The Turkeys Have Hatched

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Marian

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My foray into heritage turkeys has begun. Out of the 6 Beltsvilles Small White Turkey eggs, 5 hatched. I am thrilled. The last one hatched is weak and unsteady so I have him by himself until he gets stronger :( . The other 4 are strong, robust and noisy. Inspite of their day-glo orange super-sized feet and buggy eyes, I am quite taken with them, they seem to want to bond with me and are very friendly, unlike new born chicks who pretty much scream in terror every time I go look at them :? . I think I'm going to like turkey raising :)
 
That's exciting, Marian! So glad you had a good hatch! I've heard from other people who raise turkeys that they find the turkeys friendlier and more interesting than chicks. Sounds like you are in for some fun! :goodjob:
 
Very cool. I like the idea of raising turkey, but we have soooo many wild ones around here that dh thinks it is rediculous for me. I snuck one in when I got the chicks this spring though and he is much friendlier than the chickens.
 
Turkey poults are fantastic :) You can easily train them to perch on your finger, and then shoulder (although they'll try to do that as adults later on...NOT a happy situation). They'll learn to fly REALLY early and are always on the lookout for something new to perch on. Mike's head was a favorite with George-the black spanish hen :lol:

They won't take off and go with the wild turkeys, although the wild guys, if they already have your farm as part of their territory, may be annoyed. Wild turkey flocks will MAYBE accept a hen into the flock if they're low on hens...but the hens will only bond with a domestic turkey if their flock Tom has been killed.

I loved my turkeys and was quite sad to see them go. Other than the tom . He thought I was another tom, apparently, and as an adult he attacked me regularly. That's quite rare, tho.
 
Thanks, everybody for the kind words. Anntann, your advice sure is coming in handy. The kids are already teaching the birds to perch on their fingers, so far, the poults are sitting beautifully on their open hands.

Sadly, the little weak guy didn't make it. I thought he would, it looked like he was getting stronger and he had just begun to drink and eat on his own.

Thanks again and I'll try to take pics of the birds soon.
 
The weak ones often aren't developed internally. Hatching is such a tricky thing for the critters. It seems that the gizzard is the last thing to develop into a strong muscle, and it's necessary for good health/proper nutrition. They do okay on the liquids or soupy foods we give them to make it easy...but then they start on hard foods (crumbles) and they can't grind it up and absorb the nutrition :( sorry you lost the one, but sounds like everyone else is doing just dandy!
 
Anntann":2lfep7w0 said:
They do okay on the liquids or soupy foods we give them to make it easy...but then they start on hard foods (crumbles) and they can't grind it up and absorb the nutrition :( sorry you lost the one, but sounds like everyone else is doing just dandy!

I did not know that the gizzard can be underdevolped, that's good info to have, thanks so much. For liquids or soupy foods would that be plain yougurt or a little hard boiled egg? What else would be good for little ones not as strong as they could be?
 
yogurt mixed with crumbles. scrambled eggs. chopped boiled eggs. Whey. Cottage cheese. Those are the ones I use. Generally I start with scramble eggs and the yogurt. Yogurt, maybe mixed a bit thin, spooned into mouth. Scrambled eggs..mine always loved them :)
 
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