How Do I Introduce Poult to Free Range?

[beanmcnulty]

OK so my master plan did not work well, I have one poult that is 6 weeks and i would love to get her/him out of the dog crate and into the great outdoors. I have a flock of 8 week old chicks that i was going to try and keep her with. They are in a large tractor (8x15) and have been going out free range outings themselves just fine. I was going to put her in the tractor with door closed for a few days so she gets used to it with a high roost to escape to. Well i put her in there and the chicks pick on her and she hides in the corner where they cant get at her. So she is back in the cage. I am at a loss- i dont know if i have time to build something just for her and the other turkeys i hope to raise in the future. I am pretty sure i cant just let her out and expect that she will go back in to a shelter she has had nothing to do with. I also have a stationary coop that has POL pullets and one cockerel maybe they wont pick on her as much? Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Lagerdogger]

Sounds like you need more turkeys

 

[trailchick]

I would try to put her in the stationary coop & see how they all get along.
The other alternative would be to just free range her (you have some already free ranging?) with others.
Good luck

 

[beanmcnulty]

Quote:
I have some hatching in a few days I have not had good luck with poults- had 3 a few weeks back but they died and the hatchmates of the one i have, only one of the 4 hatched. I have 2 embryos that i expect will hatch in 2 days from a new batch of eggs but they will be 6 weeks behind my lonely girl (?)

 

[beanmcnulty]

Quote:
I was thinking of putting her in the stationary coops run by herself so she can get some fresh air and putting her back in her cage in evening. Maybe that would be enough "practice" to keep her from flying away, which is my fear if i just let her free range directly out of the cage shes been in her poulthood.

 

[chicmom]

Oh, that's a tough one......I bought my first two turkey poults, and the breeder recommended that I get a few chicks to raise them up with, so that's what I did.

I was thinking maybe you could get another turkey, but I see that you're already hatching some......My idea would be to allow her to free range with the other birds you have, and then after they're used to seeing eachother, then you could put them together.

Good luck!

Sharon

 

[beanmcnulty]

Quote:
So "she" (I think its a she) would stay with the chick flock free range even if they have picked on her before? I have had one of the chicks in her cage for company for the better part of her being in there and there were no issues there. Poor thing she is so sweet. The chicks are just loud and mean!

 

[boykin2010]

I think a lot of this depends on the breed of turkey. Is it a domestic or wild breed? The wild breeds may not stick around with your chickens like a domestic will. I have 2 wild turkey poults in a chicken tractor and i plan on keeping them there until they are about 4 or 5 months old. That way they are plenty big enough to free range without having to worry about chicken hawks and stuff. I am feeling pretty confident that they will stick around when i let them out. I go out there every day to feed them and they run up to the door to get the food out of my bucket. I can actually pet one of them, which that is pretty uncommon for wild breeds.
Also, it is really hard to tell the gender of a turkey until they are at least 4 months old. Once they are that age you can look at the breast feathers. Females will have a blonde stripe on the breast feathers while males with be black. This is at least what people use on turkeys that are the natural coloring.

 

[beanmcnulty]

Quote:
It is a BR poult, I just say she because the knob on her head has not gotten any bigger yet!

 

[beanmcnulty]

Just a quick update- the poult is doing fine free-ranging! No one is picking on her especially bad but she seems a bit confused as to where to go at dusk- but I grab her and put her in her crate for the night.