I've learned something.

[Damummis]

Thru the death of one of my poult yesterday I have learned something. Actually I have learned a couple things. These observations could be mentioned on this forum, and I probably should have done more research on turkeys before jumping in feet first.

1. Wood shavings confuse the heck out of them.
2. They are more inclined to eat if you scatter some of the food around the feeder. It seems that they are always looking down.
3. Even though the water is the same shape and color as the feeder, they don't figure out the feeder has food as fast as the waterer hold water.
4. Newspaper confuses the heck out of them too. I replaced the newspaper with paper bags and they instantly found the food I has scattered. It was almost like they couldn't tell the difference between the print and food.

I think I will add to this as I make more observations.

 

[HEChicken]

I've never kept turkeys but with chicks I usually put paper towel down over the pine shavings for the first 48 hours until they have learned where the feeder is. In those first couple of days they will try anything in case it is food, and eat too many pine shavings. Once they've figured out where the food is, I can remove the paper towels and they no longer try to eat them. It sounds like the same thing would work for poults.

 

[PatS]

I've got another one for you -- We have one of those long red plastic trough feeders with the lid containing oval holes that they are supposed to put their heads through. We had the poults almost a week before we could put the lid down and they would know to stick their heads in the holes to get to the food.

Lid up -- Walk in the food and eat. Yum yum!
Lid down -- Hey where'd the food go?

Ours have been on shavings for a few days now. They still pick at them a little.

 

[Dogfish]

Our 2 poults picked up yesterday went into the brooder with 25 CX, and they caught on quickly. They were much more curious than the X, but they are also a week older than the CX. We have a different feed system than the feed store has, abd I showed them water.

The CX ignore me, but the poults are very interested in me.

 

[CrazyWestTexasFarmGirl]

Want to make it sillier? Hatch and raise a single poult with ducklings....
Its turkey peep changed to a wheep wheep like a duck and it snortles in the water with the ducks. Shrieks for water 2.5 seconds after they get done sloshing all the water out of the waterer like the ducks.... learned to eat FAST with the gobbling puddle bugs....
Does the frantic oh god dont eat me frenzy when you open the top of the brooder... BUT
once you pick it up it will snuggle in yourd hands and go to sleep unlike the ducklings.... they continue shrieking...