Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[Mamanpoule]

I just hatched 3 baby turkeys too. They are so sweet and completely different from chicks and goslings in personality. But a word to the wise: they are much more fragile! (or at least mine are). At two weeks you have to add some cod liver oil to their water - a tip I learned on the BYC Forum - or they get weak and die from insufficient vitamins A & D, despite their vitamin supplement. I learned the hard way - lost the first born baby but managed to save the two others.

 

[livininbrazil]

I just hatched 3 baby turkeys too. They are so sweet and completely different from chicks and goslings in personality. But a word to the wise: they are much more fragile! (or at least mine are). At two weeks you have to add some cod liver oil to their water - a tip I learned on the BYC Forum - or they get weak and die from insufficient vitamins A & D, despite their vitamin supplement. I learned the hard way - lost the first born baby but managed to save the two others.

I find them just plain hard work for the first 3 months. If they survive that, then they´ll probably live long enough to become your dinner!

 

[ChickDancer]

I find them just plain hard work for the first 3 months. If they survive that, then they´ll probably live long enough to become your dinner!

Yeah I already lost one over night. So I'm down to two now. I wasn't expecting much from them either way. And by the time I decided to "quit" until next spring, these were already in the mail on their way to me.

 

[Mamanpoule]

So that's everyone's experience? This is my first time with turkeys. I just love them but can't figure out why they aren't thriving. Their wing feathers have grown in but they are 3 weeks old now and still seem very immature. My 4 week old Marans chicks (also hatched 3) are brutes by comparison! Just moved them to a bigger holding pen in a barn under a heat lamp. The poults are still in my son's former bedroom and I can't even imagine when they will be introduced to the outside world.

Does anyone have any turkey tips? I tried hard boiled egg yolk - one ate it heartily once but won't touch it since then.
Have found that cutting up little snips of grass and floating it in their water gets them to drink up. One manages to eat the cuttings but the other pecks without managing to eat them. There's a bit of brown sugar in the water (amongst other things) so at least it gives him a boost.

 

[livininbrazil]

So that's everyone's experience? This is my first time with turkeys. I just love them but can't figure out why they aren't thriving. Their wing feathers have grown in but they are 3 weeks old now and still seem very immature. My 4 week old Marans chicks (also hatched 3) are brutes by comparison! Just moved them to a bigger holding pen in a barn under a heat lamp. The poults are still in my son's former bedroom and I can't even imagine when they will be introduced to the outside world.

Does anyone have any turkey tips? I tried hard boiled egg yolk - one ate it heartily once but won't touch it since then.
Have found that cutting up little snips of grass and floating it in their water gets them to drink up. One manages to eat the cuttings but the other pecks without managing to eat them. There's a bit of brown sugar in the water (amongst other things) so at least it gives him a boost.

Chicks are far tougher than poults. Adult turkeys are far tougher than chickens. (not talking about eating them at this point!)
Here, backyard turkey breeders keep them in small cages, with heating, plastic up around to keep the wind off, roof to rain off, up off the ground, of course, so they can´t pick up anything from the ground, and also so they don´t get wet with the dew. At 3 months they let them go out with other birds and they usually do ok. A lot of them use a chicken to hatch and raise them until they don´t need her anymore. This has advantages in that, as long as the chicken is healthy, she teaches them to eat and drink, and keeps them warm. Poor chickens have to stay in a tiny cage with these babies for at least a month, though. I´ve had turkeys hatch and raise their own, and they´re generally good mums, but the babies do have a high mortality rate this way, getting damp, chilled, etc...
Have you got onto the turkey thread? someone there may be able to help more.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Finally some exciting news, went to clean poop out of goose house picked Missy up so I could peek at the egg, listened and can hear taping, I am so hoping this lil gosling can break out of the shell, So I do nothing right no safe hole just leave them to it? If you pray please do.

 

[livininbrazil]

Finally some exciting news, went to clean poop out of goose house picked Missy up so I could peek at the egg, listened and can hear taping, I am so hoping this lil gosling can break out of the shell, So I do nothing right no safe hole just leave them to it? If you pray please do.

Haha, MLyd. Exciting! Don´t need to do anything. Just keep an eye on her that she doesn´t try to be overly enthusiastic about helping it out of the egg like mine did, and kill it! But at least you know Sam´s still up to the job.

 

[ChickDancer]

Chicks are far tougher than poults. Adult turkeys are far tougher than chickens. (not talking about eating them at this point!)
Here, backyard turkey breeders keep them in small cages, with heating, plastic up around to keep the wind off, roof to rain off, up off the ground, of course, so they can´t pick up anything from the ground, and also so they don´t get wet with the dew. At 3 months they let them go out with other birds and they usually do ok. A lot of them use a chicken to hatch and raise them until they don´t need her anymore. This has advantages in that, as long as the chicken is healthy, she teaches them to eat and drink, and keeps them warm. Poor chickens have to stay in a tiny cage with these babies for at least a month, though. I´ve had turkeys hatch and raise their own, and they´re generally good mums, but the babies do have a high mortality rate this way, getting damp, chilled, etc...
Have you got onto the turkey thread? someone there may be able to help more.

Unlike traditional advice, I've got my poults living with two chicks. It was three chicks but one had development issues and died last night.

The chicks hatched with the poults though, and all of them went into a brand new never-used brooder together. The chicks have shown the poults how to drink and eat, so that part is covered. I've also been putting my hand in there with crumble feed on it, and moving it around to get their interest. But their interest is almost instant, and they pick up several pieces each time I do that, so I have no doubt they know how to get their food.

They will be separated later on when they go outside. But with chicks that know how to find things for themselves, it's really helping my poults figure it out, too!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha, MLyd. Exciting! Don´t need to do anything. Just keep an eye on her that she doesn´t try to be overly enthusiastic about helping it out of the egg like mine did, and kill it! But at least you know Sam´s still up to the job.

I hope she doesn't get overly enthusiastic and kills or hurts her baby. I'm trying to leave them alone just peaking in the window every once in a while Sammy wants to be in there with her is that okay? I have to keep the door closed since we seem to have more blk snakes around this year and they will go after eggs and babies.

 

[livininbrazil]

Unlike traditional advice, I've got my poults living with two chicks. It was three chicks but one had development issues and died last night.

The chicks hatched with the poults though, and all of them went into a brand new never-used brooder together. The chicks have shown the poults how to drink and eat, so that part is covered. I've also been putting my hand in there with crumble feed on it, and moving it around to get their interest. But their interest is almost instant, and they pick up several pieces each time I do that, so I have no doubt they know how to get their food.

They will be separated later on when they go outside. But with chicks that know how to find things for themselves, it's really helping my poults figure it out, too!

Yes, really useful I once had a turkey sitting on her eggs, then aweek after she started, I put some chicken eggs under her, and they all hatched at the same time. those chicks were so noticeably more forward than the turkey poults! They were up and ready to go, and the poults were still cuddling with mom! The chicks didn´t cause any problem with the poults. As the chicks got older, I separated them to be with the chickens, and the turkey raised her poults until I sold them. It was touch-and-go, though, they are very fragile. I think I lost two of them just from fading.