Swollen head - ruptured air sac.

[lengel]

I just took my turkey to the vet and found that her swollen head was the result of a ruptured air sac in her neck. They poked a needle in her and tried to deflate but it filled up again. The vet said it doesn't matter and we should just keep an eye on her.

 

[CMV]

Well, that happens. You can keep draining the air off that pools under her skin in hopes of eventually getting that sac to heal. I will tell you, though, I have not had a lot of success treating this particular problem. The birds need to be kept somewhere very still and quiet and immobilized as much as possible for a long time. The sacs take quite a while to fully heal, and if the bird is returned to the flock before fully healing then the sacs rip open again often causing more problems (death).

Are you planning to keep the bird long-term? If you are just growing it out for processing then I would consider culling it. This injury will seriously mess with the growing out timing, and there is always the possibility that the bird takes weeks to heal and then drops dead once it is returned to flock, wasting your time and money for feed and vet bills.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[lengel]

Thanks.

I should have said that the sac ruptured because our tom gets enthusiastic during mating and stepped on it so this is a result of trauma not a health issue. It's not infected and she's not in any pain. The vet was not concerned and the turkey shows no other symptoms whatsoever. She's eating, drinking, laying, all that good stuff. If it had ruptured on it's own, I think it would be a different story and potentially require different treatment.