Did my turkey die from blackhead?

[HarmonyFox]

I just want to know if it could be something else. My favorite turkey died last night. Her name was Petrie from the land before time because when she was a baby I thought she looked like Petrie. She ment a lot to me. More than I thought actually because I can't stop crying......but I have three more turkey's I have to think about and I don't want them to die too. I dewormed my entire flock of birds in the middle of November when I locked EVERYONE up in the new coops to get them used to their new home. Their coops are wire on dirt with hay upon hay upon hay and the other day I just put down some multch the power company dumped in our yard from cutting down trees. None of my birds have gotten out since I put them in. Wait one bird got in there late...she snuck off to set on eggs and didn't show up until later.........she got wormer too tho. I feed that coop layer feed, whole corn, apples, and recently an entire pumpkin. Petrie really loved apples. Could something I get her have made her sick tho? Could the wood chippings have done something? The day before yesterday she was perched staring at the back of the coop but I didn't think much of it. Then yesterday she was sitting on the ground in the corner so I picked her up to check on her and took her to the front of the coop. She wobbled when I sat her down but walked around and over to get water. The guineas started picking on her a bit so I took her to the sick crate. She pooped this yellow though which was when I got super worried. I thought blackhead took longer than this? She was absolutely fine before this and she hasn't been out of the coop. If it is blackhead will I ever be able to have turkeys again? I actually really love turkeys they're so adorable and inquisitive. Her boyfriend was our other favorite turkey then we have one other couple who isn't very nice but I still like them. Will they get sick and die too? I really don't want it to be blackhead. This was her poop.

 

[Kessel23]

Nope, not blackhead. It will take a turkey 7-14 days to start showing any symptoms after being infected. Blackhead can take over a week to kill an adult bird and definitely can not kill a mature hen overnight. That poop does not really look like it is the result of blackhead either, infected birds will usually start to poop a foamy yellow, like this but lighter yellow-

Your bird's poop kinda looks like that nasty greenish yellow poop that birds produce when they go off feed for a decent period of time.

 

[HarmonyFox]

Nope, not blackhead. It will take a turkey 7-14 days to start showing any symptoms after being infected. Blackhead can take over a week to kill an adult bird and definitely can not kill a mature hen overnight. That poop does not really look like it is the result of blackhead either, infected birds will usually start to poop a foamy yellow, like this but lighter yellow-

Your bird's poop kinda looks like that nasty greenish yellow poop that birds produce when they go off feed for a decent period of time.

Could she have been bullied away from the food and I didn't notice? The other Tom (not her boyfriend) ivI' noticed has been scaring other birds away from the food when he's eating at least.

 

[Kessel23]

I'm not sure, I do have never had a bird get bullied enough to starve. Some other illness or maybe even the weather could have made her go off feed. What are the temps by you? I have several young chickens go off feed because of the cold. I don't really know how she died or what she died from but I do know that it was not blackhead.

 

[HarmonyFox]

I'm not sure, I do have never had a bird get bullied enough to starve. Some other illness or maybe even the weather could have made her go off feed. What are the temps by you? I have several young chickens go off feed because of the cold. I don't really know how she died or what she died from but I do know that it was not blackhead.

We're in the 30-40's here. I moved the bully Tom just to make sure the other Tom was eating and he pooped this tho.

While it's not fomey it's still yellow. But it could be from the pumpkin in there so idk.

 

[Al Capon]

View attachment 1610116

I had to put a pullet down this year that was showing the exact same kind of stool. I put her down when she showed up at the back door profusely bleeding from her chest, don't know if a predator got her or if she jumped down on a piece of sheet metal, but her death wasn't related to the yellow poop.

That aside, I tried everything under the sun to save that pulled. Treated her with antibiotics, anti-protozoans, wormed, etc. Even took her to the vet and he took his best shot with his bag of tricks, nothing worked. She had stopped eating pellets and was losing weight. I could get her to eat warm mash if I separated her from the others, but she'd just eat a little bit. So I had to feed her 5-6 times a day. This went on for a couple months before she had her fatal incident.

I think she had something wrong internally with her digestive system. She wouldn't eat much and what she did eat passed right thru her seemingly still in pellet/grain form. She was fine as a chick, but never did turn the corner and flourish as a pullet. She layed an occasional leathery egg from the roost that always broke open.

I just think she was messed up from the get go.

I don't know what makes them poop this yellow goo. Others have said it shows undernourishment. That would make sense in my case because she couldn't digest any of her food.

 

[Kessel23]

We're in the 30-40's here. I moved the bully Tom just to make sure the other Tom was eating and he pooped this tho.
View attachment 1610187
While it's not fomey it's still yellow. But it could be from the pumpkin in there so idk.

Yeah that is just from what he is eating. They have poop like that when they eat too many pellets too.

 

[casportpony]

I am very sorry for your loss. I know this is hard to do, but you can rule out blackhead if you do a necropsy.


Regarding the poop, I have seen many different types of blackhead poop, so it is possible that she did have blackhead. I'll see if I can find some pictures so you can see just how different they can be.

 

[casportpony]

Here is a collection of blackhead poo pictures:

This is from a young bird that died from blackhead and e. Coli - Confirmed by LSU necropsy

 

[dawg53]

An easy way to find out if it's Blackhead is to do a necropsy. If there are lesions on the liver, kidneys and/or lungs, you'll have your answer.