First hurdle

Well they survived the night and have over come the first major hurdle, finding their food and water. Apparently turkey poults can be a little slow on the uptake. It's not too important that they eat straight away as they still have the absorbed egg yolk, to see them through the first day or two, but obviously the sooner they learn to eat and drink the better. For now they are on chick crumbs and chopped hard boiled egg. They aren't supposed to have chick crumbs as the protein level is too low and also some contain coccidats, but it is only until tomorrow when I can buy the turkey starter crumb. In the meantime the egg will give them extra protein and they are eating too little to make a difference at this stage.

Photo: The last of the four to hatch not yet 24 hours old.

Photo: The first to hatch 27 hours old


The fifth egg still hasn't hatched but as today is the due date I haven't lost all hope...yet.