Natural Poults: On the range or in the brooder

[Lagerdogger]

Just polling the folks who raise free ranging natural breeding turkeys: Do you let the mother raise the poults on the range, or do you take them in and put them in a brooder for the first few weeks?

 

[Dogfish]

Never done it, but I would think mom would do a great job, take over only if she has issues.

 

[Frosty]

I only had one clutch hatch out and I let mom raise them. Cute seeing them perched up in a tree under mom's wings... I didn't lock them up until fall, after the first snow an owl started picking turkeys out of the trees. The turkeys that it got were wild, not mine but I took the hint.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Turkey eggs are worth to much to waste I would incubate and brood until you had enough then let the hen try and raise them it doesn't always work out like you think

 

[Tunastopper]

I have lost a lot of hens letting them raise their own. When something attacks they try to protect there poults instead of flying away. I hatch and brood the turkeys.

 

[ziggywiggy]

First off, some hens make better mothers than others and you never know how they will do until they do it. When you find a good hen and she hatches, you have to move her to a brood pen or you will lose poults. Everything wants to kill the little guys-chickens, other turkeys, cats, crows..... . I build nest boxes in safe areas like where they roost which is closed off to preditors.
I leave mine in the brood pen for about two weeks and then I start letting them out for an hour or so a day. This is mainly for the hen rather than the poults. As time goes on you can start letting them out more and more often. I have a batch now about ten weeks and they stay out all day but, they don't travel far from the brood pen where their water and food is kept. At night they get locked up. By the way, the hen is setting on six more eggs in the brood pen.