Heat Exhaustion in turkey

[Goronson Chicks]

Hi Folks,
It has been in the mid-nineties here - really unusually hot! Our run has a roof and walls made of Suntuff panels. We put a tarp over half the roof and removed over 3/4 of the wall panels. But not enough!

Our tom has been panting a lot (gullerfluttering). I've drawn him out of the run and into the yard and shade and a couple of times dunked him in a low galvanized tub of cold well water, but he kept gasping so I lifted him out.

I fill and refill the buckets and pails with cold well water, ice cubes intermittently, electrolytes and probiotics each day and that seemed to help.

But late this afternoon Tommy had foam at the tip of his beak, despite my repeated attentions to him. He also looked dazed. I am worried.

Help please - any advice.
Thank you,
Maureen

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I keep a rubber tub in with my turkeys in the summer, they will stand in the water to cool off and others will stand over it. If you're afraid he's suffering from heat stroke, wetting him down is always a good idea, as well as running a fan.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

I added the fan last night. I'll get a kids wading pool today. Thank you for these ideas.

 

[LogCabinChicks]

How is he doing? We had that problem here. I added a sprinker and the turkeys would migrate over and stand in the spray to cool off. I had a baby pool too, and they would stand in that as well.

 

[Goronson Chicks]

How is he doing? We had that problem here. I added a sprinker and the turkeys would migrate over and stand in the spray to cool off. I had a baby pool too, and they would stand in that as well.

He is much better as the temps have lowered to a more normal summer heat in the past 2 days. I had added a child's pool a while back, carried him into it a couple of times, but he found it too scary. He won't get in it himself. I sprayed him with the hose a couple of times, too, with a light rain, but that made him run around the back of the run. We added more tarp over the roof of the run for more shade and an industrial fan and I came home at lunch time to feed him frozen watermelon. With probiotics and electrolytes added to his water, all of this helped us get through a tough spell.

He's not being aggressive with the chickens anymore and is walking around the yard with us like a dog. Fanning his tail and looking less gaunt. I think we're getting the old Tommy back.

Thank you for asking.