Need Immediate advice ASAP-Injured/sickly Turkey

[mustangrooster]

Well, i have a time limit to write this as i dont know how long the turkey will be alive for, and theres a storm going on, so my wifi may cut out any minute..

Late in the afternoon, i went to check on my broody turkey who is sitting on chicken eggs. I found her nest wrecked and all eggs were crushed. She (The broody turkey) was no where in sight, but i found her a bit of a way from the nest....she was just lying there, and had quite a few ants over her. I however got the ants of her....they were under her wings,on her neck, and directly under her vent.

The turkey is in very poor condition, and im stumped on what has happened.

Her eyelids are outlined with red, and her mouth is just open. She cant walk, shes very wobbly when trys, but when she trys, she WALKS BACKWARDS, she cant walk forward, its like her legs are in reverse! She leans to the right alot, and her neck is...its...almost crooked!

Turkeys are not really my area, if it was a chicken or duck i might of been able to find the source and fix her up the best i could, but its a turkey, i dont know what to do!

Shes in a crate outside in the feed shed, its raining as of now, so its a bit chilly. What should i be doing?

I thought it was heat exhaustion but she seemed to struggle to swallow water, and she did perk up a bit when i dipped her legs and belly in water, but i dont think heat exhaustion could do this to a turkey?

I cant find any visual injury's, alot of her eggs in the nest are missing too, the rest are just crushed.

Did a predator do this? Or is the turkey just injured and sickly?





I really need an advice i can get, recommendations, and/or what i should be doing...Im beyond worried.

Thanks,

-Mustang

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry to read about your injured broody turkey. She was most likely attacked by a predator. Bring her inside where it is warm since she is probably in shock. Add poultry vitamins to her water, or give her Poultry Nutri-drench 1 ml for every 3 pounds of weight daily by mouth with a dropper or syringe. She has suffered from wry neck, a neurological symptom from a head injury most likely, but it can also occur in other cases from vitamin deficiency, and in late infectious diseases. Keep her quiet and in a dim area, until she can eat and drink. Keep her food and water near to her, and water is more important than eating at first. If she doesn't start to perk up in a day or two or seems in great pain, then you may want to put her down. Tube feeding can be done and you can search for "go team tube feeding" a thread by Casportpony to learn how. I don't know if this was a raccoon, dog or what, but I would be alert for more. Let us know how she is doing.