sick turkey chick

[john14six]

Our turkey is about 2 1/2 weeks old. He is larthargic, just standing, shallow breathing. Closes his eyes while standing, or stands with head on the ground(bottom of box). we have 3 turkeys, and the other two will peck on the ground, he's just standing there.
Happened over night. We've let them out in the yard, but stayed with them and watched them. Then, brought them back in their box, inside. We have free ranging chickens, but they never came in contact with the turkeys.

My daughter just fed him some water and he drank, but I don't think he's drinking or eating on his own.

Anything we can do for him?

 

[Frosty]

The symptoms that you listed just mean that your turkeys is sick... are there any others? How does the poop look? If you have blackhead (histomoniasis) in your area, they don't need to come in contact with the chickens to get it. You could also be dealing with something else like coccidiosis. So it's really important that you give us as much information as you can.

 

[john14six]

Thanks. The poop looks normal. Just like the others. We have a total of 3 turkeys. The other 2 are fine. They were all pecking at the ground yesterday, they go out for a short time outside. The kids stayed with them the whole time. No chickens were allowed to get close to the turkeys. They pecked at the ground and were brought back inside into their box.

When my daughter brought them out this morning, she notice he was breathing funny. He had his mouth open and no sound coming out. His breathing seemed shallow. He tried to make sound and it was raspy and not loud at all. Definitely not normal.

He would stand with his eyes closed.
The other 2 were moving and pecking around and peeping.
He stood still. No pecking.

He has since closed his mouth, but stand and drop his head to the ground.
My daughter is using a dropper to feed him water and he took that.
We are dissolving food in the water and we are trying molasses dissolved in water to get some sugars in him.

We'll keep you posted.
Thanks for the response.

 

[john14six]

My daughter went down to try the molasses and she said she almost couldn't tell which one was the sick one.
She finally figured it out. He had his mouth open a little bit more and was less active.

She gave him the dropper with molasses and he started weasing again. We think it was just because he was worked up on her lap.
But he was taking the water.

He seems to be doing better. We'll just keep an eye on him and continue to feed him fluids.

Poop looks yellow but she said said it looks like the other turkeys.

 

[Frosty]

Check inside his mouth and look for any kind of obstruction. I have heard of birds eating things like a string from a feed bag or even a hair and having it get wrapper around the tongue. If part of it gets down the throat it can start pulling te tongue back into the throat. It almost sounds like there could be some kind of obstruction. Other than that, could he have eaten something that he shouldn't have, like maggots or something?

Editing to add that the poop being yellow could be cause for concern. It can be a sign of blackhead.

 

[john14six]

Ok, she's checking his mouth. I'll try to get a picture of the poop. She says it's more greenish yellow.
She saying he seems better and is taking the molasses water.

Thanks.

 

[Frosty]

I'll keep fingers and feathers crossed that he perks up!

 

[john14six]

Last night he perked up and was eating solid food on his own. Pecking at the food.
But he's not as active as the other turkeys.

Today when I went to give him some molasses mixture, he got worked up and started breathing heavy. It almost sounds like he's choking. Now, he's just lying down wheezing. I don't see anything in his mouth/throat.

He is still lathargic. He stands close to the wall of their box, and just has his beak pressed against the wall. He will eventually just close his eyes and stand there.

Saw him with his head resting on the back of one of the other turkeys, that turkey walked away and he just slowly lowered his head to the ground, still standing, but looks like he's falling asleep.

He tries to bury his head in the wood shavings.

Won't eat solid food. But will take the dropper of water/molasses.
Tried to give him mush of his medicated feed, with oatmeal. Not interested.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[john14six]

Why does one turkey get sick and not the others? Does he need to be isolated from the others?

Still not much of a change. Not getting worse just still not normal (or as active as the others).

He's starting to eat dry, regular turkey chick food. He'll peck at it on his own.

 

[john14six]

He ate more chick food. But he would shake his head and sneee/cough at times while eating. He had a good appetite, but was breathing a little heavy.