Turkey Poults Dying

[Hensfoot]

Hey all,

I hatched 8 midget white turkey poults from an NPIP certified farm. At 11 days old we had one droop and die. Now a second is exhibiting symptoms. Here are the details:

Birds go from rowdy to drooped and hunched within hours. Dead by Day 2 of illness. Droppings became odd--Sometimes foamy and yellowish, other times almost clear, other times whitish. The vent ends up coated. No coughing, no wheezing.

The birds are in an indoor brooder with no exposure to other poultry and no access to worms or dirt. They're on doggy wee pads after pine shavings proved too tempting on Day 1. As soon as the first one slowed down I removed it to quarantine, cleaned and sanitized everything.

Before getting these birds I checked our area for Blackhead and couldn't come up with any reports of it.

As a last-ditch attempt based on the yellow droppings that didn't look like cecal, I put the poults on Corid. No change.

Last thing for those that can stomach it, I did open up the first poult and I'm hoping for advice on what to look for if the second dies. Nothing stood out as necrotic or spotted, but the cavity was filled with yellow liquid. Is it possible for a bird to still have unabsorbed yolk that late? Was I seeing some other infection? I'm terrified that I might be seeing a pullorum symptom. I've spent the last 5 years trying to find a poultry-friendly vet in our area (the one and only retired) and no luck, so I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey all,

I hatched 8 midget white turkey poults from an NPIP certified farm. At 11 days old we had one droop and die. Now a second is exhibiting symptoms. Here are the details:

Birds go from rowdy to drooped and hunched within hours. Dead by Day 2 of illness. Droppings became odd--Sometimes foamy and yellowish, other times almost clear, other times whitish. The vent ends up coated. No coughing, no wheezing.

The birds are in an indoor brooder with no exposure to other poultry and no access to worms or dirt. They're on doggy wee pads after pine shavings proved too tempting on Day 1. As soon as the first one slowed down I removed it to quarantine, cleaned and sanitized everything.

Before getting these birds I checked our area for Blackhead and couldn't come up with any reports of it.

As a last-ditch attempt based on the yellow droppings that didn't look like cecal, I put the poults on Corid. No change.

Last thing for those that can stomach it, I did open up the first poult and I'm hoping for advice on what to look for if the second dies. Nothing stood out as necrotic or spotted, but the cavity was filled with yellow liquid. Is it possible for a bird to still have unabsorbed yolk that late? Was I seeing some other infection? I'm terrified that I might be seeing a pullorum symptom. I've spent the last 5 years trying to find a poultry-friendly vet in our area (the one and only retired) and no luck, so I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

I'm sorry about your Poults.

@casportpony @Amer

If you can, please get photos of them and their poop. You can also post photos of the necropsy, that is fine, you're in the ER forums and photos are welcome.

Hopefully the others will chime in, I don't know a lot about Turkeys, but I would continue with the Corid for now. How many days have they been on Corid? Just in case you need it, check to make sure you are giving the correct dose, I've added it below.




Liquid Corid dose is 2tsp or Powdered Corid Dose is 1 1/2tsp per gallon of water given for 5-7 days as the only source of drinking water.
Do not add any extra vitamins/electrolytes that contain B1(Thiamine) to food or water during the course of treatment.

 

[Hensfoot]

Liquid Corid dose is 2tsp or Powdered Corid Dose is 1 1/2tsp per gallon of water given for 5-7 days as the only source of drinking water.
Do not add any extra vitamins/electrolytes that contain B1(Thiamine) to food or water during the course of treatment.

Thanks for the double-check. It looks like I'm using the correct dose. This is the current heartbreaker. Still alive this morning, barely. If the brooder plate seems low, this one and the last used it as a roost sometimes and kept falling off in their stupors. I couldn't stand to watch so I lowered it. This one slept under it last night anyway.

Edit: I put the full group on Corid yesterday.

The poop of this bird is much more of a leak than the last bird. No piles, just stamps or drips of yellowish white.

 

[wkeblejr]

Hey all,

I hatched 8 midget white turkey poults from an NPIP certified farm. At 11 days old we had one droop and die. Now a second is exhibiting symptoms. Here are the details:

Birds go from rowdy to drooped and hunched within hours. Dead by Day 2 of illness. Droppings became odd--Sometimes foamy and yellowish, other times almost clear, other times whitish. The vent ends up coated. No coughing, no wheezing.

The birds are in an indoor brooder with no exposure to other poultry and no access to worms or dirt. They're on doggy wee pads after pine shavings proved too tempting on Day 1. As soon as the first one slowed down I removed it to quarantine, cleaned and sanitized everything.

Before getting these birds I checked our area for Blackhead and couldn't come up with any reports of it.

As a last-ditch attempt based on the yellow droppings that didn't look like cecal, I put the poults on Corid. No change.

Last thing for those that can stomach it, I did open up the first poult and I'm hoping for advice on what to look for if the second dies. Nothing stood out as necrotic or spotted, but the cavity was filled with yellow liquid. Is it possible for a bird to still have unabsorbed yolk that late? Was I seeing some other infection? I'm terrified that I might be seeing a pullorum symptom. I've spent the last 5 years trying to find a poultry-friendly vet in our area (the one and only retired) and no luck, so I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

I'm sorry to hear about your poults. Are you using a any water additives? With my chicks, I add Rooster Booster vitamin and electrolyte with lactobacillus to their water for the first week or so that I have them and then alternate the Rooster Booster and water with a few table spoons of white vinegar and I've had a lot more success than when I first started out buying chicks.

I'd read a few forums where commercial farmers use a seed-feed-weed concept with their chicks. Wild turkeys hatch and inadvertently are exposed to their mother droppings which seeds their GI tracts with healthy bacteria and by supplementing with a poultry probiotic you accomplish the same thing (or as close as we can). Keeping the water and feed fresh specific to the kind of bird (high protein for turkeys) will continue to feed that gut biome and by adding an acid (like white or apple cider vinegar) you help to decrease the risk of pathogenic microbes as they don't handle the acidic environments as well as the normal intestinal flora and thusly can't overgrow.

During times when I do have a series of deaths that seem to come out of no where, I use dawn soap and scrub all the surfaces that the birds come in contact with (including feeders and waterers) to disinfect, change the bedding, and then I rig up some partitions (usually cardboard and zip ties) in the brooder to keep them isolated from one another for the next few days before reuniting everyone.

 

[Hensfoot]

I'm sorry to hear about your poults. Are you using a any water additives? With my chicks, I add Rooster Booster vitamin and electrolyte with lactobacillus to their water for the first week or so that I have them and then alternate the Rooster Booster and water with a few table spoons of white vinegar and I've had a lot more success than when I first started out buying chicks.

I'd read a few forums where commercial farmers use a seed-feed-weed concept with their chicks. Wild turkeys hatch and inadvertently are exposed to their mother droppings which seeds their GI tracts with healthy bacteria and by supplementing with a poultry probiotic you accomplish the same thing (or as close as we can). Keeping the water and feed fresh specific to the kind of bird (high protein for turkeys) will continue to feed that gut biome and by adding an acid (like white or apple cider vinegar) you help to decrease the risk of pathogenic microbes as they don't handle the acidic environments as well as the normal intestinal flora and thusly can't overgrow.

During times when I do have a series of deaths that seem to come out of no where, I use dawn soap and scrub all the surfaces that the birds come in contact with (including feeders and waterers) to disinfect, change the bedding, and then I rig up some partitions (usually cardboard and zip ties) in the brooder to keep them isolated from one another for the next few days before reuniting everyone.

Thank you for this~ I've used Rooster Booster for chickens, but I've had the turkey poults on Nutridrench. Stopped when I saw the first illness. I was worried the molasses in it was promoting an issue, but now think otherwise.

They're on a gamebird starter crumble. I've never tried probiotics or vinegar, but I'll keep your advice in mind! Will wait until the Corid run is done.

Thanks for the reuniting tips, too. My hope is a bit threadbare at the moment, but having a plan if this one survives (and the others stay alive) sounds pretty nice right now.