Raising turkey poults…am I missing something??

[HollowOfWisps]

I mentioned raising turkeys to my husband and ordering some next spring. He talked to his friend the next day that told him not to bother because the poults die too easily and every time he has tried to raise them he was very unsuccessful. Here is the deal, I grew up on a large farm my cousin and I were usually the ones in charge of taking care of the turkeys until they were old enough to butcher. Grant it, that was almost 20 years ago, but I don’t remember ever having issues with turkey poults dying at the rates he is describing. Sure you can always lose one or two here and there, but not most dying before they are big enough to butcher. Am I just not remembering correctly? I feel like he either doesn’t know how to take care of turkeys or has the worst luck ever. I am scratching my head here.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I mentioned raising turkeys to my husband and ordering some next spring. He talked to his friend the next day that told him not to bother because the poults die too easily and every time he has tried to raise them he was very unsuccessful. Here is the deal, I grew up on a large farm my cousin and I were usually the ones in charge of taking care of the turkeys until they were old enough to butcher. Grant it, that was almost 20 years ago, but I don’t remember ever having issues with turkey poults dying at the rates he is describing. Sure you can always lose one or two here and there, but not most dying before they are big enough to butcher. Am I just not remembering correctly? I feel like he either doesn’t know how to take care of turkeys or has the worst luck ever. I am scratching my head here.

Turkeys are just as easy to raise as chicks. Never lost a poult.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I wonder what they were being fed?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Turkeys are just as easy to raise as chicks. Never lost a poult.

That’s exactly what I thought, but with it being so long I just wanted to double check that my childhood mind wasn’t blocking out memories of mass turkey deaths haha I am going to order the turkeys

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I wonder what they were being fed?

I wish I was there for that conversation because I have so many questions. Something definitely was not being done right or he picked up a bunch from some random Craigslist breeder with a diseased flock.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I wish I was there for that conversation because I have so many questions. Something definitely was not being done right or he picked up a bunch from some random Craigslist breeder with a diseased flock.

That's a possibility as well.

 

[MGG]

Gamebirds are really susceptible to internal parasites when young, if he raised them outside it's possible his soil has a high parasite load and they were getting infected. I know a guy that can't keep pheasants alive where he lives unless he deworms them every couple months.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Gamebirds are really susceptible to internal parasites when young, if he raised them outside it's possible his soil has a high parasite load and they were getting infected. I know a guy that can't keep pheasants alive where he lives unless he deworms them every couple months.

You know he does run a goat farm I wonder if the turkeys were running around in the areas where the goats were

 

[MGG]

You know he does run a goat farm I wonder if the turkeys were running around in the areas where the goats were

Could've been. If they were dying when they were real little and in a brooder still that theory wouldn't work, but goats can carry a lot of stuff. Even if he was walking in the turkey pen after taking care of the goats he could've been dragging in infected feces and stuff. I'm guessing you would do just fine with them. Some farmers are pretty rough when it comes to raising birds and can spread some false ideas.

 

[Berd Man]

I’m fairly new to keeping goats and turkeys, but I don’t think the goats passed anything to the turkeys. Goats on the other hand are very sensitive to turkey manure…Goats would need to be ingesting the turkey feces directly. There’s some info on web about salmonella and other things like that which can cause goats to become ill when they eat turkey feces. I’d suspect the turkeys just had coccidiosis or maybe blackhead if they were perhaps around chickens.

In my very small sample study of two goats and twenty turkeys, all rotating the same pastures but with separate roosting / sleeping areas, there has never been one sick animal.

I’d say give turkeys a shot, they’re very rewarding and if you can do a few things for them at the beginning and get them to week 3-4 they’re pretty tough to kill.