What’s Wrong With My Turkey?

[paigemn]

Is my turkey sick? It’s been acting really weird the past 2 days. It’s currently on the ground shaking and breathing weird and hard like this. What could be wrong? We have chickens and one other turkey and none are doing this. This is been on and off the last two days. She’ll look perfectly fine and then a few moments later she’ll be doing this. What should I do?

 

[Shadowfire]

Definitely get her off the snow and into the house, with plenty of warmish water and a little food.

 

[paigemn]

She’s in the coop now. We shut everyone in at night. We also have one of those heated water bowls and there’s plenty of food in there. We keep the coop open during the day so everyone’s free to go in and out into the run whenever they want. She’s on the roost right now but still doesn’t look too good.

 

[R2elk]

Is my turkey sick? It’s been acting really weird the past 2 days. It’s currently on the ground shaking and breathing weird and hard like this. What could be wrong? We have chickens and one other turkey and none are doing this. This is been on and off the last two days. She’ll look perfectly fine and then a few moments later she’ll be doing this. What should I do?

While it is possible that your hen is ill, it is also possible that she is submitting for breeding. The hen laying down with her wings slightly spread as shown in your photo is the breeding position that a hen assumes when she is willing to submit to a tom.

Hens that are imprinted by people will often assume this position for their human.

 

[paigemn]

Oh hopefully that’s all it is. I’ll keep an eye on her for now just in case.