turkey babies! how to get them to eat and drink???

[jj ranch]

just hatched yesterday. they are sooo cute. how do you get them to eat and drink? i think im making a big deal of nothing, but i hear they are well...... dumb

ive heard put a chic with them to "show" them, but is it bad to do that?

 

[walkswithdog]

I just put mine on papertowels with food and showed them the water by dipping their noses just like the chicks.

They did it just like the chicks do. They were a little more clumsy though. A chick the same age that was already started would serve the same purpose. I don't find my poults dumber than the chicks, in fact - other way around AND sweeter, more interactive.

 

[dancingbear]

Poults aren't dumb at all, but they have very poor eyesight when they first hatch. They simply can't find the food because they can't see it. Just like chicks though, they live on the absorbed yolk for about 48 hours. By then, the eyesight is beginning to clear. You can drop the feed in front of them, they'll see the movement as it falls past their face, and hear where it hits the floor of the box. If they're at the stage when they begin to get hungry, they'll peck where they hear it hit. This is what mom turkeys do, they call the babies and drops seeds and goodies in front of them.

The thing about staring up at rain until they drown is a myth, too. What really happens, is that they are chilled, and have an involuntary muscle contraction that pulls the head up like that. It means they're about to die of hypothermia, because we genius humans were too dumb to make sure they stayed warm and dry.

 

[walkswithdog]

And my turkeys get soaking wet in the rain, then go in and dry off. I dunno who had turkeys dying of hypothermia, they were probably also hatchery bred and under feathered or something.

Once they are hungry they'll peck at motion, sound and dark spots on white papertowels.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
I'm talking about when they're young. Haven't you ever heard that one? I'm surprised. I've heard it just about every time the subject of baby turkeys comes up. Somebody always tell how they'll stand out in the rain and stare up at the sky until they drown. Then they tell how they're too dumb to eat and have to be taught. And so on.

I wish I had a buck for every time I've heard that nonsense.

 

[SueNH]

Slower to start than chickens. Little more Dependant on guidance than chicken chicks. Your going to have to show them how if they don't get it in a day or two.

If I hatch turkey eggs I usually throw a few chicken eggs in so the chickens hatch the same time. The poults observe the chickens eating and imitate and suddenly the light goes on.

 

[walkswithdog]

Quote:
I'm talking about when they're young. Haven't you ever heard that one? I'm surprised. I've heard it just about every time the subject of baby turkeys comes up. Somebody always tell how they'll stand out in the rain and stare up at the sky until they drown. Then they tell how they're too dumb to eat and have to be taught. And so on.

I wish I had a buck for every time I've heard that nonsense.

I guess I had heard it years ago and seen it repeated here.

But WOW the things you "hear" from people.

You can tell the chicks sex by egg shape.

A doberman's head will be too small and when it grows it's head will explode.

My black shepherd HAD to be a lab mix - there are no black shepherds (also no sable, self liver, self blue, blue and tan or liver and tan ones - really.)

Dogs don't see colors.

Hybrid vigor.... snicker.

There's so much said by folks who "heard it" from someone else.

I once convinced an idiot that the harlequine dane I was walking was half cow - since Danes don't come that color.

Really old and really common "wisdom" is often just repeated horse dung.

So the turkey thing - I really figured that one was more fertilizer. Chicks, baby ducks and baby turkeys can all become rapidly hypothermic and die if wetted to the skin.

I've seen a chick get rained on in a sudden down pour from across a YARD for pete's sake and had it be hypothermic and drowned before I could get there.

That's not dumb it's FRAGILE.

Working in shelters and with dogs for so long and working with injured, orphaned and dying animals, I just really stopped listening to the fertilizer John Q Public shovelled a very very very long time ago.

I've got more poults hatching as we speak - tappity tappity tap dance ...

 

[dancingbear]

Yes, poults are fragile. Don't expect them to get soaked out in the rain and be just fine, they'll get chilled and die. From hypothermia, not drowning. When they're bigger, and have enough body mass to sustain body heat, they can tolerate getting wet just fine. But not when they're poults. And they need guidance with food and water because their eyesight needs time to develop, not because they're dumb. Sue NH, you're right, chicks do help, because the poults hear the pecking, and they see the motion, which they recognize. Being a person with impaired vision, I understand how this works!

Now, off topic, Walkswithdog, why do people say German Shepherd Dog, not just German Shepherd? They don't say Rottweiler Dog. Or Corgie Dog. Do they think if they don't specify the species, that people will think they're talking about a German Shepherd cat? GS chicken, maybe? When I hear somebody say German Shepherd, I generally think of a dog, not some German guy with a crook out watching over the sheep.

 

[walkswithdog]

Quote:
It's the name of the breed. German Shepherd Dog, Australian Cattle Dog, Dogue de Bordeaux, it's actually quite common for the full name of the breed to contain the word dog around the world.

ACD is what some people still call Heelers, Queensland Heelers, Blue or Red Heelers. The breed changed it's name several years ago to reflect in part origin and autonomy, they're an Australian breed, not a subject of the British Isles, etc.


The man who developed the German Shepherd Dog, Max Von Stephanitz, gave the breed that name. They were his lifelong work and passion. To his credit he created one of most widely used working breeds ever created.

This breed is a herding breed, but they can, when well bred and trained do almost anything else, referred commonly as a Jack-Of-All-Trades breed. They herd, they guard, they make good guide and service dogs, when well bred and socialized they make good pets and companions. They excel at herding, two of mine trained in herding, three of mine have been service dogs, one of our pups is a therapy dog (ok she's almost 9 now) but we only had the one litter.

One of mine currently helps move the chickens. One will sit between them and anything that comes if she's out there.
One would eat them... sigh, can't win em all.

Who bred them and what for makes a huge difference in outcome in this breed, poor breeding choices leads to disaster and mediocrity, poor type and unstable temperaments. I used to do shepherd rescue. Unfortunately in TN I don't do that any more, the majority are pet bred and that poorly and so far I haven't seen any worth taking the risk.

There's a short class on breed names and the German Shepherd Dog in general LOL thanks for asking. Bet yer sorry.

 

[jenjscott]

So jj, how are they doing?