**~~>>Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon<<~~**all poultry welcome!

[cuppycake]

Quick question. I keep reading/hearing you should have some chicks with new poults to teach them how to eat and drink. Since I'm expecting chicks for Easter do you think they'll be too old to put the May poults in with? Or should I just plan on setting a couple of chicken eggs a week after the turkeys just in case? I feel like I have plenty of chickens right now so I don't really want to do that, but I will if I have to.

 

[mlm Mike]

Quick question. I keep reading/hearing you should have some chicks with new poults to teach them how to eat and drink. Since I'm expecting chicks for Easter do you think they'll be too old to put the May poults in with? Or should I just plan on setting a couple of chicken eggs a week after the turkeys just in case? I feel like I have plenty of chickens right now so I don't really want to do that, but I will if I have to.

I'm sorry, I don't know what that means.

The Easter Hatch chicks will be to old, I just hatch a couple of my own chicken eggs,set a week after the turkey eggs. I might get kicked out for this, but it is possible to hatch poults without tutors. Just make sure they are all eating and drinking.

 

[yinepu]

Quick question. I keep reading/hearing you should have some chicks with new poults to teach them how to eat and drink. Since I'm expecting chicks for Easter do you think they'll be too old to put the May poults in with? Or should I just plan on setting a couple of chicken eggs a week after the turkeys just in case? I feel like I have plenty of chickens right now so I don't really want to do that, but I will if I have to.

you don't HAVE to have turkey tutors

You can add a few marbles to the feed and water (they like to peck at shiny things) or you can add a bit of chopped greens to the food and water


the main thing is to make sure they figure out what food and water is.. yes you can use chicks.. but you don't HAVE to

I think the older chicks would peck at the poults too much.. so if you feel better having chicks in with them .. then plan for them to hatch at the same time

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
yup.. exactly.. they don't NEED tutors

the turkey breeders/hatcheries don't add chicks to the poults brooders when they save back poults to keep especially if they are specializing in just turkeys

 

[Jessshan8]

Quick question. I keep reading/hearing you should have some chicks with new poults to teach them how to eat and drink. Since I'm expecting chicks for Easter do you think they'll be too old to put the May poults in with? Or should I just plan on setting a couple of chicken eggs a week after the turkeys just in case? I feel like I have plenty of chickens right now so I don't really want to do that, but I will if I have to.

You do not have to but I definitely would not mix day old poults with month old chicks....Bad ju-ju there...... It is preferred to have a couple chicks with the poults to teach them how and where to eat and drink but not absolutely necessary. You will just have to be a little more attentive with them. Like tipping their beaks in the water dish and such. Ensure you use a shallow chick waterer as they will drown themselves.

 

[cuppycake]

Thanks everyone. I will probably put some chicken eggs in then. I just might end up with so many chickens that the turkeys are given a "freezer's full" pardon at thanksgiving

 

[Wisher1000]

I feel like I have plenty of chickens right now so I don't really want to do that, but I will if I have to.

..... it is possible to hatch poults without tutors. Just make sure they are all eating and drinking.

you don't HAVE to have turkey tutors

you can use chicks.. but you don't HAVE to

You do not have to but ...... It is preferred to have a couple chicks with the poults to teach them how and where to eat and drink but not absolutely necessary. You will just have to be a little more attentive with them. Like tipping their beaks in the water dish and such. Ensure you use a shallow chick waterer as they will drown themselves.

I don't know why you all are saying such awful things!

You HAVE to have turkey tutors! It's a rule (it may be a law) passed down through all the years of past Cinco de Mayo hatches. As a matter of fact, there have been wise hatchers from the ancient times, earliest of the CDM hatches, who only hatched tutors, feeling that they were just as important to the experience as the poults, themselves. Do not forsake the setting of the tutors, it may result in that bad ju-ju that Jess made reference to.

Respect the tutors, revere the tutors, set the tutors.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

you don't HAVE to have turkey tutors

you can use chicks.. but you don't HAVE to

 

[gryeyes]

As a Charter Member of the Ancient Order of CDM hatchers I am considering another injection of Trader Joe's brand of tutors into my flock. My Josie is two years old now and laying like a trooper.

Whoa... I have known a whole lot of Troopers in my long, pre-retirement career and very few of them were good layers. All, however, had the "tutoring gene."

Sorry, random strange thought again. Must need more coffee.

 

[dsqard]

I don't know why you all are saying such awful things!

You HAVE to have turkey tutors! It's a rule (it may be a law) passed down through all the years of past Cinco de Mayo hatches. As a matter of fact, there have been wise hatchers from the ancient times, earliest of the CDM hatches, who only hatched tutors, feeling that they were just as important to the experience as the poults, themselves. Do not forsake the setting of the tutors, it may result in that bad ju-ju that Jess made reference to.

Respect the tutors, revere the tutors, set the tutors.

Wisher it's like you were reading my mind!