Giblet
In the Brooder
- Apr 17, 2017
- 2
- 0
- 10
Hey everyone this is my first time posting on BYC. So my Bourbon Red hen hatched out 13 baby poults 3 weeks ago and I decided to let momma raise them this year. All my turkeys free range and go where they want. I don't put them up at night they sleep where they want. They have a covered old goat house full of straw that the hen has decided to sleep in every night with her babys. I am in the middle of town and have never had any Predator problems in the 2 1/2 years I have been raising Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks. I have Never had anything kill any of my birds.
This morning I went to check on my turkey hen in the goat house and all her babys were outside the goat house scattered everywhere around the yard under bushes. They were all wet and freezing. It had been raining all night and about 40 degrees. The momma hen was no where to be found So i gathered up all the very wet cold turkeys poults I could find (I Found 12 out of the 13) and brought them inside and put them in a brooder under a heat lamp most of them were pretty lethargic and barely able to hold there heads up. I am wondering if there is much of a chance they will survive after being that cold? I am also wondering where momma disappeared to? I am thinking a predator found them last night and she took off to save herself and that all the babys scattered into hiding. I don't think she would have just left them like that she is a very good mother.
I am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what could of happened and if the babys have much of a chance surviving.
As of this morning when I left for work there still was no sign of the mother anywhere and there were no feathers in the goat house or anywhere around it. So that is why I am guessing she took flight and was able to get away.
This morning I went to check on my turkey hen in the goat house and all her babys were outside the goat house scattered everywhere around the yard under bushes. They were all wet and freezing. It had been raining all night and about 40 degrees. The momma hen was no where to be found So i gathered up all the very wet cold turkeys poults I could find (I Found 12 out of the 13) and brought them inside and put them in a brooder under a heat lamp most of them were pretty lethargic and barely able to hold there heads up. I am wondering if there is much of a chance they will survive after being that cold? I am also wondering where momma disappeared to? I am thinking a predator found them last night and she took off to save herself and that all the babys scattered into hiding. I don't think she would have just left them like that she is a very good mother.
I am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what could of happened and if the babys have much of a chance surviving.
As of this morning when I left for work there still was no sign of the mother anywhere and there were no feathers in the goat house or anywhere around it. So that is why I am guessing she took flight and was able to get away.
when I got home from work she was in the yard screaming for her babys. All the poults were able to pull through and are back with momma. I think I found out what had scared her off. I had left again after getting home from work and when I drove back up at dusk there was a really big feral cat by the goat house trying to get her babys but she was doing a good job protecting them. If it had been totally dark that would of been a different story though. I never did find the one missing poult.
