Please help me!

[bigbird]

The label on the Turkey/Gamebird starter bag usually recommends feeding it for 6 weeks although some recommend 8 weeks. The next step is turkey/gamebird grower which is typically 24% protein and is recommended until they are 4 to 6 months old.

A quality all flock or chicken feed of 16% protein feed is fine for adults.

I normally feed the turkey/gamebird starter for the first two to four weeks and then switch to grower for 2 to 4 weeks. I am not consistent because late in the season, they will often get the starter for a longer period of time as I feed it until the 50 lb. sack is empty.

Thank you so very much.

 

[peacockfarmer]

Thank you! I will go to the store and get what you recommend. How much bigger of an enclosure do I need, and any brand of cat food? I’m assuming red/green leaf lettuce or romaine would be good?

thin leafy GREEN lettuce is better than thick clear stalks. cut it as thin as you can thinner than grass then cross cut it twice. Any quality cat food like purina look for 33%protein grind it a long time in small batches in a blender on HIGH. the chick starter must be TURKEY OR GAMEBIRD chick starter 28% protein but it is actually too big for real young babies and I grind that too and mix them 50/50 I have done this for 13 years to start babies who have no mother to show them how to peck. get a box or a cage about 24x30 one end is hot and one end is cold with food

 

[R2elk]

thin leafy GREEN lettuce is better than thick clear stalks. cut it as thin as you can thinner than grass then cross cut it twice. Any quality cat food like purina look for 33%protein grind it a long time in small batches in a blender on HIGH. the chick starter must be TURKEY OR GAMEBIRD chick starter 28% protein but it is actually too big for real young babies and I grind that too and mix them 50/50 I have done this for 13 years to start babies who have no mother to show them how to peck. get a box or a cage about 24x30 one end is hot and one end is cold with food

I have been raising turkeys for thirty years and what you are suggesting is not necessary. If a person is feeding a quality 28% to 30% turkey or gamebird starter, it will have all the necessities in the proper proportion. By doctoring the feed, you are messing with those proper proportions. It isn't all about the protein but is also about the proper amounts of lysine, methionine and niacin. A good turkey starter is not too big for poults. It is made in slightly larger particles than the turkey grower to help get the poults picking it up. I have no problem getting poults started eating or drinking without a hen to teach them or messing with their proper turkey starter.

You are right about the brooder needing to have different temperatures for the poults to freely move into or out of the heat.

 

[peacockfarmer]

A quality turkey/gamebird starter (28% to 30% protein) has the correct balance of protein and nutrients. When you alter it by adding things that may or may not have the same ingredients you are not doing a good thing. It isn't all about the protein content but is also about the proper levels of lysine, methionine and niacin.

I don't know what the levels are in the cat food that you use and seriously doubt that those levels are the same in all cat feed, so I personally would not follow your recommendations.

Carve your first sentence in stone for the new turkey owners! NOW go in any feed store and tell them you want the 28% Turkey Starter or the 30% Game Bird Starter. In most towns Like Renton Washington or Pueblo Colorado where I have lived you get: Uuuuuh we don't stock that or We are Out. Then what do you do? None of the feed stores carry it anymore. You can special order. Or you can take the best thing they got and mix ground up cat food which is always 33% protein and mix them 50/50
My peacocks which I have raised for 38 YEARS Now eat CAT FOOD right out of the bag and they love it. The peacock is often called the "meat eating bird" and my peafowl eat wet cat food out of the can,

View attachment 1342029 View attachment 1342029 they wolf it down.

I have been raising turkeys for thirty years and what you are suggesting is not necessary. If a person is feeding a quality 28% to 30% turkey or gamebird starter, it will have all the necessities in the proper proportion. By doctoring the feed, you are messing with those proper proportions. It isn't all about the protein but is also about the proper amounts of lysine, methionine and niacin. A good turkey starter is not too big for poults. It is made in slightly larger particles than the turkey grower to help get the poults picking it up. I have no problem getting poults started eating or drinking without a hen to teach them or messing with their proper turkey starter.

You are right about the brooder needing to have different temperatures for the poults to freely move into or out of the heat.

Dude we are on the same page. Tell me where you would buy this perfect 28% Turkey starter if you needed a bag right now? I just called Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply in Casper Wyoming AND THIS IS JUST CLASSIC! ZERO Turkey Starter OK do you get it? They have "All Stock Starter" and the Protein content???? 12% TELL me where you could buy the correct food if you needed it and then tell me what you would do if there was none to be had? You know most of these people DO NOT LIVE IN WYOMING LOL. They live in places where the feed storres are almost GONE. I only do this for birds 3 weeks and younger and I only do it if I CANNOT FIND THE 28% STARTER DO YOU GET THAT?

Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply in Casper Wyoming.

 

[featherhead007]

Confused rooster: "that's not a hen?"

 

[R2elk]

Tell me where you would buy this perfect 28% Turkey starter if you needed a bag right now? I just called Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply in Casper Wyoming AND THIS IS JUST CLASSIC! ZERO Turkey Starter OK do you get it? They have "All Stock Starter" and the Protein content???? 12% TELL me where you could buy the correct food if you needed it and then tell me what you would do if there was none to be had?

In Casper, WY 28% protein Turkey or Gamebird Starter is currently available at Sutherlands. It is available there because I requested they carry it after the local feed store that I used closed so the owner could retire.

Murdochs like Tractor Supply and most chain feed stores do not carry proper feed for turkey poults, guinea keets, pea chicks or any gamebirds. The reason they don't carry it is because their managements aren't concerned about the welfare of anyone's poultry but only about their profit margins. The chain stores rarely have anyone who is competent to answer questions about poultry and the employees typically just reiterate the information that the companies tell them.

In my case if I had not found anyone willing to carry the proper feed, I was willing to become a feed store myself. There is always a market for proper feed whether the chain stores think so or not.

 

[peacockfarmer]

In Casper, WY 28% protein Turkey or Gamebird Starter is currently available at Sutherlands. It is available there because I requested they carry it after the local feed store that I used closed so the owner could retire.

Murdochs like Tractor Supply and most chain feed stores do not carry proper feed for turkey poults, guinea keets, pea chicks or any gamebirds. The reason they don't carry it is because their managements aren't concerned about the welfare of anyone's poultry but only about their profit margins. The chain stores rarely have anyone who is competent to answer questions about poultry and the employees typically just reiterate the information that the companies tell them.

In my case if I had not found anyone willing to carry the proper feed, I was willing to become a feed store myself. There is always a market for proper feed whether the chain stores think so or not.

The only real feed store in Pueblo sells dog food and cat food to stay afloat, no cracked corn, no turkey starter, no turkey grower. You are not alone. This happened all over the USA. Most feed stores are completely gone. This is a big problem for people who raise upland game birds like turkeys and peafowl . Using the 12% protein products you find at Walmart and ranch supply stores is NOT an option for raising turkeys. You know that and I know that. People should find a good feed store before they buy turkey poults.

 

[fairie]

Hi, I think you/they need more space. We had a space that was 3x3 with a lamp in one corner and the floor was covered in bedding which was all wood (rabbit bedding) the sides were about 1 foot tall.

The first day when they were fresh/tiny I put them in a cardboard box with newspaper as the bedding just so their feet dont slip. But I watched them all day long to make sure they were not too hot. Once they could walk we moved them out in the open. The chicks all piled together to sleep on top of each other. Or they would make little nests in the bedding. I put a marble in the water and dip their beaks often. I used a pie pan filled with Turkey Chick Starter.

Issues are they need to get away from the heat cool down and then go back to it. Sometimes I saw them panting and looking distressed and moved them a bit away from the heat. But they went back. As long as you have a thermometer so you know there is 1 spot with the right temperature they will regulate themselves.

After 1 or 2 days they figured out the water on their own. But you have to watch them at the beginning. We took our chicks away from their mom trained them to eat and drink then gave them back to her. At first, we even put a Chicken Chick in with them. But the chick was so stressed with these giant babies we gave it back to it's mom.

Hope you have more success. It can be a hard learning experience. In the end we gave up our incubator. I am a firm believerr that babies need moms. But even with moms, there are challanges.