Poults dying, looking for help

[happyfast79]

Ordered 15 bourbon red poults from welp hatchery and after them showing up 3 days later with one dead and 2 very weak, 2 days later we are down to 6 left alive. I’m looking for what I’m doing wrong.

Brooder is at 100 degrees, with no drafts.
Water is changed daily with room temp water
Feed is purina startina %30 game bird starter.
Bedding is kept decently clean, started with wood chips and then went through and sanitized everything and switched to towels thinking maybe they were eating the wood chips.

These are our first turkeys and it’s getting depressing.... any idea what I’m doing wrong?

 

[R2elk]

Put them in a kiddie pool full of wood chips and so far the 6 that are left seem to be doing well

If you have them on wood chips, make sure they have the appropriate size grit available.

 

[happyfast79]

Brooder temp is too hot for one thing. I start mine at 90°F measured at the bedding level. Some people use 95°F to start with. Entire brooder should not be the same temperature. They need a warm zone and cool zone. I keep the water and food in the cool zone.

If the brooder temperature is being measured as an air temperature, the bedding temperature will be much hotter.

It is possible that there are other issues.

I went and raised the heat lamp a inch to see if that help. Is see your in Wyoming. I’m in the northeast part of the state

 

[happyfast79]

You are welcome to join us in the Wyoming Unite!!!! thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wyoming-unite.699789/page-277

How is your brooder ventilation. Are the poults eating and drinking?

Ok thanks. Yes they are eating and drinking well. .there in a high wall tote, so ventilation isn’t great

 

[R2elk]

Totes can sometimes give off noxious fumes. That and they certainly limit the available space. I brood all of my chicks, keets and poults in a 4' x 4' brooder with sand as bedding. I use sand for bedding because I live on a sand dune and can dig it up for free.

 

[R2elk]

If they can get away from the heat will they still cook themselves?

Sometimes. I have seen them lay down where it was too warm and never get up again.

It's really difficult to have much temperature difference in a tote.

In my brooder it starts at 90°F under the GQF brooder heater. The main part of the brooder is unheated and may vary from mid 80s to low 70s.

 

[SarahGfa]

If they can get away from the heat will they still cook themselves?

From your picture it looks like it would be hard to really get away from the heat. Plastic totes tend to overheat

 

[happyfast79]

Put them in a kiddie pool full of wood chips and so far the 6 that are left seem to be doing well

 

[R2elk]

Ordered 15 bourbon red poults from welp hatchery and after them showing up 3 days later with one dead and 2 very weak, 2 days later we are down to 6 left alive. I’m looking for what I’m doing wrong.

Brooder is at 100 degrees, with no drafts.
Water is changed daily with room temp water
Feed is purina startina %30 game bird starter.
Bedding is kept decently clean, started with wood chips and then went through and sanitized everything and switched to towels thinking maybe they were eating the wood chips.

These are our first turkeys and it’s getting depressing.... any idea what I’m doing wrong?

Brooder temp is too hot for one thing. I start mine at 90°F measured at the bedding level. Some people use 95°F to start with. Entire brooder should not be the same temperature. They need a warm zone and cool zone. I keep the water and food in the cool zone.

If the brooder temperature is being measured as an air temperature, the bedding temperature will be much hotter.

It is possible that there are other issues.

 

[happyfast79]

Brooder temp is too hot for one thing. I start mine at 90°F measured at the bedding level. Some people use 95°F to start with. Entire brooder should not be the same temperature. They need a warm zone and cool zone. I keep the water and food in the cool zone.

If the brooder temperature is being measured as an air temperature, the bedding temperature will be much hotter.

It is possible that there are other issues.

That’s bedding temp. They can get away from the lamp by the water. They are running around just fine then come back 2 hours later and find one laying over dead with it’s eyes open