Please Help! Dying turkeys!!!

[My Petunia]

I have searched all over but cannot find anything that really matches my problems. I will write all that has happened recently which may or may not be related. It started with my rooster (a little over a year old) going blind. He started staying by the coop a lot and being a little crabbier than usual. It wasn't till I went in one day and he was laying on the floor of the coop with his head drooping to the side like he was falling asleep that I worried about him. I thought he was just getting protective of the eggs. I reached out to touch him and it wasn't till my hand was almost on his eye that he saw me, feaked out, and ran into the wall of the coop. I checked him for things and treated him for any parasites (naturally with an ashes bath) but he remained the same and I had my husband put him down so he didn't suffer. Then two days later one of my turkey poults (8 weeks or so) looked ill when I went to feed them and I immediately began looking things up online only to check on him an hour later and he was dead. He was laying on the ground like he was going to go to sleep and I picked him up and everything looked normal, his feathers were good, no bugs, no marks on his body at all. His poop was a little runny though. So, all my other turkeys seemed fine. I checked them again this morning and they were still fine. Eating, drinking.... fine. My husband went out this afternoon and another one was dead. They have been outside in an enclosed area for several weeks without problem, no heat lamp. We had one hot day, the one before the first one died, about 82 degrees. But they had water and shade all day. The next days have been a bit cooler but not cold about 70. We live in east central Minnesota. Feed wise they have been on starter and because the only thing available last time we needed feed was medicated chick starter (the feed guy said would be fine) they have been on that for about two weeks or maybe a week and a half. The older chickens free range a good part of the day and I did see one roosting on top of the turkey cage which may or may not mean something. Any help or thoughts appreciated. They do have grit, no impacted crops noticed, and fresh water (I added a little apple cider vinegar on recommendation) and feed.

 

[My Petunia]

Oh and all my hens, adult and baby (also 8 weeks) are totally fine. No deaths or sickness showing.

 

[My Petunia]

All was fine last night and again this morning two of them are dead! I only have two left! Someone please tell me if you know what might be happening!

 

[DeGarmom]

If you have ruled out pretty much everything else, you might want to switch them to a gamebird starter. Chick starter is a poor substitute in that there isn't enough protein for them to grow properly. I know that it depends on which breed they are too, but when I use chick starter, (only when in a pinch) I always add meat scraps. I have even read where people feed them dog food as well as starter.

 

[dawg53]

If you have a mixed flock; chickens and turkeys together, then there's the possibility your turkeys may have died from blackhead. Blackhead is a protozoa that is deadly to turkeys. Chickens can be infected by the cecal worm which carries the protozoa which are excreted onto/into the soil in feces and picked up by turkeys. Treatment in poults would be one 250mg metronidazole tablet once a day for 5 days and worming them with safeguard liquid goat wormer 1/2cc orally undiluted once a day for 3 days in a row. For adult turkeys give them one 500mg metronidazole tablet (or two 250mg tablets) once a day for 5 days. Then give them 1.5cc orally undiluted safeguard liquid goat wormer for 3 days straight.
Do the same thing for your chickens...one 250mg metronidazole tablet once a day for 5 days, then worm them 1/2cc safeguard once a day for 3 days.
It would be best to take feces samples to a vet and have them look under a microscope to verify if cecal worm eggs are present on the microscopic slide. If so, that's the problem.

 

[casportpony]

X2 on blackhead and possibly a secondary E. Coli infection. Can you take a poop sample to a vet?

-Kathy