Turkeys For 2013

[GotCoop]

The aggressive ones will kill the others. You will have to separate them or you will have some dead poults. I tired that with staggered hatches and got the same results as you. The older poults tried to killed the younger poults. I had to have 2 separate brooders.

Kuntrygirl, I separated the 2-day old poults, the three dark colored ones in one container and the four light colored ones into another...the light colored ones are nice and calm; the darker ones are still picking on each other but each gives as good as it gets (still less than when they were all together). I wait till they get bigger to re-integrate them.

I have another question, my MWs will be 8 weeks old in a week and a half, I plan on turning them out into their new enclosure a that time but I want to give them poxine for fowl pox...can you recommend a good instruction on how to administer the vaccine. Thanks

 

[joshm97]

I

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I am located

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I am wanting to buy some turkeys to raise I'm new to this and I only want 2 turkeys to start off with... Any help???[/quote

Where are you located I know that some places near Sturbridge Massachusetts such as klems will sell you as little as 3 but no less."
I am located in kentucky will they ship them.?.. Do they have a website???

don't know if they send through mail because I am local. I can give you a phone number... Also talk to some local poultry farmers. Chickens geese turkey etc. usually a guy knows a guys cousin in you know what I mean. Check around for some local haycheries. Maybe ther is one within driving distance. Good luck

 

[joshm97]

I am starting my first batch on the incubator. These were the eggs my hen was sitting on.. I took them because she was eating them... in the process my crazy blue slate hen blueberry crashed into the nest box and the eggs went a Rollin'. They got pretty beat up in the process but none cracked. Will they still hatch. If so how can I tell. I have never hatched in an incubator and don't have a good idea of how to candle. All I know is that 99.5 degrees F is the way to go. Thanks for the help and concern also... I needed it. Anyone who knows about any thing on this situation please help!

 

[Arielle]

Hey everyone, I enjoy this thread. I have a question about aggressive poults, just a couple days old. I decided to try two sets of turkeys for my first time. I have 8 midget whites that are 6 weeks old...sweet as can be to each other, never seen them peck or pull. Then Sunday I got my second batch, day old red slate poults; 2 of bronze color, 4 of the yellow/grey, and one grey. They are very aggressive to each other, seems the darker ones are more aggressive to the lighter ones, but they all participate. I'm using the same set up I had for the MWs, red bulb etc. I thought maybe if I separated the light ones they would calm down...they did all seem to take a breather when they were separated. But then I thought it might be more trouble when I put them back together, so back they went. The rough activity picked up right away. The grey one seems especially intent on poking out eyes. I really I'm not set up to have three sets of turkey poults. Will they move past this phase...or what else would you suggest? Thanks.

Perhaps these poults were not raised together . . . . . . sounds like pecking order. However, I did have one rooster that was picking on every other birds at 3 weeks old and didn't quit---he was king for a long time, until a son took over!! lol

 

[Arielle]

I sold some of my poults to a customer on yesterday and just let me say that I highly recommend a care sheet to include the temp in the brooder. The family was a VERY nice family. Throughout the process of them buying the poults, we had lengthy conversations about caring, feed, etc. So they came over and bought some poults and I told them if they had any questions, DO NOT hesitate to contact me and I didn't care if they called me every 30 minutes because I was not sending my poults on a suicide mission.

So they called me with a problem in the brooder about 1 hour after leaving my house. Their brooder was 3' x 6' and they couldn't understand why the poults were 5 feet away from the light. I asked them what was the temp in the brooder and they told me 120 degrees. I was like , "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"!!!! That is too hot!!!!!!!!

I told them the the poults were too hot and the poults were telling them that which is why they were 5 feet away from the light. I told them to adjust temps and monitor the temps EVERY 30 minutes and that someone needs to be on watch and monitor them throughout the night along with the temps. I am glad that they called me because the babies would have been dead by morning.

I need to go back and look on the care sheet to see if I addressed temps. Selling poults to new owners so sooooo scary.

Makes me want to keep all of my babies and not sell them until they are about 3 months old.

Hey-- give yourself some credit-- the folks took you at your word and they called you when something seemed off. THey showed good sense and you made it clear you were available with questions. You done well, me thinks!!!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
THis is why I don't sell young babies until I know they are well started. LOTS of new people getting into chickens and turkeys.

 

[Arielle]

I am starting my first batch on the incubator. These were the eggs my hen was sitting on.. I took them because she was eating them...

in the process my crazy blue slate hen blueberry crashed into the nest box and the eggs went a Rollin'. They got pretty beat up in the process but none cracked. Will they still hatch. If so how can I tell. I have never hatched in an incubator and don't have a good idea of how to candle. All I know is that 99.5 degrees F is the way to go. Thanks for the help and concern also... I needed it. Anyone who knows about any thing on this situation please help!

Josh, get a flashlight, a small one is easier that a standard sized one. Hold it in your hand so that yourindex and thumb form a circle around the rim. Set the egg on your thumb-finger ring with the other hand, turning the egg looking for veining, blob or air cell. Turkey eggs are easy to see into because of the very pale white shell. If you can't see into it , use a stronger light.

Chookchick has a listing for candling-- I will find it and post it for you. OTherwise you can google it" aire cell ondays 7th, 14th and 18th will give you chicken air cells, one of them will have a turkey egg. basically, day 18 on the chicken is day 24 on the turkey.

Adjust the humidity to grow the air cell to meet the diagrams. Generally I start with a dry incubation to get the best results.

You are welcome to hop on over to the turkey hatch a thon-- long time hatchers are Yinpu and ChooksChick. THey are very happy to share information. THey both have hatching pages well worth reading and saving and reading again. THey have hatched 1000's of eggs!!

 

[RockerHen]

Well, my royal palm hen decided to try to go broody on nothing out in the brush (all of her eggs are incubating and developing under other broody hens

) so I decided to break down and rig up a sheltered nest in her coop (that she hardly stays in). To my surprise, she's actually laying again and using it! This time I'll let her build up her own clutch and incubate them herself.


She was not a happy camper when I removed her from her imaginary eggs





It's ugly, but it's cozy, and she likes it, and if she's happy with it, I'm happy. It's better than being out in the briars and rain.

 

[kuntrygirl]

The aggressive ones will kill the others. You will have to separate them or you will have some dead poults. I tired that with staggered hatches and got the same results as you. The older poults tried to killed the younger poults. I had to have 2 separate brooders. :/

Kuntrygirl,  I separated the 2-day old poults, the three dark colored ones in one container and the four light colored ones into another...the light colored ones are nice and calm; the darker ones are still picking on each other but each gives as good as it gets (still less than when they were all together).  I wait till they get bigger to re-integrate them.

I have another question, my MWs will be 8 weeks old in a week and a half, I plan on turning them out into their new enclosure a that time but I want to give them poxine for fowl pox...can you recommend a good instruction on how to administer the vaccine.  Thanks

Good job on separating them.

About instructions on how to adminster the poxine vaccine, please see below. This person provides details instructions on how to do it.

Look for the thin part of the upper wing where there is no muscle, bone or veins (you can see light through it and you can feel it between your thumb and forefinger). Pluck out any feathers in the area where you will vaccinate. Put the stabber all the way into the bottle of vaccine. Then using a quick firm motion push the stabber all the way through the wing web up to the plastic handle (prongs will come out the other side of the wing). Remove stabber, release bird, and repeat until all are done. It is quite easy to do.

I hope that this can help. If not, let me know and I will help you.

 

[Arielle]

Well, my royal palm hen decided to try to go broody on nothing out in the brush (all of her eggs are incubating and developing under other broody hens

) so I decided to break down and rig up a sheltered nest in her coop (that she hardly stays in). To my surprise, she's actually laying again and using it! This time I'll let her build up her own clutch and incubate them herself.


She was not a happy camper when I removed her from her imaginary eggs





It's ugly, but it's cozy, and she likes it, and if she's happy with it, I'm happy. It's better than being out in the briars and rain.

Better safe than eaten!! Looks cozy!