"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[kuntrygirl]

I'm not sure Chris! The only thing that has happened around the same time is that it rained!!

Let me know if you find something out! I have Gracie bringing me 3 of hers on Sunday!

Chris

The rain can kill them because they get wet and die. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO important that a poult stays dry at all times until they are older.

 

[Chris Herzog]

The rain can kill them because they get wet and die. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO important that a poult stays dry at all times until they are older.

How old is older?

I normally keep chicks in the brooder until they are feathered out completely then I move them into one of the stalls in the barn that is devided up into three sections. At that point I start culling down to about 8 birds and within a month or so I move them into a section of the main coop until they are old enough to go into the big coop with all the other birds. With the Turkeys, I'll probably just build them a coop for themselves so they will go from the barn to their coop.

So at what age will they be old enough to go into their coop?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Chris Herzog]

How old is older?

I normally keep chicks in the brooder until they are feathered out completely then I move them into one of the stalls in the barn that is devided up into three sections. At that point I start culling down to about 8 birds and within a month or so I move them into a section of the main coop until they are old enough to go into the big coop with all the other birds. With the Turkeys, I'll probably just build them a coop for themselves so they will go from the barn to their coop.

So at what age will they be old enough to go into their coop?

Thanks,
Chris

Julie,
Sorry, I just went and read your other post.....Got it!

Yea, my chickens are about 6-8 weeks old befor they go in the barn. The stall in the barn is filled with shavings over a rubber matt (no dirt) and has 3' high deviders in it. When the birds start to fly over the deviders that's when they go to the pens inside of the coop. I should be ok with the Turkeys!!!!

Thanks for the info,
Chris

 

[NonnasBabies]

Had to share a pic of the tomatoes I picked yesterday evening--Tomande and Purple Cherokee. BLT time!!! I pulled some of them a little greener than I like but the birds are getting to them -- have to go buy some bird netting this morning to put over the plants.

Beautiful tomatos Terri!!

 

[NonnasBabies]

Missi, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost more poults. That has to be frustrating.

As far as my poults, I keep them locked up until they are about 3 months old. I keep them in my enclosed pens. I think you all have seen them before. Pics are below.
A few weeks before I let them free range with the others, I allow them to free range all day on the weekends when I am home, so that I can monitor and supervise their roaming skills and how they get along with the other animals. That gives them the opportunity to walk around and find out what's what and where's everything and the chickens and turkeys teach them the "Rules Of The Yard". They get a chance to interact with the other animals. Upon nightfall, they are herded back into their stalls. I do this a few weekends in a row before giving them 100% full access to the yard. When I let them out for the last time from being confined, they have already learned what they need to learn to survive. So, in the event of bad weather, they already know to go into a coop or the chicken stall. Their learned behavior kicks in and they put themselves up.
As far as me and only me (others have different opinions and do different things), any age less than 3 months for a poult is too young to allow them to roam on their own and expose them to inclement weather. Their bodies aren't ready for it and they stand the possibility of getting wet and dieing. In all of the years that I have raised turkeys, I have not lost any poults to rain or inclement weather by following the same steps that I do every year.
I'm not sure how old your poults are but they may still be too young to have "roaming privileges". They may have to be confined somewhere that is covered until their bodies continue to grow more. A lot of people on the turkey thread have lost mostly all if not all of their poults because they allowed them to roam to soon and they were exposed to bad weather (rain). The poults simply don't know that they should get out of the rain, so they stay and get rained on and die. It's sad but it's true.
I don't know what your set up is and where you have them but you may want to try confining them until they are a bit older. One of the turkey breeders on the turkey thread does not allow his poults to touch ground until they are at least 3 months old. They are off of the ground. Their feet (yes, I said feed) DO NOT have any relationship with dirt. That is how I started mine off as well and I have never had a problem losing any poults. The poults that I have now are in my chicken stalls and they are on sand. They are too young for me to let them out. It will still be a few more weeks before they graduate to their weekend pass. All they can do now is look out at the other animals and hope and wish for the day they can be FREE. Until then, they are on lock down. I hope that this helps Missi. I was hoping that you didn't have to go through this with poults but when you said that you were getting turkey eggs, I just cringed in fear of the outcome.

Because I know from experience how difficult poults are to raise (they are my "problem children") I have to spend more time in making sure they can survive.

How many do you have left? How old are your poults?
I hope the rest survive.
Pics of where the poults live until they are old enough to have full access to the chicken yard.

Thankd for the info Julie. Though they they don't roam free since their in a enclosed pen it is not all covered so they can get into the rain. I'm trying to figure out something today! Their a few days away from being 3 months old!

 

[kuntrygirl]

How old is older?

I normally keep chicks in the brooder until they are feathered out completely then I move them into one of the stalls in the barn that is devided up into three sections. At that point I start culling down to about 8 birds and within a month or so I move them into a section of the main coop until they are old enough to go into the big coop with all the other birds. With the Turkeys, I'll probably just build them a coop for themselves so they will go from the barn to their coop.

So at what age will they be old enough to go into their coop?

Thanks,
Chris

Julie,
Sorry, I just went and read your other post.....Got it!

Yea, my chickens are about 6-8 weeks old befor they go in the barn. The stall in the barn is filled with shavings over a rubber matt (no dirt) and has 3' high deviders in it. When the birds start to fly over the deviders that's when they go to the pens inside of the coop. I should be ok with the Turkeys!!!!

Thanks for the info,
Chris

Great. And everyone will say something different. That just seems to be a "safe" age for me and my crew of birds. Some people may put them out earlier but I'm too scared. And with as many animals as I have, to turn mine out early with the others would be like sending them on a suicide mission. They wouldn't last 8 hours with the other animals. I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[kuntrygirl]

...

Missi, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost more poults. That has to be frustrating.

As far as my poults, I keep them locked up until they are about 3 months old. I keep them in my enclosed pens. I think you all have seen them before. Pics are below.

A few weeks before I let them free range with the others, I allow them to free range all day on the weekends when I am home, so that I can monitor and supervise their roaming skills and how they get along with the other animals. That gives them the opportunity to walk around and find out what's what and where's everything and the chickens and turkeys teach them the "Rules Of The Yard". They get a chance to interact with the other animals. Upon nightfall, they are herded back into their stalls. I do this a few weekends in a row before giving them 100% full access to the yard. When I let them out for the last time from being confined, they have already learned what they need to learn to survive. So, in the event of bad weather, they already know to go into a coop or the chicken stall. Their learned behavior kicks in and they put themselves up.

As far as me and only me (others have different opinions and do different things), any age less than 3 months for a poult is too young to allow them to roam on their own and expose them to inclement weather. Their bodies aren't ready for it and they stand the possibility of getting wet and dieing. In all of the years that I have raised turkeys, I have not lost any poults to rain or inclement weather by following the same steps that I do every year.

I'm not sure how old your poults are but they may still be too young to have "roaming privileges". They may have to be confined somewhere that is covered until their bodies continue to grow more. A lot of people on the turkey thread have lost mostly all if not all of their poults because they allowed them to roam to soon and they were exposed to bad weather (rain). The poults simply don't know that they should get out of the rain, so they stay and get rained on and die. It's sad but it's true.

I don't know what your set up is and where you have them but you may want to try confining them until they are a bit older. One of the turkey breeders on the turkey thread does not allow his poults to touch ground until they are at least 3 months old. They are off of the ground. Their feet (yes, I said feed) DO NOT have any relationship with dirt. That is how I started mine off as well and I have never had a problem losing any poults. The poults that I have now are in my chicken stalls and they are on sand. They are too young for me to let them out. It will still be a few more weeks before they graduate to their weekend pass. All they can do now is look out at the other animals and hope and wish for the day they can be FREE. Until then, they are on lock down. I hope that this helps Missi. I was hoping that you didn't have to go through this with poults but when you said that you were getting turkey eggs, I just cringed in fear of the outcome. Because I know from experience how difficult poults are to raise (they are my "problem children") I have to spend more time in making sure they can survive. :/

How many do you have left? How old are your poults?

I hope the rest survive.


Thankd for the info Julie. Though they they don't roam free since their in a enclosed pen it is not all covered so they can get into the rain. I'm trying to figure out something today! Their a few days away from being 3 months old!

Now I understand. So they just don't know how to get out of the way of the rain. Well, it sounds like you have an easy fix as far as making it totally covered.

How many poults do you have left? I hope they all make it from here on out.

 

[Sprinkles212]

I found duck eggs in Deridder and we had them for breakfast! Yum! The shell is so hard and very soft.

Someone in town mentioned a chicken swap. Is there a chicken swap in Louisiana coming up? I am hoping to find some dark egg layers like Welsummer or FBCM's.

Kuntrygirl, I love your turkey coops/pens!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I found duck eggs in Deridder and we had them for breakfast! Yum! The shell is so hard and very soft.

Someone in town mentioned a chicken swap. Is there a chicken swap in Louisiana coming up? I am hoping to find some dark egg layers like Welsummer or FBCM's.

Kuntrygirl, I love your turkey coops/pens!

Aren't those duck eggs delicious. You have to crack them open with a chisel and hammer.

There is a chicken swap in Opelousas June 3, 9-1 at Tractor Supply.

Thanks. The pens make it sooooooooooo much easier to house them.

 

[Sprinkles212]

Aren't those duck eggs delicious. You have to crack them open with a chisel and hammer.
There is a chicken swap in Opelousas June 3, 9-1 at Tractor Supply.
Thanks. The pens make it sooooooooooo much easier to house them.

It's amazing how hard the duck egg shell is and yet the outside feels silky soft.

Hmmm, do you mean July 3?