2 month old Turkey dead - think he hit his head on roost?

[Calen]

Hi. I have 4 two-month-old turkeys, standard bronze. They were in a hard bottom cage, and one started to hobble, has swollen feet now. I moved them over into a 10 x 10 chain link dog cage with a top on it so they could be on the ground. We put in a roost, across one of the corners, a little under 3 feet from the ground. I went out this morning, and the turkeys were fine less the hobbling turkey. I watched them jumping and flying around from my window. I went out after lunch to check on them, and I saw one dead. I assumed it was the hobbling turkey, but it was another one. Of course, it appeared to be the largest one, which was definitely a Tom. We saw him strut the day we put him in the larger pen. My son is so upset. The turkeys have slept on that roost the past two nights. I have heard of turkeys drowning in a bucket of water, but I have never heard of roost injuries? Has anyone had anything like this happen before?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Did it's neck seem broken?

 

[Calen]

The neck didn't seem broken, but it was bent when I collected him so it was hard to tell. I felt it, but I couldn't feel anything obvious. I also thought that maybe he jumped up and banged the top of his head, but if he did that, there was no blood or obvious contusion. It is really odd. I was just out there two hours prior to this, and he was fine. I spoke with someone else, and they have their roosts like mine, and they have never had an issue. I mean I guess he could have been dancing around in there, and then just ran into the board. I have a dog house so I moved it under the board to deter them from dancing around in that direction. I was going to move it, but I decided this was better. I don't want their roost too close to the chain link in case a predator wants to try to pull one through it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think it was one of those things you will never know what happened unfortunately. You could go get some cheaper chicken wire or rabbit fencing to line your pen with so nothing can grab them the the fence. We use zip ties to attach fence to fence.

 

[Calen]

My husband had a tarp up over the roosting area, not to keep predators out, but to block the sun while they are roosting. It was tied to the cage so a predator would have to rip it off to get to them. We are not too worried about predators because they are right next to a dog that is a serious barker. But...I had some plastic green gardening fencing with small holes that I used one year to keep chickens away from my tomatoes so I decided to run that along the bottom of the cage just in case. It went almost all the way around the cage, only one little spot open. I look out last night, and one of the Royal Palm turkeys is on the ground, not on the roost. Where on the ground? Right at the one spot without the fencing. Back out I go at 2 a.m. to put a piece of tin there. Some days.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That stinks, sorry, I agree, some days.

 

[Abriana]

Sometimes birds just die sudden deaths, and there may never be an explanation. I'm sorry about your turkey!