Turkey Talk for 2014

[SilkieSensation]

Quote:
Sounds like he's not going to last much longer. Let your sister take care of ending this humanely so he doesn't suffer & before it's too late to make use of him because he died on his own & the meat spoiled before you could get to him. It's better for all involved that way.

 

[chicken pickin]

I find a little over a year to be a few months past process time. Of course you love him , we all love our birds, but for me personally I process the Broad Breasted variety by 5 months of age. I think if your tom is over 1 year old and has a leg injury and is limping and also panting meaning he isn't breathing well, Im pretty sure it is more humane to process him now and not let it get to the point where he cant walk or breaks a leg or has a heart attack.

Good luck with your decision I know its a tough one.

 

[Thriftymom6]

Thank you all so much. It will be a hard decision

 

[Sydney Acres]

Bob our tom, fell yesterday and couldn't get back up. He has gotten do big, our family loves him like we love our dog. He is limping really bad. I feel guilty that I have let him eat too much and his legs can't handle it. I am always giving them snacks.
Here he is with his girls. What should I do?

Oh Thriftymom6, I'm so sorry. He is such a beautiful boy. I worry that the same thing will happen to my toms when they fight, but they are not broad breasted birds, so the risk is less.

So Thriftymom6, you have to decide if this bird is a treasured pet, or if this bird is food for someone. As blunt and painful as that is, it's really that simple.

If he is to be food, then he should be processed immediately so that he doesn't have to be in pain. The longer a bird this large limps around the greater chance he has to injure the other leg. Broad breasted turkeys get so large that it's difficult for them to carry their weight on two legs, and having to support his weight on mostly one leg is very difficult and painful. It's not fair to him, or humane, to let a food animal suffer after an injury, especially one that you obviously love. The fact that you do love him makes it even more important that you relieve his suffering quickly, if that is the decision that you make.

If he's a treasured pet, then he is painfully injured and needs to be seen by a veterinarian ASAP to find out what type of injury he has to his leg and if it can be fixed. If you do make that decision, you should know ahead of time that it might be fairly expensive, depending on the type of injury, and it might take a very long time to heal, if it can heal at all. In addition, he will be at very high risk of injuring the other leg during the healing process, as the other leg will be carrying more weight than it's meant to support. He will also likely be at increased risk of re-injurying this leg, as it never heals as strong as it was before the injury. The medications he would hopefully be put on to control the pain and inflammation do not have official withdrawal times in birds, so if you later change your mind you would either have to ignore the withdrawal times, or make him wait in pain at least 60 days, or waste the meat (although most pets get buried instead of eaten anyway, so that might not be an issue).

I don't feel that anyone can give you the "right" answer because we're not in your situation, and no matter how thoroughly you explain things we'll never have all the facts. It's a decision you have to make, and a very difficult one. I had a pet broiler chicken years ago. She was a treasured member of the family, and an immeasurable joy. But broiler chickens and broad breasted turkeys are not birds that were ever meant to live a long life. Very few of them live longer than 12-18 months, even when kept as pets, because they are so big and have so many health problems. Their bodies are bred to be so huge that their organs and legs just can't support themselves, and they wear out quickly. My Sydney was in full blown heart failure by the time she was 5 months old. Through the very best of modern veterinary medicine, regular appointments with multiple specialists, and an incredible amount of home care, research, and expense, I was able to treat her and keep her comfortable for over 6 more years, but by the time she died of old age she was on 11 different medications, all without the added complications of a leg injury. That's what you're looking at if you chose to keep this type of bird as a pet. Without that level of care, they just aren't hardy enough to survive very long.

I'm so sorry you and your family have to make this decision. It's something we all dread when we get so attached to our commercial hybrid birds.

 

[NewToFarming]

The babies are getting big fast! She has been a good Momma especially it being her first time.







This little one has me puzzled. It hatched a few days ago and was set under a different broody turkey hen about the same time these were set. The other Momma is brooding in a crate with 3 chicken hens which means I have to crawl into the crate with a broody turkey and 3 broody chickens. I fear for my life each time I have to do this! LOL I was going to pitch the eggs this past weekend when I was cleaning the barn but totally forgot because I was sure these were way overdue. I came home from work on Tuesday and found this little one under a silkie Momma that was in with her. Thank goodness I didn't throw the eggs away!

 

[gevshiba]

Here we go again, I thought. I have a new hatchling that can't walk. At first I thought he just needed time to get his legs under him. I spent 3 days flipping one over when he kept falling on his back, and that was his problem. Once he learned to stand and walk, then run, no more flipping. But then today, I saw the new guy had slipped tendons. I popped them in, they popped out. Did this a few times, then sat him in a container. The tendons were in, because he was standing. I gave him a little cap full of runny fermented feed. It's been a few hours and I just checked on hm. He's out of his container and I can't tell which one he is! All 5 are running round, eating and drinking like rowdy little turkeys. I cant tell you how happy that made me.

 

[farm n louisana]

Tom r hen

 

[farm n louisana]

Tom r hen

 

[Sydney Acres]

Tom r hen

Not sure, but fabulous picture!

Is this picture and the one in the post after it the same poult, or 2 separate poults?

 

[farm n louisana]

Two separate