losing poults

[spish]

i had 18 poults hatch a few days ago and was over the moon! i have them under a heat lamp with fresh water and turkey poult food (from versele-laga- 28% protein)

anyhow yesterday the first one died, then another last night and another this afternoon. im not sure whats happeneing. they look fine then a few hours later they seem sluggish then dead within an hour.


they have space to move away from the heat lamp, they are free from drafts, clean food water and bottoms. they are still on newspaper/kitchen roll so it cant be from eating the sawdust (ive had a search on here and found they can die from eating that..wow!)



any ideas what i could be doing wrong? or are poults just that bit more fragile than chicken chicks?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Have you seen the poults actually eating and/or drinking?

Poults don't always automatically start eating and drinking. You may have to teach them. When I hatch turkeys I dip each and everyone's beaks in their water (just their beaks, not their whole heads) then set them down on top of their food. So long as a few of them figure it out they'll teach the rest, but occasionally I may have to dip their beaks then set them down on their feed two or three times.

If they are eating and drinking how fresh is their feed? There should be a date somewhere on the bag. Make sure that it's not more than three months or so old and that it isn't clumpy, webby, or damp. You say it's 28% turkey starter so the feed composition itself should be OK.

 

[spish]

hi, thanks for the reply. i showed them all (by the beak dipping method) where there food and water was when i moved them from the incubator to brooder, and again the next day. the feed was bought two weeks ago (25kg bag) the date on the bag (use by date) is october 2012.

 

[Frosty]

I also put the feed on an egg flat for the first few days. I fill the cups up and they can peck around at it. Are they warm enough in there? I don't use a thermometer, I just watch them. They should be nicely scatterd in there, not huddled under the lamp or all staying at the outer edges.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I agree with A.T and Frosty. Same questions here.