poop problems? (7 weeks)

[AtomicVulture]

hi all,

i have a 7 week old wild turkey (i took him in after i found him alone at a day old with no family around), i ahve no experience with turkeys and only with chickens.

this poop he is producing is worrying me, i dont believe its blackheads disease but it could be.

i cannot take him to a vet, he acts perfectly fine, eats and drinks as he should be.

ive never had a chicken die from an unknown illness and theyve never developed yellow or foamy poops so i dont know how he could have gotten blackheads aside from eating worms, but our worms should be relatively healthy.

i feed worms to my axolotl, surely they would have gotten him sick?

sorry about the mess he had just eaten and i clean it after every meal (he scratches a lot on the plate but he does eat most of it)

i have added chilli flakes, paprika (i had no cayenne), oregano, and garlic to his food to try and help with internal issues.

like i said he acts normal. runs around, flapping his wings, struts occasionally, and hes very curious so he eats a lot of grass. hes never seemed lethargic to me aside from when he was only a few days old because he didnt really want to eat the crumb but i got him to in the end.

i would hate to lose this little one, no matter how much of a nuisance hes turning out to be with me worrying about him all the time.

edit: i thought i’d also add the fact that these poops are inconsistent, some have thicker foam with smaller bubbles, in the photo the foam is thinner and has larger bubbles, sometimes theyre more muddy yellow or yellow-greenish brown foam rather than the yellow in the photo, and theyre occasional.

they dont occur all the time, maybe 2-3 of these weird poops daily before they become normal again.

this is the first time hes had watery yellow poops but hes had watery greenish poops after eating cucumber

right now, at 2:40, his poops are solid and healthy looking, a little dark and reddish but im assuming thats from the chilli

 

[R2elk]

hi all,

i have a 7 week old wild turkey (i took him in after i found him alone at a day old with no family around), i ahve no experience with turkeys and only with chickens.

this poop he is producing is worrying me, i dont believe its blackheads disease but it could be.

i cannot take him to a vet, he acts perfectly fine, eats and drinks as he should be.

ive never had a chicken die from an unknown illness and theyve never developed yellow or foamy poops so i dont know how he could have gotten blackheads aside from eating worms, but our worms should be relatively healthy.

i feed worms to my axolotl, surely they would have gotten him sick?

sorry about the mess he had just eaten and i clean it after every meal (he scratches a lot on the plate but he does eat most of it)

i have added chilli flakes, paprika (i had no cayenne), oregano, and garlic to his food to try and help with internal issues.

like i said he acts normal. runs around, flapping his wings, struts occasionally, and hes very curious so he eats a lot of grass. hes never seemed lethargic to me aside from when he was only a few days old because he didnt really want to eat the crumb but i got him to in the end.

i would hate to lose this little one, no matter how much of a nuisance hes turning out to be with me worrying about him all the time.

edit: i thought i’d also add the fact that these poops are inconsistent, some have thicker foam with smaller bubbles, in the photo the foam is thinner and has larger bubbles, sometimes theyre more muddy yellow or yellow-greenish brown foam rather than the yellow in the photo, and theyre occasional.

they dont occur all the time, maybe 2-3 of these weird poops daily before they become normal again.

this is the first time hes had watery yellow poops but hes had watery greenish poops after eating cucumber

right now, at 2:40, his poops are solid and healthy looking, a little dark and reddish but im assuming thats from the chilli

That is not "yellow poop" as associated with Blackhead. That looks like a normal cecal poop to me.

FYI, chickens can be carriers of Blackhead and survive just fine. They can pass on the organism that causes Balackhead to turkeys. Blackhead can be fatal to turkeys but is rarely harmful to chickens.

I would not give garlic to poultry as it is an allium and alliums are known to be toxic to poultry.

Fortunately you are not in the U.S. Here it is illegal to take possession of a wild turkey.

 

[AtomicVulture]

That is not "yellow poop" as associated with Blackhead. That looks like a normal cecal poop to me.

FYI, chickens can be carriers of Blackhead and survive just fine. They can pass on the organism that causes Balackhead to turkeys. Blackhead can be fatal to turkeys but is rarely harmful to chickens.

I would not give garlic to poultry as it is an allium and alliums are known to be toxic to poultry.

Fortunately you are not in the U.S. Here it is illegal to take possession of a wild turkey.

thank you for telling me that about the garlic, ive seen a lot of people saying to feed garlic for parasites and such along with apple cider vinegar in their water and chilli flakes

i am aware chickens are silent carriers but i feel i would have found atleast something in the atleast 5 years ive been taking good care of them, but like i said obviously nothing has been too out of the ordinary (most die to old age, we’ve had one hen die to internal laying, and 2 die to dogs this year)

is it normal for him to have both these and the dark smooth brown cecal poops throughout the day? ive heard they can have weird yellow-ish poops if theyre not being fed well too

 

[R2elk]

is it normal for him to have both these and the dark smooth brown cecal poops throughout the day?

Yes

 

[R2elk]

thank you for telling me that about the garlic, ive seen a lot of people saying to feed garlic for parasites and such along with apple cider vinegar in their water and chilli flakes

I believe that a lot of people do harm to their flocks by feeding them things they should not be getting.

I don't feed any of those additives and I have a very healthy flock.

Many do feed cayenne pepper to try to prevent Blackhead. I haven't seen any evidence that it actually works or that it does any harm.

Many feed pumpkin to their flocks to deal with worms. I have not seen any evidence that it actually works as a wormer but feeding pumpkin is definitely not harmful in any way.

If a person does not have Blackhead in their area, there is no need to do anything about it. If it is present, it isn't much of a problem for chickens but can be fatal for turkeys.

 

[Molpet]

I agree with R2elk.


I was curious about a wild American turkey in New Zealand. Turns out Merriam were introduced for game hunting along with escape domestic.

 

[AtomicVulture]

I believe that a lot of people do harm to their flocks by feeding them things they should not be getting.

I don't feed any of those additives and I have a very healthy flock.

Many do feed cayenne pepper to try to prevent Blackhead. I haven't seen any evidence that it actually works or that it does any harm.

Many feed pumpkin to their flocks to deal with worms. I have not seen any evidence that it actually works as a wormer but feeding pumpkin is definitely not harmful in any way.

If a person does not have Blackhead in their area, there is no need to do anything about it. If it is present, it isn't much of a problem for chickens but can be fatal for turkeys.

yeah i dont ever feed my chickens these things, only ACV for the occasional sour crop, they get some veges here and there like cabbage and sometimes pumpkin if the pigs dont eat it

we dont typically have pet or commercial turkeys in new zealand that i know about, if people want turkey they usually just either buy butchered turkey probably imported from somewhere or maybe down south, or they go and hunt their own.

i had never heard of blackhead before i asked for help on a subreddit as to what to feed him as he grew, but he seems to be doing perfectly other than that scare for me

ill probably stop feeding him the extra stuff and go back to his original food now