We have been breeding and hatching chicks for awhile now and have excellent hatch rates and very rarely do we lose a chick. This year we decided to hatch out ducks and turkeys. As far as hatching we have a 75-85 % hatch rate. We have yet to lose a single duckling "knock on wood" however we lose approx half of the turkey's that hatch. The brooder is 95 deg, they have fresh clean water, for food as we hatch out significantly more chicks the gentleman at the feed store said it was no problem to give turkeys and duck the same medicated chick feed but after a search I am not so sure how true this is. As this is our 3rd batch of poults with a 50% loss I am becoming very concerned as to what is going on. The parents are in excellent health and of good breeding stock and are feed game bird breeder layer. We have a royal palms hen and tom and a eastern wild hen. We lose roughly the same of each. Today the poults are 5 days old and we lost the 4th of the 7 that hatched. Very heart breaking, the birds all seem happy and energetic, then the next morning or after a day at work we come home to a dead poult.
Any help and guidance will be greatly appreciated!
Any help and guidance will be greatly appreciated!