Brooding poults with chicks

[rwilliams296]

I incubated and hatched my first chicks a few weeks ago from my 6 hens and rooster . They are doing great! Hubby and I decided we'd like to add a few Royal Palm turkeys to our poultry family so we purchased 3 that were 2 days old. Seller assured us that they were eating and drinking water. Brought them home, placed them in a brooder specifically made for them and they just laid in one spot never moving for 24 hours. Not good. So I placed them in with our 10 day old chicks and they really thrived. After about a week I noticed that the chicks are now getting rowdy and the poults still seem wobbly and weak so moved the poults back to their own brooder with their own feed and water and they are back to being timid. Dealt with this for 24 hours.. mid day I found one deceased. Broke my heart.. I decided to move one chick into the turkey brooder ( most likely a roo ) and he has them active and thriving again. Am I doing the wrong thing by mixing chicks with poults? Are poults that dependent on older fowl to make them thrive? Advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[R2elk]

I incubated and hatched my first chicks a few weeks ago from my 6 hens and rooster . They are doing great! Hubby and I decided we'd like to add a few Royal Palm turkeys to our poultry family so we purchased 3 that were 2 days old. Seller assured us that they were eating and drinking water. Brought them home, placed them in a brooder specifically made for them and they just laid in one spot never moving for 24 hours. Not good. So I placed them in with our 10 day old chicks and they really thrived. After about a week I noticed that the chicks are now getting rowdy and the poults still seem wobbly and weak so moved the poults back to their own brooder with their own feed and water and they are back to being timid. Dealt with this for 24 hours.. mid day I found one deceased. Broke my heart.. I decided to move one chick into the turkey brooder ( most likely a roo ) and he has them active and thriving again. Am I doing the wrong thing by mixing chicks with poults? Are poults that dependent on older fowl to make them thrive? Advice is greatly appreciated!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/can-turkeys-eat-chick-food.1299341/

 

[Alaskan]

The one time I tried turkey poults, YES they needed someone to show them how to eat, and how to drink, EVERY SINGLE TIME they had to eat and drink for at least the first week, maybe two.

Finally they grew a brain, and were able to eat and drink without help... but it was crazy.

I was told that often people will put a cornish x with the turkey poults since cornish x eat often, and so will help keep the turkey poults eating well.

In your case... maybe just 2 poults in a horde of chicks was overwhelming for them?

Don't know... never tried that.

 

[Alaskan]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/can-turkeys-eat-chick-food.1299341/

And x2

The turkey poults need higher protein

 

[Fishkeeper]

They need different foods, and the size difference can quickly become a problem.
What you could do is divide the brooder with mesh, so they can see and hear each other, but can't reach the wrong kind of food.

 

[Alaskan]

They need different foods, and the size difference can quickly become a problem.
What you could do is divide the brooder with mesh, so they can see and hear each other, but can't reach the wrong kind of food.

Have you tried that before? I am not sure that that is enough contact to get the poults to eat.

But I never tried something like that.

 

[Better Than Rubies]

Hello.

I'm so sorry to hear one died. Turkey poults are very fragile/delicate, and it can be hard to get them through (alive) their first week, from what I've read. After the hardest part is over, the path ahead to raising them seems to get a little easier, I feel like.
I have a lone poult with three chicks right now, and they're all doing good. I'll be honest, when I first brought my poult home, I wondered if he wasn't going to make it. But turns out, he was just exhausted and needed to rest. Now's he's pretty active and likes to fly a bit, too. He ate decently from the start, but I rarely saw him drink water at first. He drinks plenty of it now, and seems to be doing very good.

 

[Fishkeeper]

@Better Than Rubies , you need to make sure he's getting a different food. Poults CANNOT be fed chick feed long-term, the lack of protein will slowly kill them.

 

[Better Than Rubies]

@Better Than Rubies , you need to make sure he's getting a different food. Poults CANNOT be fed chick feed long-term, the lack of protein will slowly kill them.

Fishkeeper, I'm not trying to be rude or sound defensive, but you shouldn't just automatically assume the worst or accuse people of ill-"treating" their pets, so to speak. I never once mentioned just WHAT it is my poult is being fed. He's being fed a gamebird starter, but the chick food is also mixed in. I'm currently discussing it with the turkey experts on a thread I made, because I didn't realize chick food was 'bad' for turkeys...my horse riding instructor mentioned it to me, so then I decided to see if she was right, or if it was safe to mix it together.
I now know that turkeys need LOTS of HIGH protein, and that I should just feed my poult and chicks the gamebird starter for now.
Thanks for telling me, though.

 

[rwilliams296]

And x2

The turkey poults need higher protein

Yes, poults and chicks have been eating a 28% feed while in the same brooder. I understand that this higher protein isn't detrimental to chicks unless they are hens and near laying age. Not there yet.