Hi all! I am new here. I am needing info.....we are raising our second batch of turkey poults and got 10 new ones today. In our 1st batch, we had 25 to start and they picked and pecked each other to the point of ripping out each others behinds and would just pull and tug until their insides came out. That time, we save the ones we could, and were left with 15......they are 2 months old now and doing really well. At that time, we asked at the hatchery, and were told that it was do to over crowding. That is not the case this time though. The 10 new ones have plenty of room. are just out of the shipping box, about 2 hours ago, and they are already pecking and 'ripping' at each other. It is almost vicious looking! I thought it might be cause by being too hot, but the are not scattered out, the way chicks will do. I tried to 'distract' them by throwing oatmeal on the bottom of the cage, and even shiny stones so they would have something to peck at besides each other. Nope, that's not working. I don't know why they 'target' the behind, but they are.
I would sure appreciate any info anyone could give me on why they are doing this, and how to get them to stop! We have raised hundreds of baby chicks, and I have never seen them do this to each other!!
Help!! New turkey poults pecking each other!
i don't know why, never raised poults, but some suggestions would be to get a red light bulbso they can't see the bare skin and blood. and if you notice certainones are more vicious, they could be the instigators, and separate them.
this must be very frustrating to be losing your investment. perhaps next time try a different hatchery just to get "new blood". pecking is known to be hereditary.
also increase their protein as much as possible. i assume they are eating feathers... boiled egg yolks, brewers yeast mixed with cornmeal. throw in some watermelon rinds just to keep them occupied.
hopefully there will be more help on the way, hang in there!
tf
I have no idea--but I wondered if anyone has ever tried "Bitter Apple"--the stuff you spray on dogs to keep them from chewing on themselves. I don't think hot pepper would work since most birds love it. Poultry is funny--is seems like I saw something in a catalogue that you put on their beak or head to stop picking. Sound familiar to anyone? None of my chicks have picked so far aside from brooder pecking when they first hatch and peck at everything. The one chicken that seemed a bit vicious at first mellowed out to be my least aggessive roo. I think TF's idea of trying a different source is good. Let us know what happens.
i think jyl will ahve an answer, dmailing her now.
juast kleeping htis thread bumped up
My last batch were pecking each other a bit, but once I got them in a large area with lots of dirt and stuff to scratch in, they stoped. It started when they were about two weeks and I put regular yard dirt in with their litter, I also threw in bread crusts, weeds from the yard and anything else to entertain them. Young poults in the wild eat lots of bugs and worms and graze on grass, they also love dirt baths from the time they are very young. It's amazing how they naturaly seek out what they need.
Bitter apple probably won't do any good as birds don't nessisarily taste bitter or spicy flavors. I'd definately increase their protien though. Hamburger, worms, high protien crumbles, And red lights do prevent them from seeing blood. Watch for the most agressive chicks, it may be only one or two and they others just join in like a pack of teenagers.
I moved mine to an enclosed outdoor pen with warmer lamps when they were three weeks and they have done wonderful. Now they are in full time pasture with ducks and chickens at 6 weeks.
I wish I could be more help.
I just had that problem with one of my free roosters. The others picked at his tail until it bled. All I had handy to prevent infection was some first-aid cream. Put a dab on his tail and when I put him back in with the others, one ran up and pecked at his butt and had a fit getting the cream off his beak. The others left him alone at that point. It is healed now. So, since it looks like they don't like the taste of the first-aid cream, if you have some, you could try that.
GG
Wow, thank you all for so much for so much information! I had some cooked ground deer meat in the fridge, so I put that on top of their crumbles.......they looked at it like it was something they should be afraid of, but they started eating it. Then I threw in a handful of wet from the dew grass clippings and they are so busy chasing each other for each piece, that they are not pecking right now! :)
I thought I would 'raid' my 5yr old DD's worm 'collection'....she gathers them for fishing....but I think the chickens beat me to it....not one in the tub to be found. We got a good rain yesterday though, so I'll go worm hunting in the little ditch in front of our house. I'll have to disrupt the ducks though, who seem to have laid claim to it as their little 'pond'....they refuse to use the big pond we do have, nor will they use the duck/goose house my DH built....(sigh). The ducks will wait until I'm done though and come right back, I'm sure! I wonder how excited my babies will be over worms? I might try the boiled eggs too, I was going to boil some today anyway and it sure couldn't hurt anything.
I didn't know about the red light before, so that's good to know. I will have to pick one up. Yes, they are pecking feathers .......and behinds. So far, no one is bloody yet, thank goodness! We turned the heater lamp off on them and covered the cage with a blanket for a little while yesterday afternoon, to give them a break from the pecking for awhile.....that worked for a very short term solution. In looking through other threads here, I am so glad to see that we are not the only ones to have cages in their house! Most of the people I know are 'city folks' and when I tell them that we have one 2 month old turkey in a cage in our bedroom, I get a look like I am a nut job or something!
I have the baby poults in a cage here next to the computer, so I can keep an eye on them a lot better. With our 1st group of poults, they were outside and we didn't know what they were up to until a lot of damage had already been done, so this is a lot better. One thing is for sure....they are certainly different to raise than chicks!
Thank you all again for the help, and I will keep you updated on what they are up to! Wish I had a dig camera so I could post a pic of them......they sure are cute little things.....(at least when they are not doing the vicious pecking!) :)
glad things are working for you! i pormised DH all chicks woul dbe out of the house by June. he is no city slicker, but still didn't like it, but i thelped when i told him "all my DG friends have chicks in their house"! LOL we still have ten chicks in the house because there is a hungry chick snatcher on the loose!
enjoy your poults!
tf
Shhhhh. I have 31 chicks in the house in 2 rooms ranging in age from 1 to 6 weeks. 6 more to hatch next week. Need to get a grip and move the older ones out:0)
i won't tell.... if you won't...
lol.....you all are funny! I was the city girl when I met my farmer boy dh 9yrs ago.....my, how things change! We have the 10 2 day old poults in the LR, our 2 month old turkey...the only one to hatch out of 10 eggs we set in the bator is in a cage in our bedroom....we just don't know what to do with her. She is the wrong size to mix in with any of the groups we have right now, and is scared to death of anyone but us.....and we now have 4 4 day old chicks that we hatched.....(the incubator is also in our BR) we would have had more, we set 23 eggs, but not too long after they started hatching, my dd turned the temp knob and before anyone noticed, the temp soared to 113 degrees.......:( we lost the rest. I cracked the lost ones afterward, and 11 of them might have made it. My poor dd felt so bad that I'm sure she won't do that again. Oh, all that work! We just have a syrofoam bator, with no turner to start.......oh well.....what can we do now but move on and try again?
The little poults are so worn out from playing with the grass clippings, that they are sleeping right now. I put a worm on top of their feed trough and I think they all checked it out, but ran when they saw it moving. I'll have to try the eggs and some bread......I guess if its not moving, maybe they won't be scared of it!
Hope my posts aren't too long.....sometimes I get a bit gabby! :)
Well, the little poults seem to be doing better today. They are not pecking nearly as much as they were. I have only noticed one really doing it now.....if it goes beyond a little wing feather pecking, I'll have to pull that one out of the cage.
Thank you GG for the first aid cream tip....that one will probably come in handy some time in the future!
They seemed to love the grass clippings so much that I'll toss some more in today. Thank you all for all the help! :)
Good to hear they are doing better. Don't feel bad about the birds in your house. Besides the twenty some odd chicks in a box in the living room, and the five baby ducklings in a crate next to them, I have a six week old duck FOLLOWING me around my house. We have assigned poop cleaners every day : )
lol patch....I think I'll tell my dh that I want one of our new ducklings to follow me around the house, better yet....the huge tom turkey we have....tell him tom just followed me in, just to see the look on his face teehee......he'll think I flipped for sure! :)
The picture of a duck following you around the house makes me laugh....what kind is it?
I think I'll draw the line at doing that though....we got a 6 mo old boxer puppy several months ago who was not house broke, so I got to clean up BIG poops....ugggg .....until
I got him trained. That was about enough for me! : )
The duck is a Pekin, he was adopted by us and I'm merely guessing at his age. He just got his feathers in and has that ducky smell going. The 5 new duckling were ordered shortly after I adopted him because he thinks he's a person and I couldn't bare to put him out with the chickens. So I ordered ducklings in hopes that he'll live with them eventually. Currently I'm digging a pond for all of them, and in this heat that really blows! A friend of mine bought Aflak (the pekin duck) as a duckling at Orcheln's and could no longer keep him, or 2 guinea pigs that I also took in : ) Yes, I'm the first person people ask about taking in animals. Aflak sure is cute though, and so are the ducklings!
I have no idea how to identify a ducks age....we are pretty new to those too. Are your new 5 Pekin's too? I don't blame you for not putting Aflak out with the chickens....he would have been pretty lonely. I have noticed that animals tend to stay with their own kind, and seem to sometimes pick on the odd 'man' out. Hopefully he'll have some friends soon.
Wow, your digging a pond in this heat....yikes! When its done, I hope you have better luck than we have had getting the ducks to take to it. We bought 3 Ruin's and 1 Pekin (full grown I think) at an auction, and they refuse to go on the pond we have, or use the duck/goose house my dh built down there. He kept taking them back every night, and they come right back up to the goat pen. They won't use the pond, but they instead use the little ditch in front of the house. If they keep that up, we'll end up with a pond up there too!
We just got 5 new ruin ducklings and 5 pekins....aren't they just the cutest things ever?
No, my five new duckling are all different breeds. I have Aflak the Pekin, and then I ordered one blue crested swedish, one black crested cayuga, one crested khaki campbell, one fawn and white indian runner, and one black and white magpie. They are absolutely adorable. My pond is going to look cool with all the different ducks! They better use the pond, lol! There shouldn't be a problem as I don't have anywhere else for them to swim. Yeah the digging is slow going right now cause it's so hot. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. Yesterday I went and bought a bench to put out by the pond, I think it will be a great place to unwind at the end of a hectic day : )
or to sit on when taking dig breaks!
OMG!! LMAO! tf you're a hoot!
um, that is what i would do. why not have a chest o fice and drinks handy, and an umbrella for shade. then the ducks can stay cool while htey watch YOU work...
I think I may just collapse onto the bench, maybe not sit on to relax so much. Good idea about the umbrella.
Wow Patch, that is some assortment of ducks! They will be a lot of fun to look at. I know a lot of people who have had just one kind of animal and just one breed....uggg....all the same. That's okay for them though....just not my cup of tea. It is a lot more fun to have all kinds of everything.....for sure a lot more fun to look at!
Are you out there digging your pond with a shovel? If so, WOW!! I think that would just about do me in.......you must be in really good shape...or you are getting there! Talk about a work out!! WHEW!!
No, this digging is reminding of how out of shape I am, lol! Yeah, I like the different breeds and colors. I have really tried to just do one or two breeds, but I can't bring myself to order like that. I love the interesting differences of each breed and it also makes it easy to tell everyone apart : )
Well, I guess you could just repeat to yourself over and over as you are digging....I'm gonna have a pond, this is good for my heart, I'm going to have a pond...... : ) Just think how proud you are going to be when it is done and your ducks are on it. Don't forget the cold beverages.......sigh! : )
We can't seem to order or buy like that either! We did this when we had cows and our own dairy too......the people in the area that knew about it probably thought we were a little bit nuts.....most dairy's only have one breed or kind....we had ALL different kinds. You are right, it makes them interesting to look at and goes a long way in telling them apart. We have 2 tom cats that are so much alike that we can't tell them apart....and for us having 2 animals that look that much alike is kinda neat and even amusing. My ds and dd named them Puzz and Porkchop.....but we never know who is who...lol Is it possible for cats to have identical twins? They even act the same. Weird!
I bet you dairy farm was the talk of the feed store : ) I know what you mean by having the two that look alike. They would be the oddballs funny enough, usually it's the other way around.
and the sale barn I bet. Oh well, we had fun with it and coming up with their names was always a lot of fun. If you are going to spend ALL of your time on a farm trying to make a living, it out to be interesting, huh?
Yeah, you know you have gotten used to having so many different kinds of critters where ever you look when just about 2 of anything look the same and it seems weird! lol : )
oh yeah, I forgot to update on how the poults were doing. They are all doing really well now and we got a bonus. I could have sworn I counted 10 poults as I was taking them out of the shipping box.....somehow I managed to miss one....so we have 11. I give them a little hand full of grass clippings everyday and they are so funny to watch. When one of them gets a leaf, the others will chase it around trying to get it, even though there are more. I know chickens did this and I always thought that was funny to see, but I had no idea that 6 day old poults would do it!
Another update is that we had 1 little 2 month old black spanish poult, the only turkey to hatch out of 11 eggs and she has been in our room in a cage ever since she hatched. She has just been the wrong size to put with any other group, and with her being alone for so long, she would freak out at the site of another bird. I put a mirror in her cage when she was about 3 weeks old, figuring that she could get some 'company' if she saw herself. It was just the funniest, cutest thing ever. She would stand in that mirror, looking at the 'other turkey' and she would talk and talk to it. And my dh thought I was just as silly as could be wanting to put a mirror in there!
So anyway, about 3-4 days ago we tried to put her in with the new poults, and not only did they peck at her, but she was so scared that she kept hurling herself against the cage walls trying to get out....so we had to take her back out before she hurt herself. Well, yesterday morning we were all outside, and my 7 year old ds decided to take it upon himself to put her back in with the babies.....and it worked. She is so happy now and not near as skiddish. The pen is right next to the computer, so when I get up to do other things and leave the room, she cheeps REALLY loud for me. Mama....Mama come back! Now the other ones are doing it too....they will probably be going outside soon, because they are doing it really bad at night.
I'm just happy that we finally found a new home for our 2 month old and she finally has some friends! : )
way to go for your kiddo! oh, i coudln't handle htem by my computer. UGH! you are one patient gal!
I know, I couldn't be more proud of him! Having them by the computer has been really helpful in watching and keeping an eye on how they are doing....and the noise is just about anything else. You get used to it. Now smell either because we keep the paper changed....couldn't handle that....poults and turkeys are smelly little things! I also love looking over and seeing our 2 month old (I call her Silly Suzy for some reason, don't know if
'she' is a hen or a tom yet) I look over and watch her learning how to be a turkey from the babies.....wish I had a dig camera so I could show you all! The little babies are bronzes and whites....and Silly Suzy is a black spanish, so she really sticks out! : ) Right now they are all making a little twittering noise....I just gave them a watermelon rind and they are loving it!
Ladybug we have 3 Cayuga Ducks (ordered 4 but one died the day after it arrived). Two of them are crested. I can't tell them apart unless I get really close.
We have 24 chickens (okay so they're one month old chicks but now they look like chickens !) 10 are New Hampshires, 10 are Buff Orpintons and 5 are unknown. We ordered 5 Delaware roos but what came are not Delawares and one might not even be a roo! There is also a sexed pair of White Chinese geese.
We also have 4 Boer goats, an Alaskan Malamute and a German Shorthair. A lot of animals!!
Been lucky with our chicks, geese and ducks in that none of them got spraddle legs and there has been no picking to date. The ducks get earthworms that I dig up for them. The geese want only green stuff to eat. The chickens eat their crumbles and range around their large fenced in area. They seem to find stuff to eat (bugs, leaves etc).
Like you we don't want them all the same! Next year we're adding some more to our flock.
My ducks are confused and think the geese are their mom and dad. The 5 of them stay together all the time. They share quarters with the chickens. At first they would bite the chickens but now have settled down to only biting if the chickens get too daring and bother them (which they do!).
MollyD
Glad everything is turning out for you. They'll be outside before you know it and then things can go back to normal inside. (until next ordering season, shhh or the hubbies will hear) : )
oh, well, chuck laid her first egg today! Peter was beside himself thinking i would put it in the incubator, and I said NO WAY! NO MORE! [for now...]
very nicely shaped, not too porous, prety color of brown. think i am going to like these Buckhorns! wish the camera was working. perhaps it is the cable, since i found the cable had been run over by the wheels of the pc chair, ARGGGH!
tf
My darling 16 week olds are working out the pecking order and I somehow seem to be involved in it. Delphine the Delaware is definitely top chicken--whenever her number 2, Buttercup the Buff Orpington, gets near me and I pick her up, Delphine waits til I put her down and then chases her madly around and around the chicken yard grabbing her feathers and pulling. Otherwise they seem to get along okay--
tf how old is Chuck?
Today there was a major rooster fight between two of the fake Delawares. One tried to back off and run. The other was determine to fight to the end. I had to grab him and give him a good talking to. Later he tried it again so I sent him into the coop to think things over. Must have worked cause afterwards he was minding his own business. Of course explaining to him that fighting was the fast track to a stew pot might have helped ;-)
MollyD
oh, yeah, they really get those talking toos. i have been having problems since i got new clogs, different style and color, one of my Buckeye roos wwill come running to see what is attacking my feet, or what is trespassing, and i get down to their eye level and say IT'S ME! NEW SHOES!
Chuck hatched in jan, so five months, that is about right on time! she finally gave up trying to get into the pen with her bantam chicks [4 months old now] and started sleeping in the window to the henhouse... like she is working on her identity issues... this egg is a good sign...
i guess even if i can't load them up i should continue TAKING pics....
TF lol aren't they neat! This evening Paul and I were putting up bird netting. Everyone was trying to help out while the geese acted like supervisors and building inspectors! LOL It had to meet their specifications. Gretel kept asking what it was for. I could just tell that's what she wanted to know.
Have more work to do on it tomorrow but when I'm done most of their area will have netting over it. That will ease my mind when they're out during the day.
MollyD
we wil be doing extra work around here tomorrow, then tuesday i will pick up mor eshade cloth. wednesday will be another scorcher. i am sure we will be getting all kinds of looks and comments when we cover their pens!
The animals are so funny, and they for sure have their own personalities! Tf, I can just see you chickens chasing around your shoes....probably trying to eat them! lol
And Molly, your geese trying to supervise! What a funny picture! Where you putting up bird netting to stop over head attacks from chicken hawks...etc? What do you have to watch out for in your area? I wish we were doing that this year too.....I am always worried when our 'girls' are out and I see a chicken hawk overhead. It makes my heart jump up in my throat!
I'm hoping for next year though.
Well, our Silly Suzy (2 mo old poult) is now getting comfortable with the week old poults....only a little too much so. 'She' has seemed to pick up pretty fast on the fact
that she is 3-4 times the size of her new siblings, and is turning into a little bully! This
morning, she was chasing the little ones around the cage, having the back of their little
necks in her beak, and was running across the pen like that, while each little one tried to
get away. Acting on instinct and lacking a better idea, I waited until she got closer to the opening of the cage and then 'thunked' her little head, making her drop the little poult. I yelled no when I did it, like I would if she had been a puppy pooing on the floor for the 20th time! She hasn't done that for awhile, so I don't know if that was an effective way to handle it or not. Good thing they are beside my computer and I caught her at it! If she does it again, does anyone have any ideas on what might be a better way to handle it? I would just hate to take her out of there, she has been alone for so long already! Is it possible that she is just trying to establish a pecking order with her new little friends?
Ladybug we've got several kings of hawks here as well as peregrine falcons. The netting won't stop raccoons and foxes but then I lock my flock up at night.
MollyD