my turkey is loosing feather please help what should i do????....

[Billys chickens]

my broad breasted bronze turkey has lost his tail feathers they are very small and ugly also when i got him he was missing his belly feathers and all under neath him and his butt feathers but he did have his tail feather then now he has some butt feathers and basically no tail feathers what should i do to make him look better please help

 

[Americano Blue]

He is most likely molting. Just like male peacocks, males lose their tail feather when they molt.
this link may help
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/55117/turkey-molting

 

[Book Em Danno25]

Hello, Billys Chickens,

I also think he is molting. It is just that time of year...

My one of my girls is about halfway through.


It is normal, so don't worry.

Good luck with him!

Turkenstein25

 

[Billys chickens]

thank you but ever since i have owned him he has had no feathers on his chest and belly thats about a year now as you see my avatar his tail feathers were beautiful but now they are about half afoot long and all scruffy looking this is the first turkey i have owned so i dont know much but i dont think it is molting is there any medicine out there that i could give him to help strengthen his feathers and help them grow and thank you for your respone

 

[Billys chickens]

this is a picture of his belly you can see there are a few new feathers but not alot it just rained today thats why he is wet

there is his tail feathers i looked in them and i saw like three new stems that are going to be feathers

also he sleeps out side all the time since i had him on the ground where ever he feels like so idk if that has something to do with it because it rains and that might make his feathers fall apart idk

 

[ivan3]

He's fine. When molting they can look worse, much worse, as they stomp around... What is his feed and how are you feeding him (once a day/free choice)?

 

[Billys chickens]

crack corn and sweet feed mixture and i fill the containers 1 aday hes ussually the first one to get to the feed

 

[ivan3]

How many months have you had your turk (how much of a year)? How much does he weigh at present? (an old bathroom scale will work fine for estimate - stand on scale/record wt.-pick up turk and stand on scale/record the difference between wts.). He shouldn't continue to appear `frowsy' (not fully feathered) for more than 2.5-3.5 months during a major molt (turks go through 5 partial molts before adult feathering comes in a one year - but unless one is counting feathers & fluff lost, throughout this period, a 6 month old will look not unlike a fully feathered adult).

Is he a pet? Or is he Thanksgiving?

Our turkey molts, here, get `tweaked' along by adding a few handfuls of high protein (30%) Game bird Starter to regular 17% feed. .

 

[Haida]

I'm constantly telling people to ditch the cracked corn, lol. There's plenty of corn in a commercially made pellet, and I feel like it isn't that good for them... there are better things to feed 'em. My birds are on gamebird/turkey maintenance OR gamebird/turkey grower depending on their needs and the time of year. If you can, go get some black oil sunflower seeds (shell and all!) and give that to him and your other birds... they will LOVE you for it and it helps condition their feathers (and a good source of protein). And you can cook him some egg yolks or give a cup of plain greek yogurt. Feathers are made of proteins, so you want to give him items high in protein. I've heard of people giving cat food and cooked chicken to their birds!

Don't feel too bad, the first tom I had dropped all of his feathers at ONE TIME, I thought he was being eaten alive by rats (we did have a massive rat problem). But nope, he was just molting and I freaked out for nothing.

The tom I have now went broody this year, too... he might've looked worse than yours lol, but giving him high-protein food helped... My tom's feathers are coming in so fast this year, you can almost watch them come in. Good luck!

 

[Billys chickens]

at present probably is about 30 - 35 pounds he used to weight 65 when i got him and he is a pet also i have had him longer then a year and ever since i have owned him his underneath has had no feathers