Young turkey died today...

[rosemi78]

Over the weekend my cousin brought me a couple turkeys that had hatched just after this past Thanksgiving. They've been staying in their own coop away from my chickens so they could get used to their new home. When I got home today, I went to check on them and found one of them had died... I don't know what happened. They had food... Fresh water... Plenty of hay to keep them warm... I'm so sad. I was really looking forward to raising them together with my chickens. I want to cry.

 

[chiqita]

So sorry for your loss. All I know to look for when they move is blackhead from the new soil.

 

[ivan3]

Sorry for your loss. The turk wasn't quite 3 months old, yes? Do you know how your cousin was maintaining them (inside barn/coop/any external heat source)? Were they out in the rain (I know we got about 0.5" up in NE part of County)? One thing that comes to mind is weather related stress (went from 56° down to 22° F with a pretty brutal wind chill). Younger turks are more susceptible; and they were recently moved to a new place (also stress).

Observe your survivor closely: standing - often on one leg with other leg and foot tucked into feathers/hunched up in corner of coop, unfeathered skin very pale - just looking `cold'? - might want to cage it up in `mudroom' (or anywhere it is slightly warmer) some cornbread/crushed hardboiled eggs are useful. Check droppings (bloody/yellow/green/clear liquid/etc), listen for any respiratory distress (wheezing/sneezing/exudate from nares/around eyes/swelling of face/head). Were they out foraging in run while it was raining?

Vet Path Lab at the University performs necroscopies (lab testing): http://vmdl.missouri.edu/VMDLSchedOfFees.pdf
Our Vet, Dr. Debbie Leach, has performed surgery on one of our toms and has treated our roo. Her undergrad degree is in poultry science with a Masters in poultry genetics (will want to examine the poultry - no hypothesizing over the phone).: http://www.myzooanimalhospital.com/ Just a good chook/turk doc to keep on file.

Good luck! and hope survivor grows like a weed!

 

[rosemi78]

Sorry for your loss. The turk wasn't quite 3 months old, yes? Do you know how your cousin was maintaining them (inside barn/coop/any external heat source)? Were they out in the rain (I know we got about 0.5" up in NE part of County)? One thing that comes to mind is weather related stress (went from 56° down to 22° F with a pretty brutal wind chill). Younger turks are more susceptible; and they were recently moved to a new place (also stress).

Observe your survivor closely: standing - often on one leg with other leg and foot tucked into feathers/hunched up in corner of coop, unfeathered skin very pale - just looking `cold'? - might want to cage it up in `mudroom' (or anywhere it is slightly warmer) some cornbread/crushed hardboiled eggs are useful. Check droppings (bloody/yellow/green/clear liquid/etc), listen for any respiratory distress (wheezing/sneezing/exudate from nares/around eyes/swelling of face/head). Were they out foraging in run while it was raining?

Vet Path Lab at the University performs necroscopies (lab testing): http://vmdl.missouri.edu/VMDLSchedOfFees.pdf
Our Vet, Dr. Debbie Leach, has performed surgery on one of our toms and has treated our roo. Her undergrad degree is in poultry science with a Masters in poultry genetics (will want to examine the poultry - no hypothesizing over the phone).: http://www.myzooanimalhospital.com/ Just a good chook/turk doc to keep on file.

Good luck! and hope survivor grows like a weed!

Thanks for the ideas, info and suggestions. Since this was a new home for the kiddos, I was leaving them in their own coop so they could become acclimated to the new place. Because they're young & I was worrying about them becoming confused, I wasn't letting them out to free range just yet. I was going to wait a week or two, so... Yeah, as you know the temperature swings here have been a bit unreasonable, to say the least. Mid 60's one day and 30 the next can't be good for these guys, but I figured they should be used to this since they were born in the Harrisburg area, and they would be okay since I wasn't letting them out yet. They had lots of hay, food and water, and they couldn't have picked up anything from roaming around here. At my cousin's they were born outside & had part of a horse barn that had been converted into a coop for shelter. They were allowed to free range during the day.

How much of a role do you think the stress of moving could have played in the baby's death?

 

[ivan3]

If there was something else going on additional stress could have interfered with immune response. Appearing to be healthy in the morning (with nothing unusual observed - not even acting puny - wings lowered, head hanging down and standing very still?) and dead by evening? Broken neck/heart attack/Pulmonary E.Coli infection - can kill quick with few observable signs - those are a few I'm familiar with.

As I mentioned - keep a close eye on feed/water intake of survivor - check droppings (particularly for any blood-`worms'/unusual color/consistency) or for changes in behavior (or other signs/symptoms listed in previous post).

What variety of turkey is this? Has your cousin been breeding them over several generations? What are you feeding the turk?

Post a shot of turk if you get the opportunity.

Good luck!