On Monday, I moved all the turkeys from their stall in the barn to their pasture pens. They were 1 day shy of 8 weeks old, and rapidly outgrowing the space. While the deep litter method I'd used worked great (I'd add new shavings and/or hay every day to ensure a dry clean surface for the brooder), the rate of poop production was greater than I could easily stay up on adding bedding. They were also started to get into trouble, by flying up and finding gaps near the top of the brooder. I had to rescue one that had trapped itself between the mesh wire. At 8 weeks, the poults are fully feathered and in no need of supplemental heat.
Poults before the big move
I caught them up one by one and put them into an old airplane pet carrier that was laying around the farm. A lot of pooping ensued, as that is their go to reaction when stressed.
After the trek out to the pasture on the cart, I reached into the (quite smelly) crate and put them in their new home.
Each pen has an automatic waterer, a hanging feeder, and a roost made out of a 2 x 4. 65 of the 80 turkeys survived to this stage (although 2 are still in the barn: runty, and gimpy, a turkey who has some problems standing up), which means there are about 16 turkeys per 5 x 10 ft shelter. So far, the pasture system is working great. I move the pens every day to a fresh spot, and the turkeys are foraging like mad. The only problem is that the turkeys tend to get their feet caught under the wood as the shelter moves along. I move very slowly, and stop and back up as soon as I hear the telltale squawk. I'm using two small wheel to prop the shelters up as I move them, but the uneven ground coupled with the small wheels does not raise the shelter up very high. If I get some larger diameter wheels, I'm hoping I'll solve the problem. I'm also hoping the turkeys will get smarter about moving forward as they get larger.
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