What is wrong with my turkeys? Scabbed and swollen faces

[Scottingitup]

Noticed this a few days ago and separated the ones I could notice. I have tylan i have been giving them in there water for 2 days (tommorrow being the 3rd) and I am not seeing much if any improvement. Going to check now that everyone is on the roost but I thought I saw two more starting to develop it as well. The tylan bottle is 2 months past its expiration date-but it was never opened- could that be the problem? Or am I just using the wrong medication?

Some have swollen faces on top of the beak like the guy/girl on the right or swollen scabbed eyes like the one on the left. Sometimes it's one eye sometimes it's both.



Here are some better up close pictures

Teary swollen eye




Poor turkey with big beak

 

[turkaholic]

Looks like Fowl Pox to me. The birds can have varying degrees of scabbing. Some have very little , while others can look horrible. Not much you can do with fowl pox once they have it other than let it run its course. Here is a link to some more info. Good Luck!
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/63/fowl-pox-pox-avian-pox

 

[Scottingitup]

Looks like Fowl Pox to me. The birds can have varying degrees of scabbing. Some have very little , while others can look horrible. Not much you can do with fowl pox once they have it other than let it run its course. Here is a link to some more info. Good Luck!
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/63/fowl-pox-pox-avian-pox

I concur after researching that. Thanks. Guess I will just wait it out.

Should I consider vaccination in the future?

 

[kuntrygirl]

That is fowl pox. My younger turkeys just went through a TERRIBLE case of it. It was horrible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vaccinate in the future for all new birds. I never did in the past but my first cast of fowl pox will be the LAST. I have learned my lesson.

If the dry pox turns to wet pox, please post so that I can help you. It is a MONSTER. :/

 

[Scottingitup]

That is fowl pox. My younger turkeys just went through a TERRIBLE case of it. It was horrible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vaccinate in the future for all new birds. I never did in the past but my first cast of fowl pox will be the LAST. I have learned my lesson.
If the dry pox turns to wet pox, please post so that I can help you. It is a MONSTER.

Will do. Care to share your experience? Also let me know where you can get the vaccine and the procedures for administering it. I think these five are doing fine now and starting to heal up.

I caught 4 of them outside my fence, time for a wing clipping!

 

[kuntrygirl]

That is fowl pox. My younger turkeys just went through a TERRIBLE case of it. It was horrible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vaccinate in the future for all new birds. I never did in the past but my first cast of fowl pox will be the LAST. I have learned my lesson.

If the dry pox turns to wet pox, please post so that I can help you. It is a MONSTER. :/

Will do. Care to share your experience? Also let me know where you can get the vaccine and the procedures for administering it. I think these five are doing fine now and starting to heal up.

I caught 4 of them outside my fence, time for a wing clipping!

You can get the vaccine here.......

http://www.jefferspet.com/product.asp?pn=F7-JE&crcat=Direct&crsource=Shopping&crkw=Chick-N-Pox+TC

Well as far as sharing my experience................ My turkeys were less than 3 months old when they got dry pox. I had moved them from the inside brooder to an outside brooder. The mosquitoes tore them up. I allowed the dry pox to run it's course but then I started seeing signs of wet pox. The signs were as listed below:

Foamy eyes that turned to white/yellowish GUNK that looked like cottage cheese
HUGE scabs around the eyes, beak, in the nostril that prevented them from seeing and breathing properly
Could not eat
Could not drink
Eyes were shut, so they could not see
Lesions in the mouth
Weight Loss

I had NO idea what to do. I had NEVER experienced anything like it. I researched and really couldn't find anything on what to do. Everything that I read, indicated that they would die as a result of the wet pox. But letting them die was NOT an option for me. I was going to fight this thing and that is what I did. So this is what I did for about 2 months. By the way, I had 12 poults that had wet pox, so I was in for a fight having to care for all of them.

I removed all of them when the dry pox turned to wet pox. I brought them in under my garage and set up an infirmary.

Did an eye wash with a saline solution 3 - 4 times a day on every single poult.
I had to squeeze the gook out of their eyes every time I checked on them. It looked like cottage cheese. The gook was sometimes the size of a pea. That's how much was
in there.
I removed the scabs (wtih tweezers) every time the scabs returned. The scabs were as large as a penny. The area would bleed so I had to wash their faces as well.
I administered Poly Visol (vitamins) daily.
I hand fed 3 times a day. (30% game bird feed, scrammbled eggs and boiled eggs)
I dropped water and gatorade down their throats 3 times a day
I administered a shot of penicillin 1 time every other day. I didn't read this anywhere but I figured that if they were going to die at least the penicillin would keep them alive a
little longer.

Week 6 is when I saw improvement. Every day I would go in the garage, I was expecting to find them dead but it never happened. Every day was touch and go. Miraculously they ALL survived. I did not lose 1 single bird to wet pox. I guess I was lucky. I think if I would not have cared for them they way that I did, they would have all died. I talked with a lady that told me her entire turkey flock died when the dry pox turned to wet pox. I don't think she provided any care for them the way that I did.

I took pics of them so I will have to find the pics and post them so you can see how bad they looked. I hope this has shed some light on wet pox.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I would be glad to share.

 

[Scottingitup]

Thanks for the information kuntrygirl. I really hope my turks get through it without wet pox - I have a full time job so there is no way I could provide the level of care you did.

You are certainly a great turkey mom!

 

[Scottingitup]

After doing some more research I found this site

http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/content/view/20/43/

which mentions the severity of an outbreak can be limited by vaccinating birds showing no symptoms.

I will be getting the vaccine asap!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Thanks for the information kuntrygirl. I really hope my turks get through it without wet pox - I have a full time job so there is no way I could provide the level of care you did.

You are certainly a great turkey mom!

Thanks and You're welcome. Believe it or not, I also have a full time job. I had to get up at 5:00 AM and begin treatments. I would get back from work at 5:30 PM and do more treatments and before I went to bed about 11:00 PM and start again all over the next morning. On the weekends, they received as many as a 5 treatments a day. I have no idea how I made it out of there alive. I was so exhausted at the end of the day but I knew that I had to do it to try to save their lives. I'm just glad that all 12 of them survived. None of them died. They look perfectly healthy.