Turkey won't eat and has rattly breathing. Help!

[Astrolover13]

Yesterday my turkey was fine and acting normal. She was eating and following me around and was letting me pet her. Today she seems very reserved, she won't eat, and when she breathes she sounds very rattily and flemmy. I've looked at a list of diseases and there's just so many I have no clue what it is. I'm hoping it's not blackhead because I haven't noticed any yellow diarrhea. Also, she has a blue head (Royal Palm) so it's hard to tell if she is turning blue/purple from blackhead. Please help identify the disease and how I can help treat her, She's my baby girl, like a dog, and I don't want to lose her. Thank you.

 

[silkielover88]

Is she coughing? Could have a cold. Ours get like that whenever the weather changes from warm to cool. Never had a change in skin color though....your best bet would be to have a vet look at her. Bc it really could be anything, better having the right diagnosis before treatment, but if you absolutely need to, there's a natural oil treatment I can't think of the name right this second but I'll get it to u in a few, it's in out barn. But it's basically like Vicks for poultry.

 

[silkielover88]

And it's called vet RX. I just looked lol

 

[Astrolover13]

Thanks. I hope it's just a cold. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

 

[ivan3]

Any environmental changes prior to sudden onset, e.g., heavy rains/placed in run with other poultry for the first time/new poultry added to flock/increase in mosquito population? If she's walking around with beak half-open (or opening/closing often along with stretching out neck - maybe she got some forage or other stuck on the way down - you could try hand feeding a few torn up grapes with a few drops of vegetable oil on them. While doing so (if she'll eat them) check mouth/throat for any whitish/yellow plaques/discoloration and blood in mouth (coughing it up). Wet variant of Fowl Pox/Gapeworm or two possibilities. If it has been raining heavily in the past week, could be pulmonary E. Coli. Another possibility is ILT (Infectious Laryngotracheitis). If facial sinuses begin to swell up consider Mycoplasma G./Sinusitis.

Blackhead (Histomoniasis) can cause (in end stages of disease) heads to darken due to hypoxia (more towards purple from lack of oxygen). However, sudden onset of decreased appetite & respiratory signs are not the usual initial presentation.

Good list to work from: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/
Info on Gapeworm (owing to your description of sounds): http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2653&Itemid=2942