Coax the birds back into the turkey house by offering them poultry feed. From the get-go, you need to know that turkeys aren’t the most cost-effective animal to include on your homestead, but it’s worth it to many. I found that processing a turkey is more difficult than chickens. Preparing Turkey Poults for Outside Living and When They Can Go Outside. Add to Favorites . I hope this helps you understand how to encourage your turkeys to hatch out their own babies. They will be happiest if you keep their brooder temperature at 95-100 degrees for the first week, then lower the temperature by about 5 degrees per week until they are fully feathered, approximately 6-8 weeks old. Secondly, chicks mature more quickly than turkey poults … I butchered all but one turkey on my own. Turkey poults should be raised separately from chickens, not in the same coop or pen, for a couple of reasons. Turkeys are amazingly stupid — from the newly hatched poults who can starve to death while trampling in their feed because they haven’t learned where to find it, to the hens who lay their eggs standing up. You can let out toms for a few hours every day to graze, then let them back in before letting the hens out to graze. This will be after 8 weeks of age and of course within reason. Poults should only be allowed to range on clean ground, preferably where no adult poultry have been for 6-12 months to prevent bacterial or parasitic infestations. Particularly, turkey poults are prone to “starving out”. Turkeys are good foragers and poults can go out on grass or range on warm days at a couple of weeks of age, if the lawn is unsprayed and grit is provided with their feed. Starving out means some poults will hang back or get pushed away from the feeder, and they will actually starve to death despite food being available. Raising Turkeys at Home ... and I could tell from the expression on her face I was out of the chicken picture. For complete instructions on processing turkeys, check out my post, How to Butcher a Turkey. Turkey poults love heat. ... Raising turkey poults can be an interesting experience. Raising Turkeys; Feeding, Housing, Diseases and Care Raising turkeys is no different to keeping chickens, in fact, and in some ways turkeys are easier to raise. ... can’t get out, and eventually dies. Light stimulates hormone production, and thus brings about the onset of breeding. I like to fence off a corner of the turkey coop and give the little family a chick-sized waterer and feeder so they can come out, eat and then go back under mama without having to be around other turkeys or chickens. Of all homestead poultry projects, raising backyard turkeys seems to appeal to the least number of people. The biggest differences are that turkeys are heavier, more energetic, and feistier than chickens. While your poults are feeding, keep a close eye on them for ensuring this doesn’t happen. Keeping turkeys can begin with hatching poults. Even for breeding stock, make sure the turkeys have access to pasture each day. Like all young birds, turkeys are very prone to becoming chilled before their feathers are fully in. If you wish to hatch turkey poults early in the year, light stimulation can bring turkey hens into egg production and give toms a desire to mate. Hopefully, this information will better prepare you as you take this journey. When you first get your turkey poults, you will want to have feeders and waterers set up and filled, ready to go.This way when the poults first arrive, you can dip their beaks in the water and make sure they start eating soon after settling in. The one problem with turkeys is that they are big, ungainly birds with the larger breeds being so big that they cannot breed naturally. Before full-time-regular-outdoor-living, they need to be fully feathered and acclimated to the temperatures. First, there is a risk of a disease called "blackhead disease" that chickens can give to turkeys. Baby Turkeys (turkey poults) are fairly easy to raise, if you follow a few simple steps.