My turkey barely walks and holds his head close to his body.Pics added

[jneilson]

He's been like this for almost a week. When he does walk he's really wobbly and flaps his wings a lot. He is eating and drinking and I've been putting a little Tetracycline in his water but I haven't noticed any changes. Should I wait to see if he gets better or go ahead and put him down?

 

[ivan3]

What type of turk is it (Broad Breasted or a Heritage variety)?
How old is the turk?
Is it free ranged or restricted to run?
Any significant change in the droppings?
What feed are you using?
Prophylactic treatment with antibiotic without knowing the cause can sometimes do more harm than good.

Answers to these questions and any more info. you can provide would really help.

If it is eating and drinking I'd think its lease on life can be extended a bit.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
No I would not put him down unless he is suffering terribly. But it sounds like you have to act fast. Perhaps he has an injury or something curable. Sounds like he might be cured. Please describe all his systems in detail:

Age?
Breed?
Size?
What do you feed him?
How long have you had him?
What housing and bedding does he have?
Does he have any injuries? Worms? Mites or Lice?
Are his legs the issue?
Breathing? Discolorations? Swelling?
Poop issues?
Any changes to his environment recently?
Is he under stress?

Pics help too, but not necessaru.

 

[Struttn1]

I had a poult that died a couple of weeks ago that was doing the same thing. It was eating and drinking but just kept getting weaker and thinner until it died. The rest of the poults never showed any signs of illness. Whatever it was it did not respond to anything I tried.

 

[jneilson]

Age?
He's two months old

Breed?
Bronze

Size?
Between 5 and 10 lbs.

What do you feed him?
Gamebird feed, 25% protein

How long have you had him?
Two months, since he was two days old.

What housing and bedding does he have?
!5'X7'X5' enclosed pen, 4'X3'X3' Coop, Straw bedding

Does he have any injuries? Worms? Mites or Lice?
No, none that I can see

Are his legs the issue?
It takes him awhile to stand up, when he walks he is very wobbly.

Breathing? Discolorations? Swelling?
No

Poop issues?
It looks normal to me.

Any changes to his environment recently?
No

Is he under stress?
I don't believe he is.

I have read that he could have E.Colli or possibly crookneck. Yesterday I found him laying on his back. I thought he was dead so I went to pick him up to bury him and he sprang back to life and walked around a little. He's been eating really well. We have another bronze turkey that's a week younger and he's very healthy and lives in the same pen, eats the same food, etc.
Thanks

 

[sanctuaryworker]

my turkey that was acting like this for the last few days just died today. He was a approx. 3 year old male and was doing good one day and the next could barely stand... I hope your guy gets better!

 

[CountryPantry]

you can give him some plain yogurt to see if this helps him any. Mine responded well to this last week and have bounced back. Had 2 acting like that. don't have any idea what caused it.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
Thanks, that's helpful to have all this info. It may eliminate some things, though it still doesn't give an answer. My only thoughts based on what you wrote is that perhaps he's weak from something else that is making it hard to for him to stand on his legs. That could be many things. Since you're feeding him gamebird starter I don't think it's lack of nutritional feed, unless you changed the feed recently. I'm not the medical person on this forum, but it seems if his poop is normal that he doesn't have worms or e coli. I think he would have blood in the poop or cecal poop. Anyone else know about this?

He may have a disease -- blackhead is very common in turkeys, but there are lots of other diseases too.

Could he have eaten any kind of rat poison?

Sorry I can't be of more help. Perhaps someone else has suggestions?

 

[jneilson]

Here's a picture of how he looks

He's been sleeping on his back and looks like he is dead till I walk over to him. He is still eating a lot and doesn't seem to be in any pain.

 

[chickenannie]

He definitely does not look well. What's confusing is that he's eating and drinking fine. That's what makes me think it's an injury or internal pain from eating a piece of metal or such. Plus, the fact that he's sleeping on his back is extremely strange. Will he let you inspect him closely? Is it worth taking him to a vet?

You could perhaps look at this list -- if you click on the name, you can view the symptoms: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/

i"m bumping this for you so someone else can respond.