I'm hoping new life will help get over loss

[tracylo09]

I'm sorry you've been going through all this. I haven't found turkeys to be particularily difficult or suicidal, just requiring a different approach and a bit more high maintenance than chickens.

A few things I've found:

Turkey incubation is a bit more tricky than chickens. I have noticed that they don't do well with really high humidity during lockdown. Usually I try to keep it down to 45 to 50 degrees instead of all the way up to 60 or 70 that chickens like.

Turkey poults are kind of dumb. Your best bet for their health is to put a chicken baby in there with them after they hatch. Chicks can catch on to food and water quickly, and your poults will see them and go 'oh gee, that looks like a good idea!'. Easy and no fuss. I've actually ended up with a couple of chickens who absolutely think they're turkeys because they were raised with them, it's pretty funny.

Turkeys LOVE to roost up high and out of the coop at night. Don't let them. Predators love that turkeys love to do this. I've had go out in the evenings and haul turkeys into coops if they are free-ranging on occasion. It's kind of annoying but worth it. It's much easier if you just keep them in an enclosure where the coop is their best night option.

Come spring, hunt down turkey nests (if they're not in enclosures), and mark them with a stick with a flag on it nearby. That way nobody accidentally steps on them or crushes them. Plus you can easily pirate the nests for eggs to incubate.

Hope that helps a bit!

Thank you very much & thank you for the hatching tips. I really can't wait to hatch my own now, I know they won't replace Clyde and I'll always be worried about it happening again but I also want to enjoy watching the new turkeys .