Help, please, really weird problem w/ new hatch poults

[SonnyGirl]

Hey 2overeasy.. Well, It's definitely nice to hear someone who wants to do right by all of their animals! That sounds like a good plan. Unfortunately, it is very demanding to raise poults - and technically your chicken CAN raise those poults on her own. I just wish there was some way that you could just get the coop and yard a little more baby-turkey-proofed. Can't you get someone to give you a hand? Even if you could just take the poults for ONE hour, while you remove the nesting boxed/ledge area (so that everyone is forced to ground roost), then put a roll of tighter-mesh chicken wire around the bottom foot (or two) of the run.. it seems like the problem would be solved. Give the poults back an hour or two later - and everyone would be happy. Maybe that's not possible though or maybe you don't have the help?? If there's some reason that you can NOT reinforce the living quarters/make it safer - than I agree, there would be nothing left to do but raise them on your own because you wouldn't want to feel bad. That's what I decided with the poults I had falling off a shelf - I decided that I would rather take them and raise them than to risk their lives again, which would break my heart if anything happened. Please let me know how it goes.

and P.S. my boy seems to be getting better... and yes, this is one of the ones that I took from the mama.. and I actually ended up NOT giving her back 3 of them. Because this one was born with a splayed leg and needed rehab.. and I kept two others to keep him company. I raised these three by hand and they don't know I'm NOT there mom lol. He seems to be a little better today - I have him on strong antibiotics because he seemed to be fading fast last night. He's a survivor though, this bird ttys and good luck!

 

[2overeasy]

Well, it's pretty much done now. And I think it will work out. I bought 6 3-day old Langshan chicks from a local man. Tonight I slipped 3 of the chicks under the hen and took the 3 poults. I put the poults in the brooder with the other 3 chicks. They all seem to be getting on well.
Upon close inspection of the poults, however, I see why one of them was weaker than the others and stumbled alot: It has curled toes on one foot. So now I'm in the process of reading on that. I did post the question with a pic on the forum a few minutes ago. But then I started researching for others with similar problems. And apparently it's not uncommon.
So I'm going to try a splint according to directions I got from a poster who has a website called poultrypedia.com.
She gives really great directions on how to fix my baby's problem. The poult is very active, just stumbles quite a bit.
So we'll see.
My other hen sitting on turkey eggs will hatch in about 3 weeks. So, you think if I make some changes to the brooder yard she might be able to raise them? And I don't have to go through this again? That would really be nice ;-)
My friend who has raised turkeys said that a hen could probably raise them but wouldn't be able to give them guidance like she would to chicks because they wouldn't "listen," or however he put it...

Hope your boy keeps getting stronger - guess we'll both have poults in rehab!

 

[SonnyGirl]

Hey 2overeasy! I'm glad to hear that you've got the situation under control. I know how stressful it can be when "it" starts hitting the fan! lol. And yeah, I'm not super experienced with chickens, but I have a lot of friends whose chickens have raised turkey poults. Poults usually stick very closely to their mother, but at the same time they are very active early, very bold and brave and like to explore. As soon as they get their "landlegs", they're straying from mom to check things out. They typically don't go TOO far, like they're attached by an invisible string.. and when something scarey happens, they tend to run back under Mom. But they grow so fast! When I had that hatch up on the shelf that I had to take away from the hen? I thought that they were basically just born and stumbling off... later, I realized they were actually about 5 days old (I had been at college during the week and couldn't believe my family didn't notice anything different!! lol) when they started falling off... but once that happened, once they were exploring - there was no stopping them.. they just weren't going to NOT fall off the shelf and look around. But, on the other hand, they weren't old enough to safely explore. I think that if you had the right set up, it would be fine. They might grow a little quicker and not listen in the same capacity as chicks.. and they might be bolder and stray a little further from Mom, but they would definitely love her and seek her belly for comfort... it's just how they are. But if their area was set up where they couldn't fall and couldn't escape, I think it would be great. When I had my fiasco and a crash course in making a "maternity ward", I originally just tried to extend the shelf, with a better "lip" (or little wall) to keep them from falling... no dice, that idea was a fail lol. So then when I finally moved everybody to the ground - I also included a little wall that the mother could still jump over to get outside, but the poults couldn't. So she would go out and forage, I left them with turkey "mash" and water, and everyone was happy. They would call for her if she took too long outside, and she would return when they seemed stressed over it.
After that, at a few weeks of age, they were able to come outside, but I "baby-proofed" the ramp and yard so that they couldn't hurt themselves, stick their necks in anything, etc. Once they were a few weeks old, they were not so delicate or needy of monitoring!

Anyhow - my boy is still acting strange, but we'll see how it goes. I have faith in him pulling through just fine!
As far as your guys toes.. they must be pretty badly curled for him to have issues walking? You might want to make sure there's no twist in the legs or hips either. Problems like that, when caught young, are typically easy to correct though as long as they're healthy otherwise. I've had a few poults with toes that were slightly curled outward on the outside. It was never so bad that it affected their walk, though and I didn't actually notice till they were a little older. My hen that hatched recently has it actually - and it never affected her. Poults do really well with braces/splints, etc... so good luck! Im sure he'll be fine and it's a good thing he's got a human Mommy to take care of him! ttys and have a great day