Turkeys For 2013

[chicken pickin]

Well said!

X2

 

[kuntrygirl]

DISTURBING PICS of a poult with a severely crooked neck. Look at your own risk.

I wanted to share this with everyone. I waited until I had a "final result" to this problem before I would post, so all of the information would be in 1 post for everyone to read.

On Monday, March 18, 2013 when I returned home from work, I went out to the chicken stalls to feed and water the animals and I noticed that 1 of the poults that was hatched 1-11-2013 was sleeping. If it is not "nap time", I'm always giving them a little nudge to make sure that everything is ok. Well, I did the same thing to this one. It didn't move at all. I nudged it again and it still didn't move. I then placed both of my hands on the poult and gave it a firm nudge to try to wake it up. His head was turned backwards under his wing like they normally sleep. He moved his head but his head didn't move any further. I then picked him up to look at his face. When I picked him up, his head fell forward and I noticed that his neck was shaped like a curly fry. I was in total shock when I saw this. I immediately looked around to see if any others were in this same condition. I brought him inside to examine him. I could not find anything wrong with him besides a few scratches under his left eye. I felt his neck but it felt like the usual bony neck of a poult at that age. There were no signs of any other symptoms of eye problems, strange breathing, etc., etc, etc. The first thing that I thought of was that a possum or raccoon tried to pull it's head through the wire and was not successful. Either way, I could not figure it out.

Here is a pic of what he looked like on last Monday when I brought him inside. I had him laying on my leg. He could not move or lift his neck. You can't see how distorted his neck is because I relaxed his neck and allowed him to rest it (stretched out) on my leg to give him some type of muscle and bone relief.

Here is a pic of him a few days later. He was able to find a position that would allow him to stand up. He had jerky neck and body movements. I would go as far to say that he had "violent" body twitches. Has anyone ever seen a person with a bad "twitch"? Well this is what the poult had. Sorry that the lighting is not good. I took the pic inside. I hope that you can tell how his neck and body is positioned.

So, I treated the crooked neck as follows:

With my experience with wry neck "croocked neck" (if that is what he had), I know that Vitamin E, with selenium is important in getting this into the birds system. I already had in stock this gel caps, so I proceeded with this care plan. Sometimes we just don't know what's wrong and we have to try our best to help our birds.

Monday, March 18, 2013 - Friday, March 22, 2013
I went to the store and bought a lot of jars of baby food (pureed green beans, peas, carrots and sweet potatoes). Mixed baby food and yogurt in a bowl until the consistency was watery. Poured into a syringe and gently squirted the pureed food into the poult's mouth and allowed him to swallow the food slowly. I fed the poult this mixture 2 - 3 times a day. I cut a small hole in the Vitamin E with selenium gel caps and drizzled the liquid down it's throat 2 times a day. I placed a few drops of Poly-Vi-Sol (without iron) Children's liquid vitamins in the poults mouth 2 times a day. I mixed together a concoction of sugar and water or local raw honey and water and fed to as to replace "just water".

In addition to the feeding program, I massaged him neck 3 times a day with warm castor oil. I tried to relieve the pressure from his muscles and bones and tried to allow him some relief. I tried to gently stretch out the neck as I was massaging him with the warm castor oil.

After doing all of that, I just waited every day to see any changes. I felt so sorry for the poult, I had made the decision that if it didn't get better within the amount of time that I thought was "reasonable", that I was going to put it down. I didn't want the poor baby to suffer. I was hoping that I didn't have to do that. I shared this story with another BYC'er and I told her that there was no way that this poult was snapping out of this. It was too bad. As positive as I am about animals recovering from things like this, even I didn't think it would make it. I was unsure if I was giving it enough food and water, so I figured that it would starve to death or it would die from the violent twitches. I had to "pad the sides and door of the pet carrier that I had it in because of the violent twitches. I didn't want the poor poult to knock himself out from beating his head up against the wire door and hard plastic sides. I kept the poult inside with me. At night when I would go to bed, I could hear that poor baby twitching inside the pet carrier. I know that it was trying to come out of that "curly fry" position. It was heartbreaking but there was nothing that I could do but be patient and hope that it would be ok. Every morning that I woke up, I was so afraid to look into the pet carrier to find a dead poult. But luck was on our side and he was always there waiting for me in the morning when it was time to feed and water.

Well, on Friday, March 22, 2013, when I got home, I wen to the pet carrier and called his name like I had done all week. Shouting out, "Are you okay today"", "How's it going?", "Are you ready to eat?" and questions like that. Well, lo and behold, when I got closer to the carrier and asked him if he was ok, he answered back and I saw his neck in a straight position. IT WAS A MIRACLE. I could NOT believe that he was no longer in a curly fry position and that his neck was almost back to normal. His neck was 90% straight. I was speechless. I was shocked. I stood in a paralyzed position for a few minutes in disbelief. I screamed out, "YOU DID IT!" I was so happy. I think I cried to see that he was ok. I opened his pet carrier and took him out. I allowed him to roam around the house while I ran outside to get some game bird crumble to see if he could eat. Well, I put him some food in a bowl and he TORE IT UP !!!!! He ate like he had never eaten before.

Below are pics of him that were take on Friday when I got home from work.

I continued to give him the liquid Vitamin E with selenium over the weekend. I did not have to feed him anymore because he was eating and drinking on his own.

On Sunday, I put him in the back yard and he took off running. I decided to try to put him back in with his brothers and sisters. Well, that didn't work. Since he had been gone all week, they didn't recognize him and one of the male poults attacked him as to try to kill or injure him. So, I had to take him out immediately. I was sad to see that happen but they won't accept him back into the group. So, I allowed him to run around a while so that he could enjoy the sun and the beautiful weather. He kept going back to the pen with his brothers and sisters and he would just sit down at the door of the pen with them and make noise. I felt so sorry for him because I knew that I couldn't put him back in because that same male poult (i'm sure the dominant poult) would try to kill him. So, when it was time to put him up, I placed him in his own pen with water and food. On Sunday his neck was about 95% back to normal. I'm hoping by the end of the week, he will be 100%. I placed a zip tie on his foot so that I will know it is him when he gets older, so that I can track if this thing happens again.

I honestly think that it was an injury. I think with their long and fragile necks, he turned the wrong way or perhaps they were fighting or playing and he injured himself. I don't think that it was any type of illness at all.

So, this is my 1st problem with the first poults of the 2013 year. I wanted to share this with everyone in the event this similar thing happens to someone else during the season that we are all incubating and hatching babies. You could possibly try my technique and try what I did in hopes that it will save your poult. I hope that this will help the next poult that may get this same neck problem.

I will try to take a pic of him today when I get home so that you all can see his progress.

ETA: Please keep an eye on your poults and ALWAYS look for unusual behaviors EVERY DAY, like I do. They will let you know when something is wrong with them.

 

[r4eboxer]

Thanks for that Kuntry Girl. I've copied and saved it in case I need it again.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

DISTURBING PICS of a poult with a severely crooked neck. Look at your own risk.

I wanted to share this with everyone. I waited until I had a "final result" to this problem before I would post, so all of the information would be in 1 post for everyone to read.

On Monday, March 18, 2013 when I returned home from work, I went out to the chicken stalls to feed and water the animals and I noticed that 1 of the poults that was hatched 1-11-2013 was sleeping. If it is not "nap time", I'm always giving them a little nudge to make sure that everything is ok. Well, I did the same thing to this one. It didn't move at all. I nudged it again and it still didn't move. I then placed both of my hands on the poult and gave it a firm nudge to try to wake it up. His head was turned backwards under his wing like they normally sleep. He moved his head but his head didn't move any further. I then picked him up to look at his face. When I picked him up, his head fell forward and I noticed that his neck was shaped like a curly fry. I was in total shock when I saw this. I immediately looked around to see if any others were in this same condition. I brought him inside to examine him. I could not find anything wrong with him besides a few scratches under his left eye. I felt his neck but it felt like the usual bony neck of a poult at that age. There were no signs of any other symptoms of eye problems, strange breathing, etc., etc, etc. The first thing that I thought of was that a possum or raccoon tried to pull it's head through the wire and was not successful. Either way, I could not figure it out.

Here is a pic of what he looked like on last Monday when I brought him inside. I had him laying on my leg. He could not move or lift his neck. You can't see how distorted his neck is because I relaxed his neck and allowed him to rest it (stretched out) on my leg to give him some type of muscle and bone relief.


Here is a pic of him a few days later. He was able to find a position that would allow him to stand up. He had jerky neck and body movements. I would go as far to say that he had "violent" body twitches. Has anyone ever seen a person with a bad "twitch"? Well this is what the poult had. Sorry that the lighting is not good. I took the pic inside. I hope that you can tell how his neck and body is positioned.




So, I treated the crooked neck as follows:

With my experience with wry neck "croocked neck" (if that is what he had), I know that Vitamin E, with selenium is important in getting this into the birds system. I already had in stock this gel caps, so I proceeded with this care plan. Sometimes we just don't know what's wrong and we have to try our best to help our birds.

Monday, March 18, 2013 - Friday, March 22, 2013
I went to the store and bought a lot of jars of baby food (pureed green beans, peas, carrots and sweet potatoes). Mixed baby food and yogurt in a bowl until the consistency was watery. Poured into a syringe and gently squirted the pureed food into the poult's mouth and allowed him to swallow the food slowly. I fed the poult this mixture 2 - 3 times a day. I cut a small hole in the Vitamin E with selenium gel caps and drizzled the liquid down it's throat 2 times a day. I placed a few drops of Poly-Vi-Sol (without iron) Children's liquid vitamins in the poults mouth 2 times a day. I mixed together a concoction of sugar and water or local raw honey and water and fed to as to replace "just water".

In addition to the feeding program, I massaged him neck 3 times a day with warm castor oil. I tried to relieve the pressure from his muscles and bones and tried to allow him some relief. I tried to gently stretch out the neck as I was massaging him with the warm castor oil.

After doing all of that, I just waited every day to see any changes. I felt so sorry for the poult, I had made the decision that if it didn't get better within the amount of time that I thought was "reasonable", that I was going to put it down. I didn't want the poor baby to suffer. I was hoping that I didn't have to do that. I shared this story with another BYC'er and I told her that there was no way that this poult was snapping out of this. It was too bad. As positive as I am about animals recovering from things like this, even I didn't think it would make it. I was unsure if I was giving it enough food and water, so I figured that it would starve to death or it would die from the violent twitches. I had to "pad the sides and door of the pet carrier that I had it in because of the violent twitches. I didn't want the poor poult to knock himself out from beating his head up against the wire door and hard plastic sides. I kept the poult inside with me. At night when I would go to bed, I could hear that poor baby twitching inside the pet carrier. I know that it was trying to come out of that "curly fry" position. It was heartbreaking but there was nothing that I could do but be patient and hope that it would be ok. Every morning that I woke up, I was so afraid to look into the pet carrier to find a dead poult. But luck was on our side and he was always there waiting for me in the morning when it was time to feed and water.

Well, on Friday, March 22, 2013, when I got home, I wen to the pet carrier and called his name like I had done all week. Shouting out, "Are you okay today"", "How's it going?", "Are you ready to eat?" and questions like that. Well, lo and behold, when I got closer to the carrier and asked him if he was ok, he answered back and I saw his neck in a straight position. IT WAS A MIRACLE. I could NOT believe that he was no longer in a curly fry position and that his neck was almost back to normal. His neck was 90% straight. I was speechless. I was shocked. I stood in a paralyzed position for a few minutes in disbelief. I screamed out, "YOU DID IT!"

I was so happy. I think I cried to see that he was ok. I opened his pet carrier and took him out. I allowed him to roam around the house while I ran outside to get some game bird crumble to see if he could eat. Well, I put him some food in a bowl and he TORE IT UP !!!!! He ate like he had never eaten before.

Below are pics of him that were take on Friday when I got home from work.



I continued to give him the liquid Vitamin E with selenium over the weekend. I did not have to feed him anymore because he was eating and drinking on his own.

On Sunday, I put him in the back yard and he took off running.

I decided to try to put him back in with his brothers and sisters. Well, that didn't work. Since he had been gone all week, they didn't recognize him and one of the male poults attacked him as to try to kill or injure him. So, I had to take him out immediately. I was sad to see that happen but they won't accept him back into the group. So, I allowed him to run around a while so that he could enjoy the sun and the beautiful weather. He kept going back to the pen with his brothers and sisters and he would just sit down at the door of the pen with them and make noise. I felt so sorry for him because I knew that I couldn't put him back in because that same male poult (i'm sure the dominant poult) would try to kill him. So, when it was time to put him up, I placed him in his own pen with water and food. On Sunday his neck was about 95% back to normal. I'm hoping by the end of the week, he will be 100%. I placed a zip tie on his foot so that I will know it is him when he gets older, so that I can track if this thing happens again.

I honestly think that it was an injury. I think with their long and fragile necks, he turned the wrong way or perhaps they were fighting or playing and he injured himself. I don't think that it was any type of illness at all.

So, this is my 1st problem with the first poults of the 2013 year. I wanted to share this with everyone in the event this similar thing happens to someone else during the season that we are all incubating and hatching babies. You could possibly try my technique and try what I did in hopes that it will save your poult. I hope that this will help the next poult that may get this same neck problem.

I will try to take a pic of him today when I get home so that you all can see his progress.

ETA: Please keep an eye on your poults and ALWAYS look for unusual behaviors EVERY DAY, like I do. They will let you know when something is wrong with them.

WOW that's amazing! Thanks for sharing this, saved it to word for future reference!

 

[r4eboxer]

My question got lost in the posts so I'm gonna ask again.

How many months will Turkeys lay? I need to schedule my calendar for customers and I'm not sure if they will lay through the summer or stop in May/June the way geese do?

 

[Sally8]

My question got lost in the posts so I'm gonna ask again.

How many months will Turkeys lay? I need to schedule my calendar for customers and I'm not sure if they will lay through the summer or stop in May/June the way geese do?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Thanks for that Kuntry Girl. I've copied and saved it in case I need it again.

You are welcome.

 

[kuntrygirl]

WOW that's amazing! Thanks for sharing this, saved it to word for future reference!

You are welcome.

 

[kuntrygirl]

My question got lost in the posts so I'm gonna ask again.

How  many months will Turkeys lay? I need to schedule my calendar for customers and I'm not sure if they will lay through the summer or stop in May/June the way geese do?

 

In the last couple of years, mine would lay well into August. It seems like it changes every year for me.

 

[r4eboxer]

In the last couple of years, mine would lay well into August. It seems like it changes every year for me.

Thanks!