Knowing chick survival rates gives wildlife biologists a solid indicator of where the turkey population is heading, which is why a group of researchers are currently in the field working on a chick survival project in Wisconsin.
It does not take a gigantic number of chicks to maintain a population. The current metric or benchmark used to measure flock health is the number of at least two surviving chicks per hen. A value below this rate indicates herd decline, as is the case in some southeastern states.
Modern study from Wisconsin on turkey poult survival
