baby turkeys gagging

okwari

Hatching
11 Years
Nov 30, 2008
5
0
7
Spring Hope, NC
I had 6 turkeys hatch 3 weeks ago and they were all healthy and active until today. I went into the coop today and 2 of them suddenly started doing a "gagging" behavior. They open their mouth, stretch their neck and it looks like they are going to hurl, but nothing happens. The behavior is repeated several times, then they seem ok for a few minutes and it starts all over again. What is going on? Do i need to separate them? I have never had chicks hatch before, so I don't have a clue. Any kind of help is appreciated.
 
You could separate them to a location where you can observe them more often to see if this is a continuous pattern of behavior. What are you feeding them? What kind of bedding are they on, or are they accessing run, etc.? They can and do choke - sometimes it clears (stretching out neck and opening beak) sometimes it doesn't, that would be my initial guess.
 
My turkeys do this when they are eating like there isn't going to be another meal. It has seemed to me that having the waterer close to the feed helps them resolve this issue. I think there are some pieces in my mix that are just a little bigger than will go down super easily when they are scooping a bunch up in their beaks at one time.
 

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