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Despite the seriousness of infectious diseases, the main problem for turkey owners is still not diseases, but a phenomenon known as “falling on their feet”. You can protect yourself from infections if you responsibly approach the issue of buying turkeys and eggs, as well as follow the rules of hygiene.
“Falling to the feet” actually looks like the turkey’s inability to move freely on straight legs. Broiler poults are especially susceptible to this, which they try to grow in much the same way as broiler chickens, that is, in a limited space with abundant feeding for the fastest weight gain.
But turkeys are not chickens. By nature, turkeys were destined to travel long distances in search of food, being not the largest birds on the planet. The breeding of heavy broiler turkey breeds has led to problems with the growth of tubular leg bones in turkey poults. And the correct development of tubular bones in a turkey is impossible without constant movement.
The need for walking turkeys
Actually, the main reason why turkeys fall to their feet is precisely the lack of walking for turkey poults. After all, when starting more than a dozen birds of a very large breed, private traders usually do not think that turkeys will need a walking area of 200 m² or more. On a standard plot of 6 – 10 acres, where a garden, utility rooms and a residential building are usually located.
And many take even under a hundred heads of turkeys, of which up to 6 months they live well if a dozen.
What is wrong with a cramped pen for turkey poults
In the absence of a spacious range, turkeys are forced to spend most of their time sitting. For growing turkey poults, such a pastime is fatal.
At this time, turkeys not only grow tubular bones, but tendons also develop. If the turkey sits and sits without running anywhere, the flexor tendons turn off from work and stop developing, and, consequently, increase in length. As a result, contracture develops, that is, shortening of the tendon. With a short tendon, the joint cannot work and straighten fully. The turkey has a curvature of the legs, and the owners have the question “what to treat.”
Contractures are almost never treated. The matter can be corrected only at the initial stages by a long walking of turkey poults, which no one will provide to meat poultry.
In the absence of a full-fledged walking, contractures continue to develop, and the turkey begins to move with difficulty. Falls become very frequent. Getting up after another fall is becoming harder for a turkey every day, and a turkey can fall from the slightest unevenness on the ground or, in general, on level ground.
Often such turkeys fall, trying to get to the stern. Since it is difficult for them to get up, the turkey begins to malnourish. The result is exhaustion and starvation. The best option would be to score such a turkey.
Walk as a preventive measure. Treatment of foot diseases in turkeys
The second mistake of summer residents is the desire to grow a hefty turkey weighing 25 kg, as they say on the sites. Firstly, the sites reprint from English-language sources, where the weight of six-month-old turkeys is indicated in pounds. That is, in fact, even a broiler turkey grown by professionals on industrial farms weighs at least 10-12 kg in six months. Which is also a lot. Such Christmas turkeys are not in demand in the West. Consumers prefer carcasses weighing 3-5 kg. The producer slaughters broiler turkeys at 2 – 3 months, when there are no problems with the legs yet or they are just beginning. Due to early slaughter, large producers have the possibility of crowded keeping of turkeys.
Secondly, in order to avoid the problems of the spread of infections and stress in crowded conditions, the manufacturer widely uses medications that private traders try not to use.
The results are not encouraging. It is usually difficult for private traders to grow broiler turkeys for meat. Smaller egg breeds of turkeys are better suited for keeping in a private compound.
Sunbathing for turkeys
Another serious argument in favor of long-term walking of turkeys is the need for ultraviolet radiation.
All reference books indicate that the temperature in the brooder should be at least 30 ° C for freshly hatched turkeys, gradually dropping to 20 – 25 degrees. This is usually achieved using infrared lamps and forgetting that these lamps only heat the surface, not the air. Only later, from the heated surface, can the air itself in the brooder warm up.
But without ventilation, the turkeys will suffocate, and ventilation is the new cold air. Hence the opinion about colds from drafts.
At the same time, having taken care of the heat, no one thinks about ultraviolet radiation, keeping turkeys only under an infrared lamp for up to a month or more. Just at the time when turkeys vitally need ultraviolet radiation for the production of vitamin D, without which calcium cannot be absorbed.
This is another secret that a large turkey producer is in no hurry to share with private traders. The photo clearly shows that in addition to conventional fluorescent lamps, infrared and ultraviolet emitters are also built into the ceiling.
The legs of the turkey turkey begin to bend even in the brooder, but due to the small body weight, they temporarily support the weight of the bird. When the turkey gains more muscle mass, he will sit on his paws, no longer able to support his master.
They do it instinctively. Moreover, such sunbathing is taken not only by birds, but also by mammals. Having collected the required dose of ultraviolet radiation, the animals begin to hide in the shade.
If everything is usually clear with mammals, then the bird is quite capable of scaring the owner. Birds usually bask in the sun (at a temperature of 50 ° C on the ground) in the classic position of a sick individual: they lie, ruffled and with their beak buried in the ground. But unlike sick birds, when they try to approach them, they jump up briskly and, muttering curses, run away from the person to the opposite corner.
Thus, even with a balanced feed, two factors: the lack of walking and ultraviolet radiation can already lead to improper development of the limbs in turkeys.
The third factor that can affect the legs of turkeys, regardless of infectious diseases: feed.
The influence of feed and the relationship of trace elements and vitamins
A responsible manufacturer develops a feed formula individually for each direction and age of poultry. There are manufacturers who do not rack their brains over bird food formulas. Private traders who prefer to feed turkeys with their own feed, also without laboratory analysis, cannot take into account whether all the necessary elements are present in the feed for their birds.
In a living organism, all factors are interconnected. In an attempt to reduce the cost of keeping turkeys, owners often feed the birds with large amounts of bran. Calcium, necessary for turkeys, is absorbed only at a certain proportion of calcium to phosphorus. When the amount of phosphorus is exceeded, calcium begins to be washed out of the bones of turkeys. This is exactly what happens when there is an excess of bran in feed.
Calcium is not absorbed without manganese. With an insufficient content of manganese in the feed, it is useless to give fodder chalk to turkey poults.
Trying to prevent rickets and not being able to provide the turkeys with a full range, the owners add vitamin D₃ to the diet of the turkeys. Usually in the form of fish oil. But an excess of D₃ does not prevent rickets, but promotes the deposition of calcium on the walls of blood vessels.
An excess of fats in the diet, especially of animal origin, leads to acute inflammation of the joints: arthritis. Unable to stand due to pain, the turkeys sit down.
The lack of essential amino acids disrupts the metabolic processes in the body of turkeys and also prevents the normal absorption of nutrients, minerals and trace elements.
Problems with the legs of turkeys, depending on the feed, do not appear immediately, since the feed still contains a certain amount of the necessary elements. If rickets “comes out” in 1-2 months, then “feeding” problems will appear only in 3-4 months.
Curvature of the legs of turkeys at 4 months
All these nuances are provided in professional bird feeds produced by a responsible manufacturer.
Mechanical causes of falling on paws
A turkey may prefer to sit in place if the turkey’s paw pads are damaged by mechanical objects or due to wet bedding. Liquid mixed with caustic excrement quickly corrodes the skin on the pads of turkey paws. It hurts to walk on bare meat, so the turkey restricts itself in mobility.
Preventive measures in this case are simple: observance of the rules of veterinary hygiene and timely change of bedding. Of course, you should check to see if the turkey shed is flooded with rainwater.
Although often the above causes are the main ones in turkeys, turkey diseases in which the bird falls to its feet are not limited to them. The turkey sits on its paws and with some infectious diseases that cause inflammation of the limbs.
Infectious diseases of turkeys, their signs and treatment
The main diseases in which turkeys cannot stand on their paws are 4: postnatal pullorosis in broilers, Newcastle disease, infectious bursitis of chickens, Marek’s disease.
Postnatal pullorosis
Leg problems are observed only in broiler breeds of turkeys in the case of a chronic and subacute course of the disease. In turkey meat crosses, pullorosis causes inflammation of the joints. Because of the pain, the turkey poults cannot stand and sit down.
There is no treatment for pullorosis, therefore, with symptoms indicating this disease, the bird is destroyed.
Newcastle disease
In addition to the respiratory system and digestive organs, NB also affects the nervous system.
The manifestation of symptoms of damage to the nervous system occurs with a subacute form of the course: increased excitability, impaired coordination, paralysis, paresis, difficulty breathing.
With paresis, turkeys can sit on their feet, often twist their neck, wings and tail hang.
Turkeys with Marek’s disease are immediately destroyed, since the treatment is inexpedient and has not been developed.
Infectious bursitis of chickens
A highly contagious disease of chickens and turkeys that does not leave the bird a chance for life, since the treatment of the disease has not been developed. With bursitis, the bursa of Fabricius, joints and intestines become inflamed. Intramuscular hemorrhages, diarrhea also appear, kidneys are affected.
One of the symptoms of infectious bursitis at the initial stage is damage to the nervous system, when the turkey is poorly on its feet, falls or sits on its paws. Trying to treat turkeys should not be, the treatment of this disease has not been developed. All sick turkeys are immediately slaughtered.
Marek’s disease
Turkeys also suffer from this disease. This is a tumor disease, but in the chronic course of the classical form it manifests itself as a nervous syndrome, the symptoms of which will be: paralysis, paresis, lameness. The disease is fatal and there is no cure.
Conclusion
For the most part, turkey owners are not threatened with leg disease in turkeys if turkey poults have the opportunity to walk for a long time and eat quality feed since childhood. The experience of owners of turkeys who have kept these birds for more than a year shows that even week-old turkey poults released for walking, contrary to claims, do not get colds and grow up with healthy legs. True, turkey poults should not be released for completely free range. Cats can steal even one and a half month old turkey poults.