Turkey Talk for 2014

[AmericanMom]

My very 1st baby turkey just hatched!!!! All 3 of the others r pipped!

Awww... I hope hope hope mine do well!! Only on day our...got along time yet to go!!

Congrats!

 

[gevshiba]

Well, mystery turkey is still around today, and was gobbling. So I guess it is a male. I saw a couple of wild turkeys on the road to town today that looked awfully similar. I guess I just never got close enough to one to notice all the coloring. So we may have our own domestic wild turkey. He doesn't want to fight with the males, which makes him fine by me.

I've been having wild turkey problems (birds, not alcohol). The wild one came in and bred my hens. I haven't seen him (them) in a couple days. I guess he got what he wanted and skipped town. Luckily, my tom only has a few superficial wounds on his head/snood.

 

[chickadoodles]

My very 1st baby turkey just hatched!!!! All 3 of the others r pipped!

Congrats!

 

[DraigAthar]

So, our turkey hatch has been a tragedy. I set 8 eggs, four hatched. Three have died, leaving us with one lonely turkey poult, Laredo. He seems to have imprinted on Brian, and will cry and cry and cry anytime Brian leaves the room. Since he can't take a baby turkey everywhere with him (Laredo still needs the heat lamp for a few more weeks), Brian's mad parenting skills kicked in and now Laredo will never be alone ...

 

[Penny Hen]

So, our turkey hatch has been a tragedy. I set 8 eggs, four hatched. Three have died, leaving us with one lonely turkey poult, Laredo. He seems to have imprinted on Brian, and will cry and cry and cry anytime Brian leaves the room. Since he can't take a baby turkey everywhere with him (Laredo still needs the heat lamp for a few more weeks), Brian's mad parenting skills kicked in and now Laredo will never be alone ...

Reminds me of how I imprinted my guinea keets on my sheep. I took paper plates and drew sheep faces on them. When they finally were ready for the outside where their cage was inside the sheep pen they would come to the fence unafraid of the sheep. I had one ewe who was totally fascinated with them. She would stand by their fence with her head lowered and her eyes closed breathing her warm breath on the keets.

 

[chicken pickin]

So, our turkey hatch has been a tragedy. I set 8 eggs, four hatched. Three have died, leaving us with one lonely turkey poult, Laredo. He seems to have imprinted on Brian, and will cry and cry and cry anytime Brian leaves the room. Since he can't take a baby turkey everywhere with him (Laredo still needs the heat lamp for a few more weeks), Brian's mad parenting skills kicked in and now Laredo will never be alone ...

Oh my goodness! This is great! Such wonderful creative thinking. I hope you get a better hatch next time. Poults can be tough sometimes. Do you plan to set more soon?

 

[Sydney Acres]

This just goes to prove -- there's a solution for every problem if we just use our imagination, and a little empathy. What a great idea!!

Is there a little stuffed toy available for it to cuddle with? Years ago I had a chick that injured her leg and needed to be separated from the group. Even though I had her small cage inside the brooder so she could be near the other chicks, she was very upset that she had no one to cuddle with, and would lean against the side of her cage and call out whenever the others were sleeping. I put a tiny stuffed animal in with her and she happily cuddled with it when she napped. Of course she pooped on it too, so I needed a few to rotate in while the others were in the wash, but she seemed much happier. Another single chick (never part of a clutch) was always trying to get under her stuffed buddy, so I put a slipper in with her. (If anyone does this, the slipper needs to be secured on its side. Otherwise it can roll when the baby is inside it and trap them.) She would crawl inside the slipper when she felt the need to get under "mom's wing."

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Hatched out 4 babies so far from my bronze breasted pair. Jive Turkey is 60 pounds, but still gets the job done. In fact, I don't even have to advertise my poults. People come out for other things, take one look at him and ask if we have any turkeys!

They love the turkeys in the mirror and, yes, I am taking proper precautions with the waterfowl they are with. They will be separated before too long, if I still have them another couple of days.

 

[Reyvaughn]

I must be doing something wrong... Last year my hatches were horrible. I hatched 5 poults out of 20 or so eggs. Most developed and died in the last 5 days. Why? My temps were 100 (preset by GQF) this year it was 99.5 and I am having horrible chicken hatches so I upped it to 100 again to see if the temps are wrong. This year, of 4 eggs, 2 made it to lock down. The others died last week. Humidity is between 65-70%. I pulled 2 extra plugs for extra air transfer, thinking maybe that was the issue? I have been disinfecting the incubator every 2 hatches with Oxine AH now. I don't know what I am doing wrong.

 

[AZCowboy]

What the? My Tom has two beards!!!!!! That's awesome!