Turkey death (mild graphic photo)

[emcat352]

We have a duck pen with three female ducks and one male. We recently introduced three turkey chicks into the pen and have had them for several weeks with no incident. When I went out to the pen this morning two of our turkeys had died, there we're blood spots on their head but none anywhere else that I could see.
Our female ducks recently hatched some eggs and we took the ducklings from them and put them in a brooding box. Is it possible that the ducks attacked the turkey chicks and killed them? Or do I need to be looking for some kind of disease?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! So sorry for your losses. The best way to rule out disease to have a necropsy done by your state lab. Depending on where you live, a necropsy might be free or have a small fee. Let me know where you live and I will find your state's lab.

 

[R2elk]

We have a duck pen with three female ducks and one male. We recently introduced three turkey chicks into the pen and have had them for several weeks with no incident. When I went out to the pen this morning two of our turkeys had died, there we're blood spots on their head but none anywhere else that I could see.
Our female ducks recently hatched some eggs and we took the ducklings from them and put them in a brooding box. Is it possible that the ducks attacked the turkey chicks and killed them? Or do I need to be looking for some kind of disease?

It is pretty safe to think the poults were killed and did not die naturally. Whether it was the ducks that killed them (possibly) or some predator, something killed them.

Personally I would not have put the poults in that situation. You have ducks that are protective of their hatching eggs. The poults are outsiders. The other issue is that ducks love their water and the mess it can make and poults should be kept dry.

 

[emcat352]

Thank you for your replies. We have since found out that the most likely culprit was the neighbors cat as it has been seen prowling around the pen. We have also separated the remaining turkey from the ducks and also moved our ducklings to a brooding box to prevent any injury to them.