Speaking of the care sheet, someone posted something about caring for poults and I put this together as far as what I do. Everyone will care for their poults differently but I find that this works PERFECT for me. Please feel free to copy and paste and make this into your own care sheet. If anyone wants to add anything that I have forgot, please post so that I can add to my care sheet that I will give out.
I didn't address the incubator but I think I will. I know everyone has different ways (humidity) to incubate turkey eggs, so again, we all will do that differently. If I do supply an incubating turkey egg sheet, it will be based on my 40 humidity. Others may be higher than mine.
Here is what I do that I feel that keeps all of my poults alive.
1. After hatching in incubator, leave the poults in the incubator for 2 days so that they can fully dry off. Transfer to brooder after 2 days.
2. Have brooder ready to include making sure that the heat lamp has been plugged, turned on and the thermometer that you must have in the brooder is reading at least 99 degrees.
3. Have high protein feed ALREADY purchased and available. We all know that it takes 28 days for turkey eggs to hatch, so there should be no excuse as to why food has not been purchased in advance and waiting on the poults.
4. If you choose to raise poults and not allow the hen to raise them, you should be FULLY prepared and knowledgeable on how to teach the poults how to eat and drink.
5. I always have colorful marbles on hand to place in the shallow water dish so that they see the reflection in the water to prompt them to drink. I always place food on aluminum foil so that they peck on the foil to come up with food in their beaks. This will help them to eat. Do not have deep water dishes or else they may fall in and die. And DO NOT let your poult ever get wet. A wet poult is a DEAD poult.
6. Monitor the temps and their behavior. If they are huddled on top of each other, they are cold. You must increase the heat. Huddling will cause death because they are cold and they will suffocate and kill one another. If they are sleeping far away from the lamp, they are too hot and they can die as well. If they are under the lamp and spaced out, they are warm and happy.
7. DO NOT assume that your poults are eating. YOU MUST see them eating and drinking. Failure to see them eat and drink will cause assumptions and you will wonder why they are weak and moving slow. It is because they are starving and thirsty and they WILL DIE!
8. You can also place a couple of baby chicks in with your poults so that the chicks will teach them how to eat. Be careful when placing someone else's chicks with yours because their chicks may be sick which will cause your poults to get sick and die.
9. Keep your poults inside until it is warm enough to bring them outside. Being too excited to bring them out will KILL them because of the cool temps and harsh elements.
10. Keep your poults off of the ground for as long as you can, so their immune system and body can get strong enough to be able to handle what is in the ground and what is in their environment.
11. I like to place towels or sheets or old t-shirts on the floor of the brooder. I do this so they have a firm area to walk in with no slipping or sliding which can cause toe, foot and leg problems.
These tips are what I do. This works best for me and my poults. Everyone's situation will be different. I hope that this helps a little.
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It will be a pleasant surprise when the babies hatch. And when the babies try to go for a swim, the turkey won't know what's going on.
