How young can poults go to a ground pen?

[longranger]

The thing to keep in mind with 6 week old turkey poults is that they grow fast and are vigorous but have not developed much of their immune system. That means exposure to almost any pathogen can run through your birds like wildfire. At that age chickens are much tougher. Everyone should do what works for them but be aware of the risks they are taking.

 

[aussieheelr]

Quote:
Now that's a polite way to say it. Thank you Longranger

Glad I read this thread. We're getting poults in June

and the last time I had some was middle school (wow time flys).

I
Best to wait the extra 3 weeks to get to 9 total for the bird's safty. Nothing could be worse then something dying due to my hastyness. I think that the individual set up may have some difference.
What kind of set up do you have?

 

[longranger]

I brood in the garage in 2x4' and 4x4' brooders from 16 to 20" high. Any time of the year except summer they stay in the brooders until 8 weeks. During the warmest months it is reduced to 6 weeks. They then go to a tractor type coop on cement with shavings. One side has an enclosure with roost. That side gets a heat lamp for 2 to 4 weeks depending on the age at which they first go out and weather. After that it is on to standard coops with chain link runs. Everything is completely enclosed to protect the birds from predators, particularly my own dogs. I try to give the coops and runs at least a month unoccupied and clean to let any pathogens dissipate before the new poults are put in. Probably reasonable for MG and other fragile organisms but totally ineffective for most parasites like worms. Fortunately I have had no problems except for light infestations with worms and that has been limited to the coop with my laying chickens.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I put mine on the ground at six weeks, but it largely depends on what the weather is like. Cold and damp I'll wait longer. Hot and dry they go out sooner. I have some hatched April 20th that I'd have put out a week ago but for the fact that I don't have a pen available yet.

 

[ziggywiggy]

Mine were hatched on the ground. What can I say?

 

[pdpatch]

There is a number of factors that need to be considered when to let Turkey poults safely out on the ground. The 8 to 9 weeks rule works the best if you don't want to experiment and or take chances. This is because the poult immunity system is not considered to be fully developed until that time, also the poult need to be adjust to the normal temperature at the time they are let out.

The temperature should be reduce 5 degrees per week stating from about 97 degrees this is especially true if they were hatched in a incubator. Which is kind of hard if you don't have a hen taking care of them.

A wet poult usually equals a dead poult , so in wet climates you have to keep them dry and warm.

What potential diseases could be present. Wet ground naturally has more, some can take up to 5 years to go away, others never do.

There are a number of other reason not to risk placing the on the ground or exposing them.

It all depends what you choose to do and how many you may potentially loos.

It like waring a seat belt, you may never need it so why have it on it. But then again you might.

 

[Oklahoma Lightning]

I just decided not to rush it. I did some moving around and booted some chicken out of another brooder to move turkeys in.
We had 30 hatch last week and my husband thought he got rocks all around the water jar but didn't and 10 got wet and like you said wet babies are dead babies.

 

[Oklahoma Lightning]

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I do commercial Free range turkeys for Thanksgiving and yes I raise 60 last year and am raising 100 this year. They did good but run into problems with processors. Thank goodness we got one local now,USDA so can ship out of ship too. I also got hooked up with a COOP which will help.

Day old poults are selling for anywhere from 8 to 14 dollars here for the heritage turkeys.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

I wouldnt either, I brood mine til about 12-16 weeks minimum reguardless of weather, like they were saying if you let one get sick, they start dropping like flies on you, and mine are all expensive wild strains, so better safe than sorry in my book too.

 

[cheeps]

Granted, I just have two poults, but my rule of thumb is better safe than sorry. Nothing good has ever come from me rushing babies outside. Every time I go against my better judgment and put babies outside early something bad happens. I've got a lot of time, energy, and money invested in these little dudes. My poults are staying in the house till 8 or 9 weeks. IMHO.