First possible turkey poult issue.

Dogfish

Rube Goldberg incarnate
9 Years
Mar 17, 2010
1,922
16
161
Western Washington
Came home tonight with a two week old turkey in distress, one 4 days old in distress, and another 4 day old dead. All in the same brooder, with a total of 14 poults in there. I don't think it is a coincidence.

Both alive birds looked as though they were gasping, and both were not on their toes, but leaning back on their "backwards knee joint". Both were a bit lethargic. Younger bird was shaking its head a bit. Added Tetracycline to water with electrolytes and vitamins. I can get Tylan or other antibiotics in the morning from a client who runs a feed store. I have 100 syringes with needles, and am trained with injectables, so that isn't an issue, as far as just doing it.

All birds have been hatched from my captive breeding stock. No new birds at all in that area, except ones hatched here. We did have 22 CX brought here last saturday, but all were processed outside, and all were gone 2 days before thes young ones hatched. Their brooder was cleaned out and sanitized with a light bleach mixture, 1/2 cup to 1 gallon of water, a week before they hatched, and allowed to dry outside for a week. Brooders were brought inside before the processing event.

Food is fresh 27% protein turkey/pheasant starter, water is clean from city water system. No strange looking poo, as they are still on paper towels in the brooder.

I force fed both birds some electrolytes and antibiotics in water in case they were too weak to drink on their own.
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.
 
Is there any chance that they got too hot?

Define what you mean by 'fresh' food? Did you start the beg when the poults hatched, or recently start another bag? If you recently opened a new bag, there could be something wrong with it. Or there could be something going on with the water (perhaps they added too much chloramine, or...?) I hesitate to recommend antibiotics if you don't know what you are dealing with. Different antibiotics work on diffent things in different ways... Is there a way to get one to a vet or state ag folks or something for testing?

Is there any way that some maggots or something may have dropped in with them? That can cause botulism.
 
Could have gotten too hot? Are you sure they are eating and drinking good? Look at the legs on the 4 day olds and see if they look skinny and dry or if they are nice and plump looking. At 4 days, that is when they run out of their reserve youl sack.
 
They may have gotten too hot, possibly, but there is plenty of room for them to get out away from the lamp. The brooder is 2x4, and the light is at one end. High temps are in the mid 60's, and the shop is insulated, so it is relatively cool.

I thought about starve-out, but then the two week old chick's symptoms made me think twice.

The feed is a bag I opened last week, milled the week before, and it is being fed to pheasant chicks as well which show no ill effects.

Could just be Darwin at work. Some starve out and a chick that got too hot.

All still alive this morning. Thanks for the help. Appreciated.
 
Mid 60's for the high!!!!!!! Can I come visit for the next 4 months!
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we are trying to cool our poults off here in Texas! Lucky it has cooled off some and will only be 97-98 for the next week with lows around 75! It's too early for us to have so many 100+ days. Yea, the 2 week old was throwing me off too but at 4 days, the not eating and drinking coul be it. You could also offer them some crushed boiled egg yolks. If you are like the rest of us, you have plenty of extra eggs laying around!
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I'll boil a few eggs. I saw all of them eating and drinking, even the weak ones.

A perfect day here in Washington in the summer is 75 degrees and sunny. We rarely get into the 90's on the west side, with most summer daysbetween70 and 80. Winters are generally mild as well.

My dad is in Alabama with the Red Cross, then heads off to Joplin MO. He wishes he could come back where temps and humidity are lower.
 
Glad they are doing better! With the 4 day olds, put some paper towles on the floor of the brooder and sprinkle food all over.
 

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