Heritage Breed Weights - Unintentional Turkey Owner - Are mine small for their age?

[Millie_Hens]

Hello everyone! I was active on the BYC forum 10+ years ago, but haven't been here in a long while. It's good to be back! I think I'm knowledgable about chickens, but I'm clueless about turkeys. I just lost my last chicken to old age earlier this year, and well... now I have two turkeys.

A friend (who was about to move across the country) had a young turkey poult show up at her doorstep on June 8th. No idea how old it is. It doesn't look like the wild turkey poults she has in the area and no neighbor would claim it. The little guy/gal was fully feathered and is super friendly, but my friend housed it under a milk-crate outside, with no heat lamp, and fed it bird seed/millet for a few days. When I heard, I bought her a bag of Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein, I had to special order some 30% protein gamebird starter) and a bag of dried bugs "Happy Hen Treats Bug Bonanza" (42% protein; I was afraid the Flock Raiser wouldn't have enough).

I was unsuccessful in trying to rehome it and I didn't want to keep it alone (it would cry bitterly when left alone), so on Monday I bought a five-week-old poult. I have them in a run separated by wire with a heat lamp on at night for the younger one. The older one is 2lbs 4oz (up from 1lb and 15.9 oz on Sunday), the younger one is 7.9 oz. I don't know the older one's age, but looking at weight charts online, they both seem super tiny. Do they seem small? Is 30% Gamebird Starter still appropriate for the larger one? Is it stunted perhaps?

Edited to correct typo on the weights.

 

[R2elk]

Hello everyone! I was active on the BYC forum 10+ years ago, but haven't been here in a long while. It's good to be back! I think I'm knowledgable about chickens, but I'm clueless about turkeys. I just lost my last chicken to old age earlier this year, and well... now I have two turkeys.

A friend (who was about to move across the country) had a young turkey poult show up at her doorstep on June 8th. No idea how old it is. It doesn't look like the wild turkey poults she has in the area and no neighbor would claim it. The little guy/gal was fully feathered and is super friendly, but my friend housed it under a milk-crate outside, with no heat lamp, and fed it bird seed/millet for a few days. When I heard, I bought her a bag of Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein, I had to special order some 30% protein gamebird starter) and a bag of dried bugs "Happy Hen Treats Bug Bonanza" (42% protein; I was afraid the Flock Raiser wouldn't have enough).

I was unsuccessful in trying to rehome it and I didn't want to keep it alone (it would cry bitterly when left alone), so on Monday I bought a five-week-old poult. I have them in a run separated by wire with a heat lamp on at night for the younger one. The older one is 2lbs 7.9 oz (has gained 4oz since Sunday), the younger one is 7.9 oz. I don't know the older one's age, but looking at weight charts online, they both seem super tiny. Do they seem small? Is 30% Gamebird Starter still appropriate for the larger one? Is it stunted perhaps?

The high protein feed will not be harmful to the bigger one. I don't weigh my poults so have no clue what the weights should be, Post some photos.

 

[Millie_Hens]

I'm on mobile, so forgive me if this doesn't work...

There's a tape measurer, tennis ball, and a 2 by 4 for scale. I think chickens are much easier to photograph, at least you can 'hypnotize' them to stay still.

 

[Redbrew]

Hi, cute birds! We are first time turkeyers too this year! We have two 8 week old poults, Royal Palm unsexed at this point. From the sizes, I would say the 5 week old one is not too small at all. Ours seemed to have grown substantially in height and length in the last 2-3 weeks. The older bird appears about the same age as mine, maybe a couple weeks older, based on the loss of feathers on the head (ours are just starting to loose some to reveal carbunckles and blueish skin). So I'm thinking your bigger bird is probably about 10 weeks old or so? Totally a guess. ;-)

My oldest bird (6 days older than my other one) weights right under 2 pounds a few days ago. So your older one probably was a tiny bit underweight if he's older than mine, but sounds like he's gaining so he's probably going to fill out for you with the good care. I think the 5 week old one is healthy and will surprise you how quickly he grows in the next month. ;0)

They are hilarous when they strut and spit at this age, they puff up and look like miniature butterballs! (both males and females do it).

First pic is June 17, 5 weeks old.

Second is about 7 weeks old, puffing up. Bantam chick (same age, Cochen/Brahma bantam mix) next to them, large chicken in background (Brahma and 1 year old Jersey Giant).

This is yesterday outside...all of sudden in the last week or so .... height and length.

This is today, 8 weeks old. Tape is on the floor, they are in a wire crate on hay, so shave off an inch for actual measurement. The two pounder is the one in back, standing erect. The one in front is about 6 days younger and isn't standing up straight.

 

[Redbrew]

Your older one actually looks more downy than mine, maybe he's not older than 8 weeks?

 

[Millie_Hens]

Hi, cute birds! We are first time turkeyers too this year! We have two 8 week old poults, Royal Palm unsexed at this point. From the sizes, I would say the 5 week old one is not too small at all. Ours seemed to have grown substantially in height and length in the last 2-3 weeks. The older bird appears about the same age as mine, maybe a couple weeks older, based on the loss of feathers on the head (ours are just starting to loose some to reveal carbunckles and blueish skin). So I'm thinking your bigger bird is probably about 10 weeks old or so? Totally a guess. ;-)

My oldest bird (6 days older than my other one) weights right under 2 pounds a few days ago. So your older one probably was a tiny bit underweight if he's older than mine, but sounds like he's gaining so he's probably going to fill out for you with the good care. I think the 5 week old one is healthy and will surprise you how quickly he grows in the next month. ;0)

They are hilarous when they strut and spit at this age, they puff up and look like miniature butterballs! (both males and females do it).

First pic is June 17, 5 weeks old.
View attachment 2235662

Second is about 7 weeks old, puffing up. Bantam chick (same age, Cochen/Brahma bantam mix) next to them, large chicken in background (Brahma and 1 year old Jersey Giant).
View attachment 2235669

This is yesterday outside...all of sudden in the last week or so .... height and length.
View attachment 2235685

This is today, 8 weeks old. Tape is on the floor, they are in a wire crate on hay, so shave off an inch for actual measurement. The two pounder is the one in back, standing erect. The one in front is about 6 days younger and isn't standing up straight.

View attachment 2235672

Thanks so much for your reply (and also to R2elk for being so helpful and active in the turkey forum)!

The older one is actually getting pretty bald and seems to be growing super fast. She feels a little "fat" along the keel bone (not soft fat, and not fat feeling around the thigh/tail area, just really meaty in the breast) and is deceptively heavy to pick up. I will try to weigh both again tonight and report back.

Mine haven't started displaying or puffing up, but I think mine might both be girls. The bigger one is an expert bug hunter, the younger one prefers crumbles (neither of them like live meal worms -- crazy birds). I've really been enjoying them though, so if they are female, I'll probably just keep them for eggs and try to hatch next year's Thanksgiving dinner from one.

 

[Millie_Hens]

Your older one actually looks more downy than mine, maybe he's not older than 8 weeks?

I think the younger one was a tad smaller at 5 weeks than the older one was when I got it. The older one was definitely a little more fully feathered too. So, I would assume the bigger one is somewhere around 9 weeks old now. But, there's no telling how the older one might have been cared for before I got it (so, it could be small for it's age). I really have no idea where it could have come from either -- my friend was in a pretty urban area (no farms and poultry are illegal there).

She does look especially downy on one side in the pictures; I had tried to re-home her, but the people were afraid she would fly away and so they clipped her wing.

 

[Millie_Hens]

For science, the older one is now 2lbs 11.2 oz, while the smaller one is 12.3 oz.

 

[Millie_Hens]

Just in case someone has a similar question to mine and comes across this thread in the future, the larger one is now 3lbs 4oz and the smaller is 1lb 2.3oz. I'm thinking I will create a new thread with the weight data on a chart.

 

[R2elk]

Just in case someone has a similar question to mine and comes across this thread in the future, the larger one is now 3lbs 4oz and the smaller is 1lb 2.3oz. I'm thinking I will create a new thread with the weight data on a chart.

I would recommend to just keep adding the information here.