Young Turkey poult with strange neck problem??

[danielley101215]

hey!! I work out at my boyfriends house and get paid to take care of their livestock and their poultry. They have a bunch of chickens and turkeys and stuff, and they just recently acquired 4 baby bourbon red turkey poults, about a week maybe a week and a half old. Three of them are totally fine and act normal, and the fourth is healthy it walks and eats and drinks and poops, but it’s got a super strange head and neck tilt, it’s head and neck lean to the side and it’s head moves and leans upside down and to the side and I think it may have some sort of neurological issue or could it be something else? Is there anything we can do to help this poult? My boyfriends family wants to do whatever they can to try and help the turkey and save it if they can, they accidentally bought 16 meat turkeys not knowing they were at the time and were super bummed and so they got these four bourbon reds to have some standard turkeys they can keep as pets so it would suck to lose it. Please let me know ASAP as we don’t know what’s going on and we don’t want it to suffer if something is going on. Thank you in advance for your help!!!
Attached are a couple videos and some pics.

 

[R2elk]

hey!! I work out at my boyfriends house and get paid to take care of their livestock and their poultry. They have a bunch of chickens and turkeys and stuff, and they just recently acquired 4 baby bourbon red turkey poults, about a week maybe a week and a half old. Three of them are totally fine and act normal, and the fourth is healthy it walks and eats and drinks and poops, but it’s got a super strange head and neck tilt, it’s head and neck lean to the side and it’s head moves and leans upside down and to the side and I think it may have some sort of neurological issue or could it be something else? Is there anything we can do to help this poult? My boyfriends family wants to do whatever they can to try and help the turkey and save it if they can, they accidentally bought 16 meat turkeys not knowing they were at the time and were super bummed and so they got these four bourbon reds to have some standard turkeys they can keep as pets so it would suck to lose it. Please let me know ASAP as we don’t know what’s going on and we don’t want it to suffer if something is going on. Thank you in advance for your help!!!
Attached are a couple videos and some pics.
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Google stargazing. Some recommend treating with vitamin E. Some recommend treating with vitamin B complex. I recommend euthanizing it.

 

[danielley101215]

Google stargazing. SOme recommend treating with vitamin E. Some recommend treating with vitamin B complex. I recommend euthanizing it.

I will google it right now. Do they not recover from that issue or grow out of it?

 

[R2elk]

I will google it right now. Do they not recover from that issue or grow out of it?

Most do not recover. You can search for wry neck in the Emergencies forum here. There have been many threads on the subject. The majority of the threads that I have read on it ended up with the death of the chick involved. I don't know who it is harder on, the owner or the pet.

 

[danielley101215]

Most do not recover. You can search for wry neck in the Emergencies forum here. There have been many threads on the subject. The majority of the threads that I have read on it ended up with the death of the chick involved. I don't know who it is harder on, the owner or the pet.

I will definitely look into it a bit more tonight. Tomorrow when I come out there to work with the animals I will give the little guy a check and talk to my boyfriends family and see what they want to do. If it’s the best interest for the baby I may tell them they can euthanize.. it’s a sweet baby it’s just hard. But is it worth trying to treat for even a few days to a week? Just want honest opinions.. and to see that I did all I could of course before giving up or making the wrong Choice

 

[Noellereagan]

I just got a chick (not a poult) over SEVERE wry neck. Took seven weeks. Had to tube feed. On the vitamin regime (B, selenium and E if I recall) and just wrapped up a long bout with prednisone. Vets (2) said slim to no chance of recovery. He’s completely recovered. 100%. Before he couldn’t be put down. He’d do summersaults. I made a way to carry him like a baby in a front facing backpack. That went on for 4 days to minimize further damage. Keep him hydrated. And fed. He needs more than an average poult recover as far as vitamins. I’ve also heard to keep them off medicated feed too. If you want more info message me. Is it hard on the wry neck bird? Yes. On the keeper? Heck yes. Worth it in my case? Abso-fricken-loutely. The only problem is after all the hands on care he prefers me to other birds. Said I would never have a house chicken. Never say never. Good thing he’s bantam. Good luck!

 

[Noellereagan]

I’ve found r2elk always has very solid answers and advice. So if he says most don’t recover that’s likely the case. I know with my situation I read that they all will eventually recover and mostly die from starvation or dehydration (what a terrible way to go) but perhaps that only applies to silkies with wry neck because it’s usually more of a cranial hernia for a bird with vaulted skull. I don’t know but something to look into.

 

[Noellereagan]

@R2elk when people say they will recover if you give it time- is that more of a generalized statement about silkies with wry neck?

 

[danielley101215]

I just got a chick (not a poult) over SEVERE wry neck. Took seven weeks. Had to tube feed. On the vitamin regime (B, selenium and E if I recall) and just wrapped up a long bout with prednisone. Vets (2) said slim to no chance of recovery. He’s completely recovered. 100%. Before he couldn’t be put down. He’d do summersaults. I made a way to carry him like a baby in a front facing backpack. That went on for 4 days to minimize further damage. Keep him hydrated. And fed. He needs more than an average poult recover as far as vitamins. I’ve also heard to keep them off medicated feed too. If you want more info message me. Is it hard on the wry neck bird? Yes. On the keeper? Heck yes. Worth it in my case? Abso-fricken-loutely. The only problem is after all the hands on care he prefers me to other birds. Said I would never have a house chicken. Never say never. Good thing he’s bantam. Good luck!

Oh my goodness gracious!!! What an amazing story. I’m so happy your little guy recovered how awesome great job!

And yeah I’m not sure what I should do. If I should even try to attempt it or relieve him of this awful head / neck issue. I just wanna do what’s right. Poor little thing is so darn cute.

 

[Noellereagan]

Oh my goodness gracious!!! What an amazing story. I’m so happy your little guy recovered how awesome great job!

And yeah I’m not sure what I should do. If I should even try to attempt it or relieve him of this awful head / neck issue. I just wanna do what’s right. Poor little thing is so darn cute.

What’s the humane thing? Who knows. You hate to see them suffering. So many times with my little one- I was in tears thinking I was letting him suffer and close to pulling the plug so many times. But he is a fighter. And so am I. I’m glad I did what I did now. But would I do it again? I don’t know. Not because it was a pain for me- and that it was. But more because you hate to see them go through this. I guess if it were me I’d try. Doesn’t seem in pain. Just remember- wry neck recovery is VERY slow.