auntphibian

Chirping
9 Years
Jul 20, 2014
65
4
91
Ashland City, TN
View attachment 1147092 Okay, my neighbor has a turkey under a year old. A little over a week ago, I was informed that he had Black head disease (diagnosed by my neighbor). He said he had yellow poop and he had stopped eating, but still drinking and still up and around.

Some background: he has one small pen and he keeps 3 goats (which are fairly new, turkey got sick after they arrived), many chickens, including 3 small chicks, a young goose and 1 guinea hen. Being the bird person I am, I mixed a powder formula that included cayenne pepper and other good stuff (having cared for a sick bird for 15 months in the past) and started syringe feeding him, as much as the neighbor would call me, so he could catch and hold him while I fed him. So, not a lot of food. I haven't heard from my neighbor for 2.5 days, so the turkey hasn't eaten for that long now. He is still up and around, his wings are drooping more than usual. He drinks water. He is very thin now. I don't know if it's normal, but his head is hot.

I have looked the bird over for any infection or lesions (if Blackhead) and there are none. 1 time we smelled rotten eggs, but not quite sure if it was him.

Today, I went to check, thinking he died, but no, he is still alive. My neighbor was ready to call his father-in-law to shoot the turkey, since he isn't eating. I offered last week to bring him home as I am home all the time and could make sure he got food and see what happened. I saw a very watery green poop on the deck, but only drinking water, I expect watery poop.

I fed him my powder mix and added coconut milk and yogurt, to try to give him the good enzymes and put weight on. He ate 96 cc at first feeding and seemed very interested in the food, just had to be syringe fed. He then pooped very large amounts of green poop, that seemed fairly normal. Neighbor said he only saw yellow poop. I only saw 1 yellow poop in the days I've been going over there. I am not convinced it is Black head because no lesions and yellow poop is not consistent.

Tomorrow I will look at his poop under the microscope to see if there are any parasites. Any suggestions to what else I could do or any idea what this might be? I would appreciate any help. I would just like to give him every chance to live. As long as he isn't ready to give up, I'm not going to. Thank you. I'll answer any questions I can!
 
Last edited:
Hello there.

Keep on doing what you are doing, make sure he is getting fluids to keep from getting dehyerated. I would suggest to give him some vitamins like Poultry Nutri-Drench. You could find it at most feed stores.

Is it possible to get a pic of him?


~Meg
 
Photos oldest top down The brighter yellow was when I started caring for him. Pale color from yesterday. I added Vitamins to his formula. He still isn't interested in eating anything.
 

Attachments

  • 0928171742b.jpg
    0928171742b.jpg
    179.1 KB · Views: 6
  • 0928172117.jpg
    0928172117.jpg
    640.2 KB · Views: 5
  • 1004171555.jpg
    1004171555.jpg
    257.4 KB · Views: 4
  • 1007172046.jpg
    1007172046.jpg
    279.8 KB · Views: 3

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom