turkey with fowl pox wont eat

AtomicVulture

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my turkey has fowl pox and will not eat anything, hes a little lethargic and im very worried that hes going to die.

his pox has progressed to where its beginning to dry up and scab a little so im hoping its near its end but i cant tell, ive looked down his throat and theres no lesions on the inside

he hasnt eaten properly in 2 days, ive been trying to force mash down his beak so he has to swallow it but i cant give him liquids for fear of causing him to aspirate.

i dont have pellets, i only have crumb that i can either make into crumble (so its not so dusty, just a sprits of water and then mix so it clumps into small crumbs) or i can make mash. i cant leave the crumb dry as its too dusty and clumps up in his throat

i could try feeding him chicken pellets but i dont know how keen he would be

he kind of gets excited for food when its not mash but after a few bites of anything he is no longer interested.

he was very down in the dumps 2 days ago when he was basically just sunbathing and drinking water, he didnt eat much at all and i didnt push him because i thought he’d be better the next day

the next day wasnt eventful, he was a bit of the same, a little playful once i fed him a little bit of bread but he wasn’t too keen on it either.

today he has been a lot more vocal than he was but hes not playful and he just kinda seems out of it

he isnt very keen on drinking any water today but im trying very hard, hes had atleast a few mouthfuls

ive heard that their poop can be very yellow if they’re starving? but sulpher yellow is also a sign of blackheads

he was a very playful crazy bird until 2-3 days ago and i really do not want to lose him. i cannot afford a vet, he was a rescue that i thought i could take on as i had other birds but my chickens have never really been uninterested in food unless theyre actively dying.

i had a chicken go practically blind from fowl pox and she was still keen to eat wet mash, she made it through it i thought he would be fine too like she was.

im very worried and i dont know what to do.

please tell me this isnt blackheads. hes like my baby i dont know what i’ll do if he doesnt make it.

edit: as of now (2:30pm) i did get him to drink some water, it didnt take much effort this time thankfully as the water was properly cold he seemed to like it more

he also at a few mouthfuls of dry crumb out of the tub i put it in, but he wasn’t interested when i put some in a different tub on the ground

he seems a little weak on his legs but is less lethargic than i may have thought, he’s quick to peck me if he feels like it and chased a chicken he didnt like for a few seconds, but hes just been laying around a lot. im wondering if he doesn’t really feel warm enough (its summer right now im pretty sure so its pretty warm out, but my dad had an idea that maybe he feels a little cold internally like when you get the chills if youre sick)

i took a closer look at his scabs and noticed that some are starting to come off, dont worry i wont touch them, but this might be a good sign. the hen i had with fowl pox ended up scratching all her scabs off one night (i wasnt very pleased) but she could see so she could eat, and after the rawness of her skin cleared up she was back to normal.

another edit for the end of today: he did eat a little more and seemed a little more active by the end of today, he also drank a good amount of water
 

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@casportpony tagging an educator.
I've never had to deal with fowl poxs.
I have had run ins with blackhead and turkeys and unfortunately that poop looks like blackhead to me. Also his behavior makes me also think blackhead. I'll search for the form I used to treat my turkeys.
 
@casportpony tagging an educator.
I've never had to deal with fowl poxs.
I have had run ins with blackhead and turkeys and unfortunately that poop looks like blackhead to me. Also his behavior makes me also think blackhead. I'll search for the form I used to treat my turkeys.
In addition to the medications, @casportpony will recommend tube feeding.
 
he has started eating more this morning it seems, he ate about 6-ish full mouthfuls of crumb per his choice (which isn’t a lot but he wasnt eating anything by choice the first day i noticed something was off)

i picked up the tub and he immediately came to me to eat so hopefully this is a good sign and hopefully he doesn’t deteriorate further

its only 9am right now so i’ll make sure to keep offering food throughout the day and maybe top it off with some force feeding just to make sure he gets more in his system

i dont know how he could have blackhead as he has never taken interest in worms and theres no exposed areas where worms like to come out that he could potentially eat but i guess i’ll never know which of my chickens could be carrying it if they have been eating something

ive never tube fed a bird before and like i said hes still active enough to whip his head around and peck me if he feels like it so im not sure how hes going to feel about it. and i worry a lot with liquids as ive unfortunately made a rescue bird aspirate before and it isnt pretty, i do not want to do that again.
 
1000026817.jpg

Metronidazole dosage for turkey.
Two 250mg tablets down the throat the first day, then 1 250mg tablet for the next 5 days.
This is what I used to treat my turkeys. I can't find the post but this is what I have written down for dose.
There was something else to use after the Metronidazole but I can't find that information and I apparently didn't write that down.
 
im not sure i can get anything like that, drug laws are very harsh in new zealand i would have to take him to a vet to get a prescription for him.

how good does this work? i may be able to scrounge up some money for him but i cant spend hundreds just for him to die later on :(
 

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