

 

[thaiturkey]

Did you use any adhesive or other strong chemical in the construction of the new brooder?

 

[Turkeyrangler]

Quote:
no adhesives and no treated lumber, nothing but pine and screws and nails.