New turkey owner

[Njcsbc]

My husband was given a 1yo Tom Turkey today and he said he was running around and all but when he brought him home he acts like he can't stand up. The former owner said he is overweight because of how he fed him. We want to know if anyone knows of a diet we can start him on since he's so BIG. I mean we like our chickens to be healthy but we always watch so they don't become overweight. Thank you in advance for any and all help.

 

[ronott1]

I do not know what type of fee to use but I have read about keeping the water and feed at opposite ends of a pen to make them walk more. This was fore Cornish X meat chickens

 

[Njcsbc]

We can try that for a couple of days until he settles in. My husband was told that he was being fed just about anything and everything from cat food to corn. We were like "what??" So we want him to thin down some. He has been fed 1 cup of corn & 1 cup of chicken feed(the crumble) for now until we go out tomorrow and get whatever he's supposed to have.

 

[R2elk]

My husband was given a 1yo Tom Turkey today and he said he was running around and all but when he brought him home he acts like he can't stand up. The former owner said he is overweight because of how he fed him. We want to know if anyone knows of a diet we can start him on since he's so BIG. I mean we like our chickens to be healthy but we always watch so they don't become overweight. Thank you in advance for any and all help.

Sounds like he is a broad breasted turkey which are meant to gain weight quickly and were not bred to have a long life. If he has trouble walking the damage has already been done by failing to start him out on a healthy diet. You can try dissolving a 1/2 of a capsule of a quality vitamin B complex in a gallon of water. Make this the only source of water and it has to be made fresh daily. It is the lack of thiamine and niacin when he was growing the most that caused his legs to be weak. Thiamine and niacin are B vitamins and will be found in a good vitamin B complex supplement.

Exercise is also important. Get a good all flock feed for him. Don't get your hopes up that you can keep him around long term.

 

[ronott1]

We can try that for a couple of days until he settles in. My husband was told that he was being fed just about anything and everything from cat food to corn. We were like "what??" So we want him to thin down some. He has been fed 1 cup of corn & 1 cup of chicken feed(the crumble) for now until we go out tomorrow and get whatever he's supposed to have.

He will do much better with the right feed. Game bird feed seems popular

 

[Njcsbc]

Here is either a short video and/or pic of him(whichever one will post) we brought him out of the coop and this is all that he does. My husband said that when he went and picked him up on Friday he was running around but when we let him out today and yesterday this is what he does.

 

[R2elk]

Here is either a short video and/or pic of him(whichever one will post) we brought him out of the coop and this is all that he does. My husband said that when he went and picked him up on Friday he was running around but when we let him out today and yesterday this is what he does.

Yes broad breasted bronze with damaged legs due to improper nutrition when young. Not what you want to hear but it is best to process him before he gets worse.

 

[Njcsbc]

Yes broad breasted bronze with damaged legs due to improper nutrition when young. Not what you want to hear but it is best to process him before he gets worse.

We ended up processing him and he was 33lbs after he was processed. Thank you for the advice.