Turkey poult panting.....

[lil'chickies]

I'm not sure if this is ok. It has room to get out from under the heat. It's also laying down and panting. Then it settles down. It will get up and move around. I'm just not sure about all this panting. They are about 2 or 3 days old. Not even sure on breed. Any hints or suggestions about how to care for them. We put in one 4 week old chick that was getting picked on a lot by our other chicks. It was the rare one with our order. It's not picking on the turkeys at all. I really hope it is ok. Do they always lay all the way down when they sleep?

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

If it is panting the brooder temps are too high. Try raising the light up a bit to lower the brooder temps and see if that helps them from panting. Even though they can get away from the light the brooder may be really hot all together and they can not cool down.

 

[lil'chickies]

The other poult is not acting like that one. It's somewhat lethargic and the other one is acting fine. I don't know what to do. It just may not make it.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Poults rest more during periods of heat stress. Some birds will stand quietly while others simply crouch near walls or waterers. Usually, their
wings are spread away from the body to promote cooling by reducing body insulation. Within the bird, blood flow is diverted from certain internal body organs such as the liver, kidneys and intestines to dilated blood vessels of the peripheral tissue (skin) in order to facilitate heat loss.
Hyperventilation or "panting" increases during periods of high environmental temperature. Heat loss through evaporative cooling allows the poult to dissipate the heat it is generating. However, panting requires increased muscle activity and these results in an increased energy requirement, which is associated with heat stress. Therefore, decreased energy efficiency also accompanies hot weather. Panting would normally be expected to occur when the room temperature is near or above 86 degrees.
Relative humidity influences evaporative heat loss through panting. Poults, as well as other domestic poultry, cannot tolerate high temperature coupled with high relative humidity. Death due to heat exhaustion will occur very quickly, especially in heavier birds, if both temperature and humidity are high. In normal birds, panting will remove approximately 540 calories per gram of water lost by the lungs.

 

[lil'chickies]

Good news. It's fine today. I think it was stressed from the trip or something. We had this stupid cold front come in and threw everything off. He's up eating and drinking. Just being normal. I think the drama has passed and they are going to make it. I was really worried since I just bought two turkey poults. I didn't want to lose one. Just thought I would let you know. Thank you for helping! I'll post some pics of the little cuties later.