Jenny w/open wound on side. I think Sunny hurt Cher.

[fairie]

Today just as I was herding them all (4 ladies and 2 men) in the pen I notice Cher standing off to the side all fluffed up and there were small drops of blood under her! I got her up on a table and had a look under her wing. Her side is open, all the skin scratched away with a good size hole and free muscle with no feathers on it.

My turkeys are reliable alarm makers. If one is in distress they all get quite vocal. If one of them fly's on the other side of the fence they all run around squawking until I rescue them. There was no alarm today. I heard nothing.

The only thing I can think of is that our young Jake ( Sunny ) tried to mount her. We live in Germany and it is still quite cold, freezing every night and sunny in the day. Last year we had eggs at this time.

I am looking for some wound care suggestions. I also really need to buy something. I borrowed a can of zink wound spray from a horse owner and sprayed the wound. I used it on an open wound on a rooster with good results.

 

[R2elk]

Today just as I was herding them all (4 ladies and 2 men) in the pen I notice Cher standing off to the side all fluffed up and there were small drops of blood under her! I got her up on a table and had a look under her wing. Her side is open, all the skin scratched away with a good size hole and free muscle with no feathers on it.

My turkeys are reliable alarm makers. If one is in distress they all get quite vocal. If one of them fly's on the other side of the fence they all run around squawking until I rescue them. There was no alarm today. I heard nothing.

The only thing I can think of is that our young Jake ( Sunny ) tried to mount her. We live in Germany and it is still quite cold, freezing every night and sunny in the day. Last year we had eggs at this time.

I am looking for some wound care suggestions. I also really need to buy something. I borrowed a can of zink wound spray from a horse owner and sprayed the wound. I used it on an open wound on a rooster with good results.

The problem is that you have too many toms in with too few hens. The most probable cause of the injury is that one of your toms knocked the other tom off of the hen's back. The wound would have been caused the tom on top scratching hard while trying to stay on top of the hen.

You need to either separate one of your toms from the rest or better find a new home for one of the toms. You can also help to prevent the wounds by trimming the tom's toenails so that they are not razor sharp. Another helpful aid is to get turkey saddles for your hens. For the time being the injured hen should be separated from the others. If available, you can spray her wound with Blu-Kote.

Fortunately turkey hens are quite resilient. I have had injured hens recover without any help of any kind.

I try to keep at least 4 to 5 hens for one tom. When I keep more than one tom, the toms are separated with each having a large group of their own hens.

Good luck.

 

[fairie]

Thanks for the suggestions. The new Tom (Sunny) is from our breeding season last year and we really wanted to keep him. But I am nervous of what will happen as spring gets closer. I am sure there are going to be issues. The turkeys are my husbands' project. He loves them but we are learning by doing here and only have 1 years experience with 3 adult turkeys.

Cher is separated and has food and water in "the turkey house". She seems to be eating and drinking just fine. I am now wondering if I should give her antibiotics? I resprayed the wound last night with an all purpose wound disinfectant and sealer (seals it dry with a type of zinc). But should I give her antibiotics just to be safe? I have some Amoxicillin. This is the information that I found.
Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook says the amoxicillin dose is 125mg/kg (125mg per 2.2 pounds) every 12 hours or 100mg/kg (100mg per 2.2 pounds) every 8 hours.

I am not sure about the dosage. In this above case Cher weights 7 kilos, then I would need to give her 875mg every 12 hours. Is this correct?

 

[R2elk]

Thanks for the suggestions. The new Tom (Sunny) is from our breeding season last year and we really wanted to keep him. But I am nervous of what will happen as spring gets closer. I am sure there are going to be issues. The turkeys are my husbands' project. He loves them but we are learning by doing here and only have 1 years experience with 3 adult turkeys.

Cher is separated and has food and water in "the turkey house". She seems to be eating and drinking just fine. I am now wondering if I should give her antibiotics? I resprayed the wound last night with an all purpose wound disinfectant and sealer (seals it dry with a type of zinc). But should I give her antibiotics just to be safe? I have some Amoxicillin. This is the information that I found.
Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook says the amoxicillin dose is 125mg/kg (125mg per 2.2 pounds) every 12 hours or 100mg/kg (100mg per 2.2 pounds) every 8 hours.

I am not sure about the dosage. In this above case Cher weights 7 kilos, then I would need to give her 875mg every 12 hours. Is this correct?

Turkey hens are really resilient and many have recovered from this type of wound without any kind of treatment at all. I personally would not worry about her since she appears to be doing well and I would not give her any antibiotics.

Good luck.

 

[fairie]

Turkey hens are really resilient and many have recovered from this type of wound without any kind of treatment at all. I personally would not worry about her since she appears to be doing well and I would not give her any antibiotics.

Good luck.

Thanks. I have been thinking all day about selling off one of the males. Wondering if I need to sell him and a girl as a "Breeding Pair" or just him alone. He is lovely. I am not looking forward to more wounds or the 2 males having a go at each other.

 

[R2elk]

Thanks. I have been thinking all day about selling off one of the males. Wondering if I need to sell him and a girl as a "Breeding Pair" or just him alone. He is lovely. I am not looking forward to more wounds or the 2 males having a go at each other.

My recommendation is to just sell one tom. Normally at this time of year single toms can be sold because there is usually someone looking to replace their tom that got killed or died during the winter. My experience is that turkeys don't do well as pairs so I always encourage people to keep at least 4 to 5 hens for one tom.

Good luck.