Turkey is Having Seizures

[ojust4today]

I need to know is it ok to keep turkeys and chickens together. They have been together for over a year and a half no problems. When I first got them I had about 25 hens. We just ordered 45 more hens so now we have approx. 60 hens. The seizures did not start until we got the new hens or we introduced a new rooster around the same time which would have been Two turkeys, two roosters and approx 60 chicken hens in one coop. That is why I’m asking should my turkeys be separated from my other birds. We are down to one rooster.
The only other thing I can think of is there were about 48 hours the birds went without water around the same time. It was hot not extreme hot but hot enough...could he have went into shock over being dehydrated? (My daughter filled the watering containers and forgot to unscrew them to let the water flow.)

What I have done is for about two weeks I did nothing because it was mating season and I was told it was a mating behavior. When things got worst and my gut told me this has nothing to do with mating I removed him took him into our shop kept him in a dog cage. We gave him electrolytes and probiotic that seemed to really help; the first few days he was really relaxed and rested. Then he began regaining his strength and started walking around our property. For about a week he almost was 100%. Back track: The thing is he probably had a couple hundred seizures before this point in time of getting help. We also had a rain spell here around this time and sometimes I would find him stuck in mud on his back in the coop so he lost alot of his feathers and gained major skin infection as a result of the moisture. Just awful... broke my heart.
So after a week of him doing much better and regaining his health/strength... no seizures we returned him to the coop. He did good for about a day but the seizures started again. I found him yesterday wing wedged between wood he could not move I thought he was dead and I don’t know how long he was like that it could have been hours. My coop is far from my house and I usually go out morning and evening.
Any suggestions or help you can offer will be greatly appreciated. He is an awesome bird who is just amazing to have.

We also have a hen who is sitting on six or so eggs. He got sick half way through mating season. So our plan is to build a separate pen for the turkeys for the babies who our due anyday.

I have videos this site is not allowing me to upload. I edited them down to 10 seconds did not help. If anyone would like to see video I could email it to you.

 

[R2elk]

Two turkeys, two roosters and approx 60 chicken hens in one coop. That is why I’m asking should my turkeys be separated from my other birds. We are down to one rooster.
The only other thing I can think of is there were about 48 hours the birds went without water around the same time. It was hot not extreme hot but hot enough...could he have went into shock over being dehydrated? (My daughter filled the watering containers and forgot to unscrew them to let the water flow.)

Without knowing how big your coop is, that is a lot of poultry for a coop and you could be overcrowding them. Overcrowding can cause all sorts of problems, stress and disease.

Lack of water fro 48 hours is enough to kill lots of poultry even in cool weather.

I have videos this site is not allowing me to upload. I edited them down to 10 seconds did not help. If anyone would like to see video I could email it to you.

You have to upload videos to another site such as YouTube and then you can use the Media button to the right of the Mountain icon to link it to BYC.

 

[Flamens Farm]

My turkeys are kept separated from my chickens. I incubate the eggs together, the turkey eggs about a week before I add the chick eggs, but after hatch, they are separated. Heard too many stories of turkeys catching diseases from chickens as my reason.

 

[ojust4today]

Without knowing how big your coop is, that is a lot of poultry for a coop and you could be overcrowding them. Overcrowding can cause all sorts of problems, stress and disease.

Lack of water fro 48 hours is enough to kill lots of poultry even in cool weather.

You have to upload videos to another site such as YouTube and then you can use the Media button to the right of the Mountain icon to link it to BYC.

Thanks for your response. We enlarged our coop when we put in out last order for 45. Approx. 8sf per bird not counting the coop space. They also free range for several hours a day.

I think the lack of water may have had something to do with it as well. I also feed our turkeys the layer feed that I feed the hens. Im not sure if that could be a factor as well.

Thanks for the info as well about submitting video through youtube had not idea that is how it works.

 

[ojust4today]

So the seizures continued and we could not stand it anymore. I used this afternoon to build a separate coop. It was needed because we have a turkey hen sitting on about a half dozen or so eggs and at least a dozen chicken eggs. They should be hatching any day. I wanted a separate space for the poults.

Can anyone tell me if it is ok to have the hen, tom & poult's together in the same space after the eggs hatch? Will the Tom harm the babies. Right now the hen is sitting on them in the corner of the coop, pretty much hidden from the chickens but they still have access to her but they do not seem to pay much attention to her. I guess I should wait until all the poult's hatch them move her to the new pen. Any suggestions...this is my first time hatching out poult's. We are super excited and anxious but feel like we are very inexperienced at the same time.

 

[Kiki]

Chicken layer feed is not "good enough" for turkeys.

Turkeys need higher protein amounts than chickens do.

https://www.nap.edu/read/2114/chapter/5#36

 

[ojust4today]

Chicken layer feed is not "good enough" for turkeys.

Turkeys need higher protein amounts than chickens do.
View attachment 1408689
https://www.nap.edu/read/2114/chapter/5#36

Thank you KikisGirls..this actually came up in conversation tonight when we were building the new coop. He may not even be eating the correct food and that is definitley a concern. However he never gets to the food dish there are always hens taking over the space, spooking him or the food is in the coop and he never really goes in there. This could be a factor.

Tomorrow I am going to start him back on probiotic & electrolytes. I will get him some feed for turkeys. I cleaned out the food/water dishes and hope he gets acquainted in his new living space. I'm hoping he will be a new bird soon and these changes will help him be the Tom he once was. I did not mention what his diet consisted of and that is something that should have been included...I do feed him layer feed, scratch and lots of good ole scraps. Thanks again.

 

[Kiki]

If you click on the link below in my signature it will take you to a place where you can find a googlesheet I'm working on. It is a side by side comparison of many feeds. There are turkey feeds on it too.

 

[Tesumph]

Poor dude. If he has some neurological problem, then poor feed, dehydration, and heat will definitely make it all worse. Take it from someone with epilepsy lol. If it’s “just” a neurological problem (seizures without cause) and not some secondary issue causing it, he could live a happy life, but will probably need some special needs care. I’m not sure he could stay outside with the others permanently. Eventually he will drown, get his neck caught, get caught in the cold or heat, etc...

 

[ojust4today]

If you click on the link below in my signature it will take you to a place where you can find a googlesheet I'm working on. It is a side by side comparison of many feeds. There are turkey feeds on it too.

Wow..that is amazing. Thanks for sharing. Love all the positive feedback provided to the post. <3