Bourbon Red turkeys sick and dying

[spencerfarm]

Thank you Lilredhippie for the encouragement. I feel like I am going crazy. Like I said I quarantined the turkeys overnight and I looked for any signs of diarrhea or anything abnormal this morning and couldn't find anything. They all jumped down off the roost and ate and drank fine.
I am wondering if rain could have killed the turkey. Hurricane Lee had just come through and we had gotten 12 inches of rain the day before the turkey died.

 

[spencerfarm]

bump

 

[Lilredhippie]

I have always heard that turkeys don't do well if they get cold and wet. I also told that the quickest way to kill baby turkeys is to give them cold water to drink.
Sometimes there is no answer as to why they died. I had a couple drop dead on me. I think one flew into a post trying to get off the roost. The other one looked fine the night I shut them up. Next morning I had a flat turkey on the pen floor.
Good luck.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I was told ( and I do not know if it is true) that a turkey will drown in the rain by looking up at the sky, trying to figure out where the water is coming frm. Now, I have turkeys, and none have died from drowning like that!

 

[Lilredhippie]

Me either. But they don't mind being out in the rain. My Black Jersery Giant hens would not venture out in the snow, but my turkeys didn't mind it at all.

 

[Pheasantlady1971]

I raised turkeys with chickens for years. I thought the rumors were silly. Then one year, here we go. All of a sudden we had dying turkeys. Wazine is the only medication you need. I realized after losing several birds that you have to worm them often. After you use the wazine, keep up with natural worming by sprinkling DE , diatomaceous earth, on their food everyday. Sprinkle it on like salt. You shouldnt have any more problems after that.

 

[Lilredhippie]

I have never had a worm problem either. For the most part all the birds free ranged in several fenced paddocks. When I am home I would let the older chickens and turkeys out in a portable hot fence. I don't know if I have just been lucky or what.

 

[Lucysmom002]

The turkey didn't eat medicated feed did it? I don't know if they are supposed to have that or n ot??

 

[junglebird]

Quote:
That happened to me this morning - all the chicks and poults were fine yesterday, but this morning a 5 week old poult was just laying there dead on the ground.

 

[Lilredhippie]

No, do not feed your turkeys medicated feed. I have never fed my chickens or turkeys medicated feed. The chicks I have gotten from MMM were vacinated, but none of the birds I have hatched myself received any medication. I have never had a large loss of birds. The worst I have ever lost was 6 this summer when the hottest day was 110*. And they were cornish x meat birds, so that was not really a shock.