So how did you lose YOUR poults?

[ChickDancer]

I got six Royal Palm hatching eggs from a seller here on BYC and it's my very first time owning turkeys at all. One had a detached air cell, and didn't make it very far into development. No big deal. Another died a few days before it was due. And a third I probably helped out when I shouldn't have and assisted in it's death, or at least sped it up (the blood vessels were quickly disappearing, I helped make an internal pip, but it didn't even last another hour after that).

I've only lost one post-hatch, and it was within the first 24 hours, and very unexplained. He was probably just too weak.

So now I have two.


I have read that turkey eggs are probably as difficult to hatch as anything else, but turkey POULTS are incredibly hard to raise. I've heard everything from they can't figure out what is food or water, to poults drowning themselves by looking up when it rains to figure out what's going on.

So I'm on a bit of a quest to find out everything that others have lost their poults to, so I can prepare for these things. Despite common advice, I do have my two poults in a brooder with two chicks. They were in the same incubator, in the same hatcher, and now in the same brooder - which is brand new and hasn't ever been used by other birds at all. The chicks have found the food and water, and the poults have followed their example, as I've watched them all eat and drink already. So it seems like that issue has been covered.

But what else? Did you all experience diseases from the environment? Did they display symptoms of vitamin deficiency? I did read one post about a shortage of Vitamin D, but most creatures actually get that from sunlight. Starting tomorrow afternoon, I'll probably take these two outside to a small pen in the front yard (all birds stay in the back yard), and let them run around in the grass for a bit, and get some sun.

They're on Dumor chick starter right now with 24% protein. But I also have a strong mealworm farm, and plan to add those to their feed starting tomorrow as well. What about Vitamin B? I know chickens get low on that pretty easily, but what about poults? Are they as vulnerable to Cocci infections as chicks are? I know geese have problems with getting enough Niacin, so what about that?

So... what have you lost poults from, that could have been prevented?

 

[neverbdone]

I lost several last year due to an over heated brooder. I also learned that mine do much better if I put several drops of polyvisol and just a bit of sugar in their gallon waterer the first week. Turkies are fragile their first couple weeks. Welcome to turkies.