Turkey Chicks...need insight

[Fluffbutts84]

We had our first baby turkeys poults hatch today. Looking for any insight of what we should do with the poults, if we let the mother raise them or if I should put them directly into a brooder for their sake. We have 3 Tom's and 5 hens, only 3 hens are broody. The mother hens are VERY protective of her babies and does not like us going near her poults. I am new to this and am scared that the Tom's may kill the poults. Looking for any insight on what to do with the poults. Also one hen had a dead bloody chick next to her. Why would she have killed it? When we tried to remove she tried taking it from us. Please give me any insight or tips of what I should do.

 

[tacothechicken]

Could you post pics? Most times Brood y hens will share baby sitting duty but some hens absolutely hate any chicks but their own! I'd say you're mom sounds like she knows what she's supposed to do and leave the babies to her. She'll defend and hide them if any trouble pops up and is literally a all natural walking gobbling brooder offering her services! If the chicks hatched by hen it could be the other hen stepped on and crushed the egg or the chick died in midst of hatch and she's convinced its still alive I've also heard of hens killing chicks born whith deformities :/ whatever way if they brooders them to hatch and seem intent on keeping them I'd leave them to it! If any more chicks die mysteriously though I'd be concerned and may separate the Broody hen whith any hatched chicks away from others

 

[tacothechicken]

Ps The discussion on wether or not toms kill chicks is 50/50 some do some don't apparently so if the chick wandered or fell out of nest it could have attracted unwanted attention. Toms can also accidently kill babies who run under their feet I may advise separation.

 

[Fluffbutts84]

It did seem like the dead chick may of had a deformed foot....she was not happy with us removing for sure. Tommorow morning we are going to segregate the Tom's and unbroody hens from the others by separating the coop with chicken wire. I don't want to see any accidental fatalities on the new poults. Also, we put a feeder and water in the hend box with the mom....should we take the babies and dip their beaks in the water? Is there a vaccine we need to give the chicks? Thanks for your reply...I will attach pics...

 

[R2elk]

We had our first baby turkeys poults hatch today. Looking for any insight of what we should do with the poults, if we let the mother raise them or if I should put them directly into a brooder for their sake. We have 3 Tom's and 5 hens, only 3 hens are broody. The mother hens are VERY protective of her babies and does not like us going near her poults. I am new to this and am scared that the Tom's may kill the poults. Looking for any insight on what to do with the poults. Also one hen had a dead bloody chick next to her. Why would she have killed it? When we tried to remove she tried taking it from us. Please give me any insight or tips of what I should do.

I take the poults away from the hens as I find them and put them in a brooder. I hatch poults to sell and it is much easier to pick poults out of a brooder than it is trying to take them away from the mother when someone wants to buy them. If I have a hatch that I am going to let the hen raise, I make sure that the hen and her poults are not in with the general population. There are just too many things that can go wrong. Poults can get accidentally stepped especially when the hen goes off on the other turkeys trying to keep them away from her poults. After the poults are a couple of weeks old, I will let the hen and her little ones back in the general population. By that time they are quicker and sturdier and handle getting around the other turkeys better.

It is entirely possible that the hen did not kill the poult and that it may have died from other causes or been an accidental death.

Toms may or may not kill poults and toms that seem like there are doting fathers can later instantly turn into poult killers. There is no way to determine in advance if a tom if or when a tom may change his behavior so it is best to keep newly hatched poults away from toms.

You have too many toms in with too few of hens. For five hens you should only have one tom. Toms should not be permitted access to the hen's nest. Toms frequently take the act of a hen sitting on a nest as permission to breed. These unwanted breeding attempts often end in smashed eggs, injured hens or at the worst, a dead hen.

It did seem like the dead chick may of had a deformed foot....she was not happy with us removing for sure. Tomorrow morning we are going to segregate the Tom's and unbroody hens from the others by separating the coop with chicken wire. I don't want to see any accidental fatalities on the new poults. Also, we put a feeder and water in the hen box with the mom....should we take the babies and dip their beaks in the water? Is there a vaccine we need to give the chicks?

It is not a good idea to put two hens in with three toms during breeding season. It would be better to leave all of the hens together and remove all of the toms. A better deal would be to put the two hens that are not broody in with one tom and put the other two toms elsewhere.

If you are leaving the poults with the hen, there is no need to dip the poults' beak in the water. They will learn from their mother.

 

[Fluffbutts84]

That's great information, thank you. We are gonna leave the poults with the mom, we don't have plans to sell as of now. At what point does the mom have them up and moving around? They just hatched yesterday and she has not left the box. We also made the hen box entrances small enough that a Tom cannot enter. Our Tom's and 2 hens are left out while we are not home to not disrupt the mom and poults. My one concern and question is there are two other broody hens in their own separate boxes. Do I need to be concerned with them? At one point two hens we're laying on the eggs that just hatched yesterday, but just one is not sitting with babies. I have read that hens will kill others poults. Thank you for all this information, very helpful!

 

[R2elk]

That's great information, thank you. We are gonna leave the poults with the mom, we don't have plans to sell as of now. At what point does the mom have them up and moving around? They just hatched yesterday and she has not left the box. We also made the hen box entrances small enough that a Tom cannot enter. Our Tom's and 2 hens are left out while we are not home to not disrupt the mom and poults. My one concern and question is there are two other broody hens in their own separate boxes. Do I need to be concerned with them? At one point two hens we're laying on the eggs that just hatched yesterday, but just one is not sitting with babies. I have read that hens will kill others poults. Thank you for all this information, very helpful!

It depends on the individual hen, most will have the poults slipping out from under them for a day or two before they bring them out of the nest. Often they are up and around without us knowing about their movement since it will just be a quick trip for food and water and ... then back to the nest. If you miss it, it can seem like they have not moved.

The other hens should be okay. There is no hard rule as to how the hens will react. In all my years I have only had one hen that would kill poults that were not her own but she also abandoned her own poults at one week old when she started laying more eggs.

I have had hens co-parent their poults and I have seen hens try to steal poults from other hens. Almost all of the hens I have had were more than willing to adopt any stray poults.

One of the things that I do is that once I have chosen the poults that I am going to grow out, when they are two weeks old, I will put a hen that has recently had her poults stolen (by me) in with the poults. It can sometimes take a full day as the hen pleads and coaxes them to accept her as their mother. It is very rare that one of my hens won't accept the older poults but it can take the poults a little while to bond to the hen.

Good luck.

 

[Fluffbutts84]

Thank you for your input. Yesterday while we were out and came back home, in that time...the other hen went in the box with the hen that was with the poults. They are the same two that would sit together on the eggs, so I hope in the process of her going in there with the mom and the poults, she didn't accidentally step on any of them, but every time I lift the lid to check on them, all the poults are under the moms, and they will not let me touch them at all....they hiss and puff up! I am sure hoping they come out soon!! Would love to know how many we have!!

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for your input. Yesterday while we were out and came back home, in that time...the other hen went in the box with the hen that was with the poults. They are the same two that would sit together on the eggs, so I hope in the process of her going in there with the mom and the poults, she didn't accidentally step on any of them, but every time I lift the lid to check on them, all the poults are under the moms, and they will not let me touch them at all....they hiss and puff up! I am sure hoping they come out soon!! Would love to know how many we have!!

Even if the poults were out from under the hens before you looked, they will dart back under the hens upon your approach. The hissing and preparing to strike are standard reactions of hens with new poults.

 

[Fluffbutts84]

I came home today and unfortunately found a dead poult...not sure if it was stepped on or what happened, but also found a poult with a bald spot on it's head and one leg completely turned almost backwards. It's not walking easily but peeps and seems normal otherwise...I think I may know what needs to be done unfortunately, but any input would be appreciated.