dying babys please help

[Tiffanys' Mama]

My white and bronze turkeys were born last Monday. I bought them from a reputable feed store. On Sat. night my husband checked on them and they were fine. An hour or so later the white one was dead. No signs of anything. Tonight our bronze was acting lethargic. Wouldn't or couldn't open it's eyes, couldn't hold itself upright. It would throw it's head back and fall to the side and couldn't get back right side up. I mixed sugar water (1 part sugar, 5 parts water) and used a syringe to get it to drink some ( about 1-1 1/2 cc all together). He started acting a little better after this, opened his eyes some of the time, started talking a lot, pooped on my husbands hand (poop was white), he started being able to get his balance for the most part if he started falling. He still seems sleepy and weak. We are using a red heat light and he stays in the middle of his box (doesn't stay as far away as he can get and isn't right under it either), the water bottle leaked 2 days in a row but he didn't seem to get very wet just a little on his belly. We are feeding a 20% chick starter as he is in with our day old chicks and also no medicated anything. Any advice is greatly appreciated as this is our first turkeys we've ever had. Thanks.

 

[Stormy Autumn]

It might be a nutrition thing. Turkeys need different vitamins than chickens do, and I believe they need a lot more protein (although I've never raised them myself). The very first thing I would recommend is switching to gamebird starter right away and stop feeding them the chick starter. You can also give them hard boiled egg yolk for some quick extra protein. They also have poultry vitamin packs at the feed store that could help.

Hopefully someone who knows more about turkeys will chime in, but I wanted to give you some sort of advice in case this post just sits here empty.

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

As stormy autumn said the higher protein feed will be better for them. a gamebird starter will also have a more appropriate vitamin and mineral mix than chick starter. the symptoms that you are describing however indicate that the birds are sick. I dont think that that those symptoms would come from feeding them chick starter. from the symptoms you describe I am not sure what specific disease, if you can you might ask a local vet. It is possible from the symptoms you describe that it could be paratyphoid, are the wings drooping or is there any swelling in the joints? Also i would recommend immediatley taking the chicken chicks out of the brooder as some illnesses can infect both poults and chicks. I would continue to try to keep them hydrated, that should help a little bit. Hopefully someone else will recognize these symptoms and be able to tell you what to do. (also the leaking waterer would not cause this, it sounds very much like some sort of illness and not simple chilling).

 

[Tiffanys' Mama]

Thanks both of you for the advice. I went to check on him an hour ago and he is actually better. I'm amazed. He was under the heat lamp when I went out but as I sat there watching him he walked over to the feed and ate, a few minutes later he drank so I don't know what to think. He didn't try to get away as much as normal when I picked him up to look at him but he sure is better. I will feed him a higher protein feed and see if that helps. I haven't given anything medicated or any vitamins because we are trying to do the organic, as natural as possible, thing. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

Glad the poult is acting like it is getting better. Hopefully it will make a full recovery on its own. Making sure the poults stays hydrated will go a long way towards helping it naturally recover from whatever is ailing it.

 

[jami0850]

Warmth, water, and food are all very important but truth of the matter is baby turkeys just die sometimes for causes unknown to me at least. They do stress more easily than chicks and I believe it accounts for a lot of losses, but not all. I feed my poults un-medicated gamebird starter and as often as possible, hatch a couple of chicks with them. They really do help with getting the little turkeys eating and drinking very quickly and takes a lot of work out of it for me. I normally set about 30 eggs at a time when I incubate and usually hatch most if not all the eggs. I will almost always lose what appears to be a perfectly healthy a poult or 2 the first couple days... go to bed and everybody is fine, wake up and find one dead. It just happens. After several years of this, I just do the best I can, and have learned to expect and accept the few losses.

 

[Frosty]

Did you see them eating and drinking before the problem started? How did the one that you syringe fed feel weight wise? What are you using for bedding? If they are on shavings, they could eat the shavings and get an impacted crop.

 

[GobbleGobbleBaw]

I've had 4 turkey babies hatch so far, 3 needed help because they couldn't get out. Needless to say, it didn't look too good for the 3 that had trouble but I'm happy to say that today, they are all doing GREAT.

Since one of them was especially weak and just laid on his side and had trouble lifting his head even, my secret has been to use baby rice cereal (Gerber brand but I'm sure store brand will do just fine). I found it difficult to get the real weak ones to eat the starter food, even if it's been softened and when making the rice cereal a bit on the thinner side, it's like feeding and giving water all in one. I use hot water and by the time I feed them, it is lukewarm and won't cause them to get cold.
I check the temperature frequently and of course check on the little ones every hour or so, making sure the temperature is right, they are in a good spot and don't get too hot or cold, and help them stand up for a little while and see if they want food/water on their own. For 2 of them, it made them better within 24 hours and they are now bouncing around like happy little turkey's. The 3rd took 4 days but he/she too, is coming around.

This is our first breeding season and we use an incubator for all the eggs, so I'm by no means experienced in any way. It's just something I found has worked for us, so far. Just my 2 cents

 

[zekii]

Some of ours poults looked lethargic, so we started giving them a mixture of crumbles, warm water, plain yogurt, and mashed egg yolk, and a few drops of vitamins... gave this mixture daily for about a week, and it boosted them right up. Now we offer this has a treat every other day.

 

[mamawolf544]

20% is too low for poults. They need Game bid starter or Turkey starter I think it is about 28%, I cant remember exactly I just buy it now. No medicated feed, and you need to make sure they are eating and drinking. Sugar water is good for a boost like you are doing but I would get them a higher protein feed.