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]

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

 

[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

 

[R2elk]

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

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?

 

[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

 

[happyfast79]

 

[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.

 

[happyfast79]

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' x4' brooder with sand as bedding. I use sand for bedding because I live on a sand dune and can dig it up for free.

We brooded out chickens In the same tote last month

 

[R2elk]

We brooded out chickens In the same tote last month

Chicks don't need as much room and seem to be less susceptible to things that may bother poults.

I don't know why your poults are dying but I do know that they can do fine at a lower brooder temperature. Before I started monitoring the bedding temperature, I did cook some poults by overheating them.