Thanks, chooks4life for the Turkey Primer. I am really interested in the Garlic info. How much and how often do you give the Garlic?
An average dose for maintenance is a clove per bird per day for a chook, you can add more with larger birds like turkeys. I generally give mine extra so any individuals who need more can get it, no squabbling over rations. In America it seems garlic's really expensive, it does fluctuate in price a lot. It may be worth looking into getting bulk tubs of garlic granules or crushed raw garlic for turkeys from the same online sources that supply horse keepers. For antibiotic application, raw and freshly minced or crushed is by far the best way to use it. For the ongoing parasite control even the dried stuff should do.
Does it work with chickens, too?
Yes, very much so. I originally started using garlic with my chooks back when I first got chooks and have experimented with and without it, and with and without kelp, and with and without ACV, over the years, and definitely using those three produces the best results, but also using natural insecticides like DE and liming the soil to control pathogens and parasite oocyst burdens, and soaking the grains, and free ranging them so they get a lot of greens, are also very, very important for health.
The DE you can swap out for other things but the rest of it is very hard or nigh-impossible to replace with anything as effective in my experience. I'm speaking as an Aussie there though, some places in America seem to have a lot of great alternative options.
Raising them under their mothers also does wonders for their immune systems, I'm a proponent of raising them outdoors from hatching onwards (they are both brooded and hatched outdoors too) wherever possible, but it can be difficult for some to do so due to circumstances, weather, etc.
How about ducks?
I haven't kept ducks personally, just geese and some natives in terms of waterfowl, but as far as I know it will also work with them. The source whose information I tested in originally giving them garlic, kelp etc also uses all of those for ducks. If you haven't read it, I recommend Juliette de Bairacli Levy's 'The Herbal Handbook For Farm And Stable'. She goes off into superstition sometimes, recounting folklore, but she was also a trained vet and I've used her information on herbs to save animal lives of quite a few animals in very bad states, from various species. She's not always 100% correct but very close to it. No authoritative source ever seems to be 100% correct no matter how much else they're right about; for example Levy didn't realize the dangers of asbestos as it was new when she was still around, but her herbal information is quite old and thoroughly tested all over the world. It's always best to keep 'doing your homework' no matter how well one thinks they know the subject. New information always comes to light over time.
During her time, J.d.B.L. traveled the world and recorded the herbal remedies people used for many illnesses and injuries across many species for thousands of years. Some of it I've been skeptical about but when I test it, it does work, though getting non-modern/non-commercial cultivar plants for it can be hard. Thankfully there's now a lot of people working to make more available the heritage plants etc. Modern plants are often weak and far less nutritious ripoffs of their ancestral state, so just because you know a plant is supposed to have a certain nutritional profile, doesn't mean you should trust that. Each plant and source needs to be proven. Some are worthless now, unfortunately...
Anyway, J.d.B.L. was famous in her time and treated the royals' dogs, horses etc of England, Italy and other royals' animals because her treatments for parvo and other illnesses were so successful.
Her herbal info saved my dog as a pup from an advanced case of parvo, he was almost dead by the time I got him (he's a feral/wild-born and bred dog so nobody could have intervened sooner, he only got caught because he was too ill to escape). He was so far gone any vet would have just put him down, his skull was almost half the length of his body due to the starvation, pooping clear watery liquid no matter what he ate, but he's in shining health today and you'd never know he had such a terrible setback.
I used her treatment as described in that book title I mentioned to save him, though I did find a difference in that the barleywater she describes can be hard to supply as the barley you can easily get these days has been modified by modern agriculture so that instead of being alkaline, some modern barleys are acid, and so will not serve the purpose necessary, which is to cleanse and support the kidneys especially. Asides from that difference it worked great, he immediately made a turn around in condition and thrived from then on despite having been severely emaciated with brain, heart and GI tract damage which lasted until he was over a year old before it healed, so extensive was the harm done.
Any advice on probiotics for Turkeys?
I am medicating a Tom white broad-breasted for respiratory issues and know he's going to need his good bacteria replaced when he's done with the medication. I have been lacing his water with apple cider vinegar. I have never had turkeys before and got a couple BB's just for meat, but I am hooked on the big, goofy birds!
You don't need much ACV to help them, generally it's a good idea to have plain water also available.
As for probiotics, I've never used any proprietary formulas with them but plain yoghurt and other natural sources (i.e. raw honey, raw cow's milk, slippery elm bark powder which like raw honey is both antibiotic and probiotic), but then again I've not used artificial antibiotics on them, so it may be worth just looking up what conventional farmers or turkey keepers give them to recover their gut health after artificial antibiotics as they can be pretty devastating, especially to those extra-susceptible individuals which unfortunately we don't spot until the damage is done.
A healthy and largely raw diet goes a very long way healthwise, as cooked oils, proteins and fats are generally things that should only ever be consumed in small amounts and not as a staple. Easier said than done though when looking for the ideal and still convenient diet for them, especially when you're a beginner or have a very tight budget.
Turkeys even more than chickens are sensitive to liver-toxic things and require more natural proteins and greens for full health. Otherwise, just like us, they tend to develop cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver syndrome etc, but if culled young enough will still be healthy enough. Animals that live on pellets, mash or crumble alone don't tend to be very healthy overall, or will only look well for short time spans up to the usual cull date, so the more natural foods you can get into their diet the better. Also, 'complete' foods are rarely that despite what the label says, extra nutrition is quite often needed for longevity.
Obviously a lot of this depends on what you want from them, long life, breeding, or just a few months of raising then eating, pets, livestock, both, whatever.
Some antibiotics permanently destroy gut fauna/flora and prevent these populations of microorganisms from ever returning, so if the animal remains in lesser health after antibiotic use it can be either due to that or due to damage from the ailment the antibiotics were used to cure, or both. For such animals extra nutrition and in more digestible forms can sometimes manage the shortfall.
They are rather decent livestock, I like them too. They can also make surprisingly sweet-natured pets. Best wishes with them.
