Help, 4 Day Old Poult Is Dying! *update*

[birdbrain5]

my turkey poults are about 4-5 days old, they are in with 2 chicks so they would teach them to eat and drink, everyone was fine, i turned the heat bulb on a little later than usual so they might have been a tiny bit chilly but then it warmed right up in there and i noticed one was real flat like, i tried to get him to stand but he wouldnt. i put him in a good spot with heat but nothing changed, temp is almost 100 in the light but plenty of room to get out of heat. he cant stand or move so i put him out of the heat to see if maybe he was too warm. now he looks like hes gasping. i dont know whats wrong hes on his side just gasping like. i gave some sugar water but not a real lot i dont know how much to give. thier water has had electrolites in it since the start. they are on a 24% protien because thats all i could find at TSC and the other grain store was out of anything higher. what should i do?? he is not too warm anymore hes out of the direct heat. these were hatched here so no way to really get sick i wouldnt think...

 

[birdbrain5]

i really need help fast this guy is failing quick i dont know what to do for him...

 

[ColbyNTX]

I don't think there is much else you can do at this point. Once they go down like that its tough to get them back. Why was the heat source off in the first place? If you raise enough babies you will loose some even if you do everything right but also from mistakes we make and we just have to learn from it.

 

[birdbrain5]

well at night i burn a 250 red bulb but during the heat of the day i burn a regular 100 watt . just didnt change it over early enough. power went out this am and one was real flat and cold so i held him and got him warm and hes done fine all day. just went out and another one is not looking good. the heat is at 95 where they are choosing to lay. i just dont know whats going wrong

 

[ColbyNTX]

What are you feeding thm? Are you sure they are eating and drinking good? I also mix up gallon jugs of water with 4 tsps brown sugar, 4 tsps ACV and 1/2 tsp of poultry vit & menerals. I give this to all my hatches for the first week and really don't loose but a few in a season and I hatch hundreds per season! I have lost only 1 guinea keet this year out of about 200 and no poults from about 80 so far this spring.

 

[birdbrain5]

i could only get a 24% game bird feed/starter from TSC for now until the grain store gets in thier higher protien feed. i have been putting poultry vitamins and minerals in the water also. i have seen a few of them eat and drink and the first two days i dipped thier beaks in the water. maybe they havent been eating i honestly cant say for sure i dont watch them often or long enough, i do know i have seen one or two so i was hoping they all were. they are in with two chicks too so i thought they would teach them. i havent been back out to check in a bit i dont know what else i can really do anyhow..

im going to mix up what you make and use that from now on. do you give that to all your newly hatched poultry? not just poults or guineas?

 

[MissTurkey4]

When they are gasping, there is not much you can do.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Quote:
I do give it to all my poultry. Not saying that is the only way but it works well for me. The 24% feed should be fine if thats all you have. There are plenty of people who only feed 20%. They just do better on the 28-30%. This happening at day 4-5 sounds to me like they were not eating and drinking. They live 3-4 days off of their yolk and thats why hatcheries ship day old poultry with no food or water. The other thing is they might have got chilled but I don't know if you have them in the house, garage, barn ect or what part of the country your in and how cold it is there. Even here in Texas it was 49 degs yesterday morning.

 

[birdbrain5]

yes i have a feeling they were not eating well. one passed lastnight, 2 others are just about gone if not already since i was out there last. i have them in the garage, i have a thermometer in there and i try to keep it at 95-100 in the heat, they can get out of it if they want. i am going to keep my next batch in the house so i can monitor things closer like eating and whatnot. this is just sad tho.

 

[kuntrygirl]

So VERY sorry to hear about your babies. This is so sad. Poults can be very difficult to care for. Sounds like they were cold and hungry. I was going to suggest that (if you can) keep them in the house. I keep ALL of my poults in the house when they are that young. I am able to check on them EVERY minute when I am home. They are safe, secure and warm inside.

Good Luck.