Sick Poult!

[LoribethK]

My first time raising turkeys, I have 4 poults about 2 weeks old, they all seems healthy and spry and suddenly about 2 or 3 hours ago I noticed one lying down and the others running over it, when I picked it up it couldn't chirp. It tries to chirp, but air just comes out and it's breathing is labored.
I'm not sure what happened, I separated it from the others and they all seem fine.
It is hard to find info on birds who don't chirp.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

More information is needed. What are you feeding? What temperatures are you brooding at? Have you observed it eating and drinking? Not chirping usually means it's dying.

 

[LoribethK]

It was drinking and eating earlier but it seems to be at a rapid decline. It does seem as though it’s dying, I’m just not sure why.
We had a sitter over the weekend and I wonder if something may have happened to it.
It was very healthy when we left on Friday and the rest seem ok too.
The poults are under a heating lamp, I don’t have an exact temp. I usually (with chickens and ducks) am able to visually observe of the heat is too high or not enough and it’s the same we’ve been doing with the turkeys the last 2 weeks.
It started getting weak and then it would try to chirp but no sound, it can breath. Does it sound symptomatic of anything in particular?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What are you feeding it? Poults need to be taught to eat and drink repeatedly their first week. That's why I asked if you observed it eating. You could try to dribble a touch of sugar water in it's mouth to see if it has low blood sugar which will happen if they aren't eating. Try just a few drops as you don't want it to choke. You also could try some corn syrup or honey. It should respond within an hour if that's the case, otherwise it just sounds like something internal is wrong.

 

[LoribethK]

It had been eating and drinking previously just fine, which is why I was worried that it may be an illness.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It had been eating and drinking previously just fine, which is why I was worried that it may be an illness.

More than likely something was wrong when it was formed. Things like non functioning organs like kidneys or liver, as an example will take a few weeks for the effects to be deadly. Generally when they die in the first month it's a birth defect or a bad start.

 

[LoribethK]

Ok. Well thanks for the input, I guess we’ll see but it doesn’t look like it’ll make it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sorry, it does happen unfortunately.

 

[LoribethK]

Yep, that’s how it goes.