Oops - Baby Chicks or Baby Turkey Poults ?

[MysteryChicken]

Three weeks ago we purchased what we thought were (13) Buff Orpington chicks and (3) chicks of unknown variety - 1 week old.

The staff at the store that day did not know the varieties of the chickens, and several of the brooders were unlabeled.
When - by chance - we were at the same store today, the brooder our chicks came from had baby turkeys in it ...

A gentlemen at the store said that only turkeys had been in that brooder for quite awhile.

The (13) - which at this point would be approximately 4 weeks old - are not larger than the (3) unknowns. They do seem to have longer necks. And they all have a little bump above their beak, more prominent on some, but visible on all.

Is it possible to tell from the attached photos what we have ?
Thank you to anyone who can offer assistance.


Oh No ... we are new here and can not figure out how to link our images into this message... ?
Will try to put them on Instagarm here:

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Broad Breasted White Turkeys. Our TSC has lots of those currently.

 

[RedDawg24]

Thank you, also @MamaPoult & @Ilovemychicks08.
@EggSighted4Life - we started reading as soon as we realized what had possibly happened - we don't know what to feed them tomorrow - they have had the store bought chick starter 'medicated chick feed' for the past (3) weeks - and a handful of fresh chickweed from the yard for the past (2) weeks. They go CRAZY for the chickweed.

 

[RedDawg24]

Thank you so much @MamaPoult and @Ilovemychicks08 ...
@EggSighted4Life -- we started reading as soon as we realized what might be going on. They have been eating the standard store bought 'medicated chick starter' for the last (3) weeks -- and a handful of fresh chickweed for the last (2) weeks. They go CRAZY for the chickweed. We have no idea what to feed them tomorrow. We are in Indiana - Zone 6 -- still cold at night. They are inside.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

I highly suggest getting 30% protein gamebird feed as soon as possible. Without that extra protein the poults will have issues later on in life.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thank you so much @MamaPoult and @Ilovemychicks08 ...
@EggSighted4Life -- we started reading as soon as we realized what might be going on. They have been eating the standard store bought 'medicated chick starter' for the last (3) weeks -- and a handful of fresh chickweed for the last (2) weeks. They go CRAZY for the chickweed. We have no idea what to feed them tomorrow. We are in Indiana - Zone 6 -- still cold at night. They are inside.

I usually use Purina gamebird starter with 30% protein (until the appropriate age) and then switch to Purina flock raiser (or any near equivalent). Some other brands game bird starter may be 26 ish% protein. Get whatever is available to you.

It's probably okay to bring in a whole dirt clump for them to explore.. and gives a little exposure to build some immunity to whatever is in the soil before going out full time. They may be able to get some grit from the dirt.. otherwise you will want to provide some right sized grit to aid digestion of the chickweed. or any other treat stuff.

 

[RedDawg24]

Thank you so much for the feed suggestions - they are still in the same brooder with the (3) that we are sure are chickens -- all sleeping and eating together. Will the 30% protein be OK for the 4 week old chickens, when we switch to the gamebird mix ? The original goal was egg layers.

 

[RedDawg24]

Thank you @MysteryChicken & @Rose the Legbar.
We want to do the right thing for these youngins'

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Thank you so much for the feed suggestions - they are still in the same brooder with the (3) that we are sure are chickens -- all sleeping and eating together. Will the 30% protein be OK for the 4 week old chickens, when we switch to the gamebird mix ? The original goal was egg layers.

I would suggest separating the poults from the chicks as they require different feed.

 

[casportpony]

Thank you so much for the feed suggestions - they are still in the same brooder with the (3) that we are sure are chickens -- all sleeping and eating together. Will the 30% protein be OK for the 4 week old chickens, when we switch to the gamebird mix ? The original goal was egg layers.

I would suggest separating the poults from the chicks as they require different feed.

You can feed the 30% gamebird/turkey starter to chicken chicks too.

Edited to add:
My chicken chicks, ducklings, peachicks, and poults all eat the same turkey starter.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you so much for the feed suggestions - they are still in the same brooder with the (3) that we are sure are chickens -- all sleeping and eating together. Will the 30% protein be OK for the 4 week old chickens, when we switch to the gamebird mix ? The original goal was egg layers.

It would be best to separate the poults from the chicks. Keeping the poults with the chicks will cause the poults to become imprinted. Poults that get imprinted by chicks lose the ability to understand that there is a difference between them and chickens when they are mature. This can end badly for the chickens when the much larger turkeys treat the chickens the same way they treat other turkeys.