Are my Turkeys sick?????

[KatesFarm]

I need some advise. I have three Bourbon Red's and one Spanish Black. They mix with my laying chicken hens in the coops and free range at their discretion. The Bourbons were bought about a month ago and they had forty plus chickens at that farm also. They were around each other there but not in the same pen.

One of the Bourbon hens started loosing feathers slowly and I assumed it was from mating. Today I noticed they are falling out very rapidly. Also today, my Tom started loosing his tail feathers. Went from a full fan, to four! The hen that is loosing the feathers has been roosting consistently with the chickens. I've noticed some brown diarrhea from that hen. I also assume it's too late/early for a moult to start. The temp has been in the single digits here in Colorado.

Any ideas/suggestions will be appreciated!

 

[De Wet]

Check signs for any type of lice

 

[HEChicken]

Turkeys seem to be more susceptible to worms than chickens. I also keep my turkeys with my flock and almost lost my tom a few months back as he daily grew weaker and more lethargic. The only symptom other than the lethargy was very watery poop. Around the same time, I saw some live roundworms in the poop of several of my chickens so decided it was time to worm them.

I used the injectable Ivermectin, but put it in their water. I have a 5-gallon waterer, and used 4ml per gallon. After filling the waterer, I removed any other water sources so the whole flock drank from the medicated water. It took 2 days for them to get through it.

It had the desired effect on the hens with the worms - I was able to determine almost immediately that they were no longer expelling live worms in their poop. But the most dramatic difference was in the turkey tom, who perked up, started eating like he hadn't seen food in a month, and stopped sitting around all day looking weak.

A friend later told me she worms her turkeys (who are kept separate from her chickens) once a month because in her experience they are more susceptible to parasites.

The injectable Ivermectin is available at the feed store, usually in a locked fridge. It isn't cheap but a little goes a long way.

 

[krazykat0373]

I use a half cup scoop of food grade DE in my turkeys and chickens feed about once a week and that seems to do the trick for me...its getting kind of expensive compared to when I first started using DE, but like in a previous post about the ivermectin, a little goes a long way. This bag that I have now, I have had about 10 months and still have enough for a few months longer. (Costs about 50 for a 50# sack)

DE is also great externally, I use it in nest boxes and sprinkled around the coop and runs. It's good for all sorts of pests and parasites.Also helps with the fly population. I even feed it to my horses and dogs. No problems with worms, ticks or fleas!

 

[KatesFarm]

Thank you all for the advise! Looks like I'm heading to Big R for some supplies.

 

[frank53061]

I use a half cup scoop of food grade DE in my turkeys and chickens feed about once a week and that seems to do the trick for me...its getting kind of expensive compared to when I first started using DE, but like in a previous post about the ivermectin, a little goes a long way. This bag that I have now, I have had about 10 months and still have enough for a few months longer. (Costs about 50 for a 50# sack)

DE is also great externally, I use it in nest boxes and sprinkled around the coop and runs. It's good for all sorts of pests and parasites.Also helps with the fly population. I even feed it to my horses and dogs. No problems with worms, ticks or fleas!

Great advise I do the same with my Fowl.