Turkey needs to loose weight!

[ShadowWarrior]

I have a wonderful 2 year old BBwhite hen named Lady Sky. But she is over 35lbs and it is starting to have trouble walking, so I am putting her on a diet. I don't want to starve her. Has anyone done this before? Any tips?

 

[PoultryPunk]

Having an over weight turkey is a problem, fourtunatly I haven't had one, but I have had chicks, whey would run around everywhere and work themselves. I totally agree, starving her would be a terrible idea. The turkeys I had would badly injure them selves, one actually had a leg twisted backwards and I had to pop it back into place! (Yuck!) but the turkey kept twisting it! But because I love my birds, Like you do I would be more than happy to do it a hundered times (if she would finally stop twisting it at hundered times.) if that meant she could live, unfourtunatley while I was on vacation, she died because of her twisted foot and wasn't able to escape a monster snake that broke in. I had a batch of very lazy bantams. I would take one out and make it walk around the yard with me. It took two weeks but they eventually became alert and active. As far as weight goes, it could work, but it would also take time out of your day. Some insane people actually walk their turkeys, chickens or even geese on leashes I have never done it before but it could work too. Hope this helps!

 

[ShellyBear]

I think you should fast her, not a long time or a lot but just don't feed her for awhile. You might give her less food. This is not mean to a turkey and its not consider starving her. 35lb is a lot for a turkey. Good luck!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Two years old is a pretty good age for a BB. I wouldn't fast it, you are also dealing with an older bird, I would limit her feed, probably use a layer and feed her a few times a day probably what she can in eat in a minute or so. Then offer her greens.

 

[Futz]

Making sure your girl gets enough exercise is probably the key thing to her losing weight. I have one year old BB white hen that was supposed to be food, but I've decided to keep as a pet. At about 5-6 months of age she got so plump that she really did have a hard time walking. I let all my birds (chickens, ducks, turkeys) out to free range for about 8 hours each day. I stopped feeding the turkeys in the morning to entice them to forage more and noticed the weight drop significantly. She gets around really well and has slimmed up enough to attempt a waddling run every now and then. She was even laying eggs consistently for about two months right before winter hit. I also have a BB bronze male who is the same age and almost twice her size/weight. He has a harder time walking...but he is not as active as she is. He spends more time standing around puffing up at every little noise while she is back and forth across the yard terrorizing my flower beds.

 

[FarmerMac]

Keep in mind that BBB or BBW are genetically designed to gain a lot of weight and most of them are processed by Thanks Giving. Every year I raise BBB for food. Two years ago, I kept one BBB hen that was very friendly. When she was younger, she would follow me around and came when I called her. After the first year she stared to have problems walking around, she liked to free ranged with my chickens but would not go very far. Last year she started to limp and would lay on the ground after a few steps. then she could not stand up to eat so I had to put her down. Good luck with your hen and hope she looses some weight.