poult dehydration

95yj

Songster
10 Years
Nov 25, 2009
702
13
131
Central Vermont
this is my first time raising turkeys, i have quite a bit of experience with raising chickens quail and pheasants though. Anyway, i picked up 3 1 day old poults yestrerday with a chick order, the brooder was all set up before i got them home, the temp was fine and i dipped all there beaks in the water when i put them in the brooder. Last night i noticed that one of the poults wasn't moving as much as the other two, this morning when i went to check on them the poult (i'm assuming it was the same one) wouldn't get up, eventually i prodded him and he took two steps and then lay back down. I re-dipped the beak in the water but had to go to work, my boss didn't accept "i have to watch my baby turkeys" as a reasonable excuse... My parents found the poult dead sometime this afternoon. Is it possible that it just never drank, i've heard that turkeys are a PITA when they're young, but could it seriously not find the waterer in a 1.5x1.5 box? Does this happen? I only have two left, which is problematic since they're gonna be thanksgiving dinner and any more losses would be a huge issue... thanks
 
That just happens sometimes. If yoou picked them up frome somebody local that hatched them is different than picking them up at a feedstore or TSC that had them shipped from a hatchery. Poults don't handle the shipping as well as the chicks do. It stresses them pretty bad. If they are in with chicks then they will learn to eat and drink from the chicks. Im sure you have a heat lamp on them 24/7 right? Make sure they are not too hot or cold. Their temp should be kept 99 degs or so right now. It also helps to put some apple cider vinigar in their water. I add ACE and poultry vits to all my babbies water. On the ACV, about 1 tsp per Qt. I do this for the first week.
 
i got them from a feed store, couldn't find anyone local, everything i've read and heard says they're pretty sensitive and i'm used to indestructable quail chicks. The other two seem to be doing fine and are eating well so hopefully it was just a single weak/stupid/stressed poult. thanks
 
I lost several poults last year from eggs I incubated from my own turkeys (2 or 3 separate groups). I am convinced that they dehydrated and died soon after because each time I lost them it was within hours of changing their brooder set ups where the location of the waterer was the only consistent change.

This year I will be much more careful when I change/upsize brooders. I plan to to be close by for several hours to make sure that they know where the water is and that they are drinking.

It has been my experience that poults are much higher maintenance than chicks or ducklings.
 
Poults are not that hard. They are a bit more fragile but keep them warm, dry and clean food and water. I alwyas hatch chicks or keets with them to teach them to eat and drink. I also have 2 grow out pens with an auto water system so they drink from chicken nipples. I keep an old hen in each pen so when a new group of turkeys move in, she shows them how to drink.
 
got three more to replace the one i lost, and one of the new ones is doing the exact same thing, i'm force feeding it electrolite/sugar water every 1/2 hour but i don't know what else i can do, they seem to just slowly fall over and die...
 
i tried putting some of the cornish in with them but the poults were beating the crap out of them and i had to pull them out. the second sick looking chick died... I put shiny tin foil balls in the water and redipped all their beaks, at this point i don't think theres anything more i can do so i'm just gonna let them be and hope for the best, is it probable that their dying from dehydration cause they aren't finding the waterer or is it something else. I know theres a ton of lurking variables, so i guess my question is, do poults often die in this way? sorry my questions are all over the place, but i've had like 3 liters of mountain dew tonight while trying to do homework and keep my birds alive, and my brain feels a little like charlie sheen after a long interview... thanks
 
I do like to raise guineas with my poults. They have the same feed requirements, same incubation and are quick and tough. If you don't want guineas, then sell them when the turkeys are a few weeks old. Try to get a couple keets next time you get poults but it could just be shipping stress.
 
They are starving out by the sounds of it. Once they get to far gone it's very hard to bring them back. One trick to get them eating is hard boil a couple eggs and feed them the yoke. I don't know if the yellow catches their eye or what but they usually go right after that. Sprinkle some on their feed and as they peck at the yoke they will also be getting feed. The yoke is high in protien but you don't want to give to much. They will just eat that and no feed - you want them to eat both then as they get older/stronger wean them off the egg yoke.

Steve
 

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