The third bater batch for the year is a popping. We've had 7 Bourbon Red Turkeys and 3 Black Spanish hatch out. One Black had a real hard time of it though. We saw it pipped and partially zipped Friday evening. Sat AM is Farmers Market day so I didn't think to see if he was out or not. When we returned at 1:00PM I saw that the membrane was REALLY dry and decided to help being leery after helping the gosling last week and losing it. After removing a zip of shell I found the membrane hard and stuck to the chick. I used a Q-Tip dipped in warm water to try and soften it. We ended up cutting the membrane away from the chick and leaving it on. It finally did get the chunk of dried membrane off after rolling around in the bater a while. So were crossing our fingers that one is going to be ok. We separated the reds and the blacks just for the sake of space in the brooding boxes so the 7 reds were together. We got up this AM to find 1 of the reds dead in the corner under the light. The rest were huddled around it but not on top of it.
I've read that turkey poults will sometimes huddle together and one may get smothered on the bottom of a heap. Has anyone else had that experience? The brooding box is adequate for 7 chicks and the temp is around 85 degrees directly under the light.
David
I've read that turkey poults will sometimes huddle together and one may get smothered on the bottom of a heap. Has anyone else had that experience? The brooding box is adequate for 7 chicks and the temp is around 85 degrees directly under the light.
David
