Sick poult - normal stool, no discharge, lethargy, off his feet

[brandywine]

Yesterday morning, Professor Chaos let the poults (1 month old) outside first thing in the morning, "because they asked so nice." Then he thoughtfully closed the barn door so they couldn't get back in.

Gaaaarrr!

One Narragansett poult was looking kind of droopy last night, had one eye closed, but didn't look quite bad enough to separate.

This morning he was prostrate, couldn't get his legs under him. He's also really scared of things that he is not normally scared of -- me, the dogs. I'm not sure he's seeing/hearing normally.

I have him in a box on a heating pad in the house now.

No discharge, he's dropped a normal-looking stool. Feels a bit warm to the touch (when I first picked him up, not after the heating pad.)

I gave him some molasses water by syringe. He spit some back up, but drank most of it, no coughing.

He's eating hard-boiled egg.

But he can't seem to get up.

None of this seems to fit into any of the symptoms I can find elsewhere.

Ideas?

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

if they were left outside overnight or till dark they might have gotten cold and are in shock. did they get wet ?? That would be about all that would happen to them outside at that age, give them plenty of heat and molasses in their water and they should snap out in a day or so.

 

[brandywine]

No, he was only out in the daytime, and it didn't rain. My concern about them going out in the morning was dew on the grass, which is very long near the barn. Professor Chaos is constitutionally incapable of noticing such things or taking them into consideration.

I've been letting them out for a few hours in the afternoon for a few days, so they can learn how to get in and out of their stall.

Another normal stool, and he's eating the egg, but still looks poorly and has no strength in his feet.

The other 13 poults are just fine.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

yeah probably got wet from the dew then never really got dry and got chilled and is in shock from being chilled.

 

[brandywine]

Okay, the more I observe him, the more I wonder about a primary neurological problem.

It seems as if it's his right leg that he is having trouble getting under him, the right side of his face may have a "droop" -- if a turkey poult can have a face droop -- and there seems to be less tone to his right wing, less resistance when I extend it.

Can a turkey poult have a stroke?!

He has a good appetite, but trouble eating -- trouble aiming at his food (so far just hard-boiled egg, which is their favorite). He spits up at least some of the liquid I get down him. I'm not sure he's drinking on his own.

Still normal stools, no runny anything, no eye or nose crud.

 

[ivan3]

Unilateral weakness, difficulty zeroing on food/decrease in accuity of hearing/eyesight (does sound like a stroke).

Possible injury. Or, if nothing above fits: Low level exposure to a `toxin'.

Since seems worse on one side, I'll only mention this in passing:

Clostridium botulinum commonly live in the intestines of chickens but are not themselves pathogenic. However, they are capable of multiplying in the carcasses of dead animals or in rotting vegetable matter and produce particularly virulent toxins. Birds may then become poisoned after pecking at rotting organic matter in which the toxins are present. A poisoned bird becomes gradually paralysed and then dies when the lungs or heart become paralysed. This disease can be avoided through good sanitation. Prevention should aim at eliminating sources of toxin production and preventing access of birds to any such materials. Prompt removal of all dead poultry from pens and poultry houses is required along with control of fly and insect populations and avoiding access by the birds to decaying organic material. Contaminated water supplies are particularly dangerous.

From: http://www.smallstock.info/info/health/poult-bact.htm#Clostridium

I'll also mention genetics. It is possible that some of our heritage turks are not being outbred sufficiently. Our Slate Toms are great turks, but their eyesight has always been bad (just had to hold peaches in front of them and watched them trying to target them), they would occasionally go into flat spins after striking trees while flying past, sometimes I wonder how they survived. Prone to `stroke', don't know.​

 

[brandywine]

Thanks, yeah, I had considered botulism after reading on a lot of poultry ills. Still possible, but seems unlikely since all the other poults are fine, and all the chickens, including chicks, are also fine. I guess he could have eaten something he found that the rest of them didn't get.

And would he have NO GI symptoms with botulism?

Considered tetanus, too, since this was formerly a horse farm, but can't find any wound or break in the skin.

Some injury affecting his spine, or a closed head injury, is certainly possible.

Poor guy. He's down there fighting.