# Sick turkeys- sinus infection?



## sriston (Mar 30, 2013)

Three of my 5 month old Royal Palm turkeys seem to have sinus infections. One side (or in the case of one bird, both sides) of their faces are swollen. Their noses seem to be clogged to a certain extent.

I wash their nostrils with a warm rag, and I have been giving them Vet RX (the only medication I have on hand). The swelling goes down right after the washing and the treatment, but by the next morning will be back again. (Thus, I repeat the treatment.)

These are the only birds sick. I raised them myself (they hatched on April 20) and their parents have never had any respiratory problems. Although we have lots of other poultry and waterfowl, we have had everything for several generations and we have never had any type of illness in any of them. The illness in these turkeys started after I put a fan in their stall in the barn because of the heat. The barn was horribly hot and very stuffy, with little air circulating at night (because it is totally closed up at night for protection from predators and there are no windows). I think I made them sick.

The birds are eating well and other than being "stuffy" (until I wash their faces and give them Vet RX) act just as they usually do. They do not act sick.

I am not sure how to treat them, other than what I am doing. There are no vets local to us, and farm stores are few and farm between. Most of our supplies are purchased online and delivered because of our remote, rural location.

Should I continue to treat these young birds, or should I just butcher them early? Can anyone suggest any other course of treatment? In all of our years of raising animals, this is the first time we have had an illness and I am honestly not sure what to do. I appreciate any and all information and help.


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## Delinda (Dec 5, 2005)

This is what I do- give them an injection of Tylan 200, around 3cc's , it will clear them up in a few days. Tylan is not labeled for poultry, it is a cattle and swine antibiotic. I have a flock of 30 or so Turkeys and every once in a while a few of them get a sinus infection, this has always worked for me.


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## sriston (Mar 30, 2013)

Thank you. Where can I get Tylan? When you say injection, are you talking about giving them a shot? I have never given anything a shot and I am a little leery about that.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I recently had a young turkey with a swollen face and eye. I gave it Tylan 200 IM 35mg/kg for 3 days. The bird was about 5ish lbs so I injected a little less than 1/2cc.
I got mine from Farm and Fleet. Rural King is nearby but doesn't carry it. You can also order it online.

There is also water soluble Tylan (powder). The container is 100gms (I think). I have no idea how you would do oral dosing for a turkey.


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## Chaty (Apr 4, 2008)

www.Jefferslivestock.com is a Great place to order any type of non prescription medication, and I use it a lot for different things. wonderful site and very helpful too.


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## Delinda (Dec 5, 2005)

Yes I am talking about giving them a shot, it is really not hard at all, just buy a small guage needle and syringe, they should have it where you get the tylan, get someone to hold the turkey for you, then just lift up some skin and push the needle in, shoot the medicine it, not hard at all!


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Mycoplasma is probably the causitive agent. 

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...n_in_poultry.html?qt=turkey mycoplasma&alt=sh


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## sriston (Mar 30, 2013)

Thank you for the information. I will see about getting some Tylan just to keep on hand. I am happy to report that the turkeys appear to be back to normal this morning, thankfully. I honestly don't think it is the disease in the link provided by mygoat above, because it says that it is very uncommon in the U.S., although the swollen face looks kind of like mine did. I think if it were some sort of disease, it would have shown up several generations before now, and we haven't added any new poultry in years because ours all reproduce and raise their families (which end up as food on our table).


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I just hope that I can get mine to go into the barn this winter. They live in the orchard and their favorite place to roost at night is over the 6ft fence and onto the chicken coop roof.
The pic is the beginning of the nightly "migration". I would love to see pictures of your turkeys!


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Mycoplasma isn't all that common in COMMERCIAL turkey production groups because they get them from NPIP facilities and raise them away from other poultry - so no infection source. On small farms raised with other poultry, it is pretty common. In chickens it decreases egg production but only by a few per hen per year - a backyard poultry enthusiast would never even notice. Commercial egg laying facilities do.  We had it last year in our turkeys.


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