Turkey Hen With Rattled Breathing

ChicNTurk

Hatching
Apr 7, 2024
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Hello, I will try to be as descriptive as possible, please let me know if there is anymore information that would be helpful.
I have a heritage turkey hen that I have been having issues with for around 2 months now. She is about 7 months old,and has always been slightly smaller than the other birds her same age. She first presented towards the end of February with lameness in her left leg. She acted like her foot hurt to put pressure on and would hop around. She was also sleeping on the floor of the coop. I treated her with some aspirin every day for a few days- week and after about 2-3 weeks she was getting around better and roosting in the coop again. She was still a little off balance and slower than the other hens but was looking better. Around this time the other hens started bullying her. About 2 weeks ago I separated her from the other hens because her back and tail feathers were getting to be in rough shape and the bully had gotten worse.
At that point I put her in one of my barns with 3 bantam chickens so she would have company since she was acting more stressed being alone. She was still having some balance issues, but she could put weight on both legs and walk around. Once I moved her into the barn I noticed she was laying around more than when she was outside. She has maintained a good appetite and was drinking well. I had been putting vitamins in her water, 3* days ago I switched to dosing her with poultry cell 1ml 2x per day.
Friday I noticed a cracking sound when she walked. When I tried to listen it sounded like it was coming from her hip, but yesterday evening was more clear that it is a rattling when she breathes this morning her rattling was quit loud, but she is still alert, eating and drinking. She has not shown any other symptoms so far. She does not have any noticeable swelling, no discoloration of her face, so far no discharge from her eyes, nose or mouth, and her poop has been normal looking, although it has been slightly green a few times. I had also been feeding her spinach so I am unsure if that is what attributed to the green color.
Anyway, Does anyone have any ideas what this might point too? The vets here are closed until tomorrow and I’m not sure if they will even treat a turkey. I do have Doxycycline / Tylan Powder on order, but soonest they will be here is Tuesday.
 
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After thinking it over and researching a ton of things I’m beginning to think she may have aspirated part of the poultry cell on Friday since the respiratory symptoms started about the same time I started the poultry cell.
 

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