a wounded, rescued turkey from a livestock trailer

[supergirl42]

Yesterday, saw a turkey sitting on the side of the road. Drove back to take a second look. It was a live, white turkey. Wrapped her up in a sheet I had in the car, kept her warm and got her home a few hours later. Am assuming she is from a factory farm - her feet look deformed and she is missing claws - do turkeys have claws? Only 4 toes on one foot, 5 on the other. Her top beak has also been cut. Think she is about 10 pounds and she is gross, matted, dirty with manure. Her breast bone is bare as well. As for wounds, she has road rash on one side of her neck and under one wing. On that same side, she is 'skinned' about the size of the palm of my hand. Washed her up last night and tonite with anti bacterial soap I had on hand from the vets for fur animals that I have or rescue - this is my first turkey rescue - and then put polysporin on wounds. She is drinking water and have made a mash of boiled egg, egg shell, oatmeal and dandelion leaves - she is not really eating - just tasting. She is more interested in the water. Have her on a heating pad in a recycling blue box and she is sleeping lots. What else can I do for her? Thank you

 

[justbugged]

It sounds like you are doing as much as you can for her. Still bless you for caring, and taking care of her. It sounds like she is in a much better place now, and all she really needs is a little time to recover from her injuries.

 

[lilchick]

Do you have any vitamin/ electrolyte powder to mix in her water? Or a drink mix you give kids when they are sick....
If not warm water with sugar to sweeten it will help her. I have fed mine wet soupy feed mixture to encourage them to start eating. If you have no chicken feed just use pieces of bread and boiled egg yolk, cottage cheese or yogurt.
In a pinch if you have to force feed use bite size pieces of dog or cat food. Open her mouth and push food far enough back she cannot spit it out... Good she is drinking so you do not have to syringe liquid into her!
They heal up quickly from the wounds as long as they are kept dry and away from flies.. Keeping her warm and letting her sleep is the best thing... Sounds like you know what you are doing. Keep us informed and best of luck...

 

[chickenzoo]

Thank you for stopping and getting her, that was very kind of you. She may still be in some shock. It is good that she is trying to taste food that is new to her. If she was rasied like that she probably only knows grower feed, not all the good stuff we feed our spoiled ones. You can wet chicken or turkey food.... sometimes the wet food gets them interested.

 

[supergirl42]

Thank you all for your replies - very encouraging and kind words. I was with a group of co workers when I had her and they had all passed her on the highway. One of the husbands said normal people would have kept on driving. Thank goodness not all people are normal! My mom and I have 10 chickens that we are spoiling rotten - we live in a small town in SW MB and we have 5 acres, but it is still designated town and all livestock is illegal. So, our little chicken operation is underground, so to speak. My mom and I have rescued dogs, kittens and wild fowl over the years - and Mom is having the most fun with this one! I have been educating mom on factory farmed livestock and Lucy is really helping to push that point home - her cropped beak, deformed feet, filthy body, etc. On the bright side, it may have been that environment that saved her in the end - she was supposedly in that same spot on the shoulder - about two feet from the traffic for at least 8 hours - her eyes were closed when we got her - in shock too I suspect - but maybe because of her legs she couldn't

move - if she did, she may have been run over. I strongly believe everything happens the way it should and Lucy is part of it.

This morning, she has had some water, changed her bedding and now our little chihuahua dogs are guarding her - may have to do some physiotherapy at some point for her legs, will cross that bridge later.

Thank you for letting me know that keeping her warm and quiet is good. Will keep you posted and get a couple of pics to put on later.

Bless you all for your help

 

[Pampered Hen]

Bless you for saving this sorry bird! Who needs "normal" people if they don't care about other creatures? I'll keep my fingers crossed for Lucy's recovery and we all are looking forward to updates and a photo or two

 

[OmaBird]

Will she eat your chickens feed? If she recoveres from her wounds, you will have to underfeed her or she could break down on her legs or have a heart attack. Comercial turkeys are meant to grow and be eaten. They have the eating gene bred into them and will kill there self if left to eat all they want. They are bred for that. They are not typical pet turkeys. Her deformed feet were caused durring incubation at the wrong humitity or slow to hatch.

 

[chick4chicks]

Thank you so much for caring and helping this poor Turkey. If only more people were like you this would be a much nicer world. Thanks again and best of luck to Lucy.

 

[supergirl42]

Lucy is eating some dry chicken feed as well as the dandelion, boiled egg, oatmeal, bread and water mixture. She likes the wet mixture better I think as she shakes her head when she takes some of the dry chicken feed. She is also starting to eat from a bowl off of the floor, as opposed to us holding it up for her! Yay! We bathed and treated her wounds again tonite, cut off some of the dead, scabbed skin and she didn't even squak - she closed her eyes and just let us help her.

Thanks for the tip about self feeding - I have read that birds are bred to grow so fast and so big that their organs and legs can't keep up with them and they cannot even grow 'old'. We are also cutting off the matted poop on her underside, mom wants to know when it will be safe to bathe her - I am thinking to wait until her wound is better healed - don't want to get poopy water on it from the bath - good idea to wait?

I have a couple of pics, one or more probably have one of our dogs in with her too - even my pit bull, Duck, gave her a sniff - they are all wanting to know what is going on in the porch when we are out there with her!

We don't have her on antibiotics as her wound still looks good - no sight or smell of infection or gangerene.

Thank you again for everyones help and encouragement!

 

[OmaBird]

If you can get the poop off her with out getting the wounds wet would be best. Maybe cover the wound in a thick layer or furazone ointment before you start weting the area.

The reason you need to get the poop off other than the obvious reason is the skin will burn and flys will lay magots on the rotting flesh. They will burry into the flesh and leave toxin that will poision the turkey.

Can you put the turkey on a wire bottom cage to keep her clean?

This might be hard for you to here but sometimes death is better for these Broadbreasted turkeys than the suffering that some go through, trying to get them to live.