Wasting away - help needed urgently

[tjwaynne]

I am at a loss...and just don't know what to do now.

We have a grown bourbon red hen turkey that has the following symptoms...

She was laying eggs until about a week or so ago. I didn't notice any egg binding or prolapse that needed treatment during this time.

We first noticed a full crop that would not empty. It is mushy and I cannot feel any solid material inside.
She has a croupy voice and sometimes raspy breathing. This I assume is being caused by the backup of her crop.
We have noticed she has mucous coming out of her vent...and nothing else.
She has lost a LOT of weight since she is not digesting anything.
Her one eye is partially closed and the wing on that side is droopy. (The other eye and wing look normal).
Her legs and around her beak have gotten a lot redder than usual.
She wants to drink a ton of water, but this only fills up her crop to where she is "vomiting" out the contents of her crop.
And most recently a yellow hard mass directly above her vent has developed - this only happened in the last day or two.

I was treating for a sour crop, and the only thing this improved was the smell of her "vomit".

I am also giving her sub Q fluids twice a day.

Other than this, I'm not sure what to do at this point. Every time I think I have the issue diagnosed, she seems to get a new symptom that just doesn't fit. Can anyone help? I am at a loss and really don't want to keep trying to save her if it's hopeless.

Thanks so much!

 

[Sierra G]

It doesn't need to be plastic clogging things up, but that's still one possibility. Microorganisms like yeasts, fungus, and bacteria can grow in her digestive track. There are beneficial bacteria that she needs to digest her food. Sometimes harmful bacteria outgrown the beneficial bacteria and release byproducts that are toxins and you get different illnesses depending on the type of bacteria. Ideally you target these with medication that attacks a specific family of bacteria. But sometimes broad spectrum antibiotics are needed because there is no specific treatment. If you've ever had a sourdough starter you had to throw out because it went bad you understand the concept.

The other problem you can have with foreign microorganisms is that some don't release toxins, but they do use up the resources the good bacteria need or by products of the good bacteria the turkey needs. If you have a beneficial bacteria that converts starches to sugars you lose the benefit if another comes along that uses up the sugars. And one of the resources that can get taken up is space. You can have colonies of bacteria or other organisms that grow in the gut and create big clumps of curdlike bacteria that aren't toxic, but can plug things up just being there.

It's sounds like that might be what you have here and the Amoxicillin might have killed enough bacteria to get thing moving again. You may see more improvement tonight. Whether or not you decide to give more antibiotics you might want to consider giving some probiotics. Probiotics help re-establish the good bacteria the bad bacteria have been poisoning or crowding out. in-VIGOR-ate works well for chickens and says it's good for turkeys too. Tractor supply makes one that's "multispecies", but it doesn't seem to work as well as the others and isn't that much cheaper. I suppose the decision will depend on what you can find locally.

The other thing to consider is that you might have multiple things happening. The crop issue could have disrupted things in the gut and created good conditions for an opportunistic infection there. So if your antibiotics are addressing that problem there may still be a yeast infection in the crop which might need to be treated separately.

 

[Eggcessive]

@Eggcessive, what do you think is going on?

Sounds to me like a Reproductive Disease.

Since this is a turkey, I would tag @R2elk or @casportpony.

 

[tjwaynne]

@Eggcessive, what do you think is going on?

Sounds to me like a Reproductive Disease.

I am still at a loss for what actually happened. Still can't figure out why her digestive system just stopped...but it's working just fine now. And she is putting weight back on and acting more like herself.

After looking her over more thoroughly, I did find, what I assume, are breeding injuries. There are some pretty big sores by her droopy wing and the sores continue up onto her neck. They are slowly getting better with treatment.

She still has that swollen area directly above her vent, but it's slowly turning from the yellow color to her regular skin color. Although the swelling isn't getting too much better yet.

 

[luckysamara199]

I almost teared up reading this I can’t imagine how she feels. I’m not a turkey expert but I think it might be gapeworms. I am currently treating my chickens with gapeworm treatment, their symptoms were gasping for air, hizzing, not eating well and they would stretch out their necks. I’ll give you the name of the gapeworm treatment, it doesn’t only help with gapeworm but it also helps kill other parasites that might’ve caused your turkey to be this way. You will find this treatment on Amazon. The name is: Verm-x Liquid Poultry & Fowl internal Parasite 250ml. It is 35$, it’s a bit expensive but it works well. I really hope your turkey gets better! Good luck

 

[Sierra G]

Try th link to see if anything sounds like something your bird might have gotten in to. https://opensanctuary.org/article/things-that-are-toxic-to-turkeys/#plants-that-are-toxic-to-turkeys

 

[tjwaynne]

I almost teared up reading this I can’t imagine how she feels. I’m not a turkey expert but I think it might be gapeworms. I am currently treating my chickens with gapeworm treatment, their symptoms were gasping for air, hizzing, not eating well and they would stretch out their necks. I’ll give you the name of the gapeworm treatment, it doesn’t only help with gapeworm but it also helps kill other parasites that might’ve caused your turkey to be this way. You will find this treatment on Amazon. The name is: Verm-x Liquid Poultry & Fowl internal Parasite 250ml. It is 35$, it’s a bit expensive but it works well. I really hope your turkey gets better! Good luck

Yes. I know. This is whole situation is horrible...especially for our hen. I treated with fenbendazole this morning, but I assume that if this is gapeworms that the worms are further down the track than her crop...and nothing is really getting past her crop...so not sure how effective this treatment will be. Thank you for your suggestion and compassion.

 

[tjwaynne]

Try th link to see if anything sounds like something your bird might have gotten in to. https://opensanctuary.org/article/things-that-are-toxic-to-turkeys/#plants-that-are-toxic-to-turkeys

Thank you for the link. I don't think she got into anything that was toxic. And once again when I look at the symptoms it seems like there is nothing that fits all of the symptoms I am seeing. Thank you so much for the reply. I have bookmarked the link you included for future reference.

 

[Sierra G]

Thank you for the link. I don't think she got into anything that was toxic.

There are lots of possible toxins out there and they're easier for your birds to get into than you might think. You can't watch them 24/7 which is about how often they're typically ready to eat something. As for nothing matching all the symptoms, reviewing the list will give you a baseline for what some possible symptoms are. If you look at lead poisoning for example it can account for many of them, including the droopy wing. Diagnosing the problem is about eliminating everything that's impossible and then considering how possible the remaining options are.

 

[Sierra G]

What can you tell us about her environment? Does she free range or have an enclosure? How close are your neighbors? How likely is it that something like plastic wrap or a balloon could blow into the yard? How long has the property been lived on and, if she can get to grass, how is the grass cared for?

What was her feed like when she was eating and did she get any treats?

And can you post a picture of her standing?

Edit: since your first noticed issue was the crop, did you read this
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/