Sick and Dying Chicks and Turkey Chicks

[VMamaS]

One week ago my 10 assorted chicks got delivered from Meyer Hatchery via the post office (2days old). I also went to my local feed store Runnings and purchased 6 Turkey chicks (about 1 wk old). All seemed to be going well the first day I noticed one of the Turkeys had pastey butt so warm wet paper towel cleaned and ready to return to feathered friends. The turkeys were a bit bigger and there was some pecking but nothing concerning...Then Friday morning one chick dead. I hadn't noticed anything wrong at that point assumed shipping stress or crowding at night. Then another chick started acting wierd not active but not panting or anything died Sunday afternoon another chick same thing checked for pastey butt clean, checked food realized DH bought layer crumble went through threads here and came up maybe food upset kidneys due to adult calcium levels or maybe corccodosis. Another chick started acting lethargic dead in the morning. Bought chick feed and started treating for corccodosis Monday morning. This morning one week after getting chicks and Turkey chick is dead and 4 of remaining seem to have white messy butts. I am at a loss I have never had this issue before I have owned chickens since i was in 3rd grade raised 4 sets of chicks one hatched myself. Pic attached of setup switched from pine shavings to newspaper to clean more frequently and monitor easier. Also Turkey butt with issue. Please some direction as what to do I am heartbroken and worried about passsing something on to my adult hens that are outside. Also we were planning on eating our Turkeys so need to know human implications for diseases if possible.

 

[nuthatched]

the turkeys could have picked something up at tsc or it could be blackhead but I'm not schooled enough in turkeys

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Is there a cool spot in the brooder? Mine don't always pant when they're hot unless it's horribly too hot.

 

[VMamaS]

Is there a cool spot in the brooder? Mine don't always pant when they're hot unless it's horribly too hot.

The light is off to the side away from the food and water it is 96 on the hot side and 86 on the cool side.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

86 is pretty warm still for a cool area.

 

[Naturefarm]

One week ago my 10 assorted chicks got delivered from Meyer Hatchery via the post office (2days old). I also went to my local feed store Runnings and purchased 6 Turkey chicks (about 1 wk old). All seemed to be going well the first day I noticed one of the Turkeys had pastey butt so warm wet paper towel cleaned and ready to return to feathered friends. The turkeys were a bit bigger and there was some pecking but nothing concerning...Then Friday morning one chick dead. I hadn't noticed anything wrong at that point assumed shipping stress or crowding at night. Then another chick started acting wierd not active but not panting or anything died Sunday afternoon another chick same thing checked for pastey butt clean, checked food realized DH bought layer crumble went through threads here and came up maybe food upset kidneys due to adult calcium levels or maybe corccodosis. Another chick started acting lethargic dead in the morning. Bought chick feed and started treating for corccodosis Monday morning. This morning one week after getting chicks and Turkey chick is dead and 4 of remaining seem to have white messy butts. I am at a loss I have never had this issue before I have owned chickens since i was in 3rd grade raised 4 sets of chicks one hatched myself. Pic attached of setup switched from pine shavings to newspaper to clean more frequently and monitor easier. Also Turkey butt with issue. Please some direction as what to do I am heartbroken and worried about passsing something on to my adult hens that are outside. Also we were planning on eating our Turkeys so need to know human implications for diseases if possible.

I fed ground up 22% protein ~3.5% layer pellets to newly hatched turkey chicks for three days and they started dying but as soon as I switched to a NON-LAYER ground up 20% pellet ~0.5% calcium the newly ailing gradually recovered. The abnormal symptoms the chicks had were lethargy, fading in and out attention span, low interest in eating and labored breathing (tail pumping, more exaggerated breathing). There was no pasty butt and unfortunately I didn't have a chance to identify the fecal material from these ailing birds since they became poor feeders. No respiratory illness was detectable...no raspy sounds, no sneezing, no nasal discharge, clean nares. It took 3 - 4 days for symptoms to slowly decrease back to normal activity/health in direct response to eliminating the high calcium layer food. Beware layer pellets for young chicks - it's pretty deadly for some turkey chicks IMO. And true, 20% protein is low for turkey chicks but I've raised many clutches of turkeys on NON LAYER 20-25% ground pellet...the secret sauce is Trout Chow pellet as a supplement - REAL fish meal protein 40% protein that most accurately replicates the insect heavy diet of turkey chicks. It's like spinach to Popeye for them.