Turkey poult got twine around foot.

[Meaghan]

Hi all,

A couple days ago, we came home to discover one of our turkey poults had it's ankle wrapped tightly in twine. We removed the twine, and are hoping for some feedback and opinions on his progress. Right now he is isolated in our spare bathroom making a disaster of it.

A few hours after twine removal:

Yesterday:

Tonight:

We gave him a duramycin injection the first night, and he is slightly weight bearing on it. But, he is also pecking at it and causing it to bleed between the toes and on the top of his foot.

As you can see from the pictures, his toes are turning dark. I'm not sure if this is brusing or if it's necrosis.

Any opinions are appreciated. We can cull if it would be the best option, but would like to save him if we can. (He's one of four 10 week old Royal Palm poults, and with our luck our only hen.) Is amputation necessary? Or even an option? Or should we let nature heal his foot? I don't want him to be in excess pain.

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry to say, the foot doesn't look good. It looks like it is dying. This doesn't mean it can't be helped, however. Try massaging it in warm water to get blood flowing.
He is probably pecking at it because the nerves in it died. I would treat him/her with antibiotics to prevent infections from occurring. Hopefully he will be able to heal enough to use that leg.
Since poultry are only two legged, I don't know how well amputation would work. However, I have heard of one legged chickens that got around alright. If he can make it around without pain and if he can eat and drink, then you should keep trying to do what you can do to help the little poult.

I hope he gets better. Best of luck!

 

[chiques chicks]

I have a chicken that lost both feet to frostbite last winter. He still gets around, eats, drinks, etc. Not an active member of the flock, but with the flock.

All this to say, a handicapped bird is not a death sentence of it is cared for and not abused by the other bird.

 

[GitaBooks]

Agreed.

 

[Meaghan]

That's what I was afraid of, it looks like the foot is dying to me too. I'm not sure if he's in pain, he certainly doesn't seem like it other than the limp. He walks around our bathroom just fine. I am just concerned that as he ages, if his weight will be a problem. Turkeys are a lot heavier than chickens, despite hearing a lot of stories about chickens doing fine on one or no feet. I haven't heard anything about turkeys, really.

I don't want to amputate necessarily, but necrotic flesh is dangerous, at least to my knowledge. We were considering possibly banding it off again at the ankle if it isn't going to survive. I don't know of a "kinder" method to amputate, and banding is done on tails, testicles, and horns so I figured it would work on a foot.

 

[GitaBooks]

Banding would be the best way, if you decided to go with that amputation.
I have also heard that dying flesh is dangerous.

 

[Meaghan]

We went ahead and banded his foot at the spot where the twine cut of circulation. Debating on fashioning a peg for him to walk equally on it, but I'm not sure how it would work out. The foot looks worse than it did last night, unfortunately, and the skin on the toes was starting to slough off.

 

[GitaBooks]

There are so many disabled animals that can have a wonderful life if just given the chance. Try and make a prosthetic. No harm in experimenting, right?

 

[Meaghan]

There are so many disabled animals that can have a wonderful life if just given the chance. Try and make a prosthetic. No harm in experimenting, right?

Of course not! If this turns out to be a hen we plan on keeping her as comfortable as possible for as long as possible. I'm afraid though, if it's a tom, he will likely out pace his body's ability to keep up since toms are so much larger than hens. I'm sure there's something we can come up with to give him a surface to walk on.