# Depressed turkey?



## mwilken03 (Oct 13, 2013)

I brought home a new hen a few weeks ago. I only have a few turkeys and they free range. I penned up the new hen for a few days and then turned her out with the others. She has never seemed to be interested in the other turkeys but for a while hung around the house with them. Now she keeps completly to herself away from all the other animals. She wont even come to eat the feed i throw to all the other birds. Yesterday she just stood by the duck pond all day sleeping and didnt eat at all. She has stopped coming up to roost also. Any ideas on how to make this situation better?


Farm junkie


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## StacyH202 (Aug 23, 2014)

mwilken03 said:


> I brought home a new hen a few weeks ago. I only have a few turkeys and they free range. I penned up the new hen for a few days and then turned her out with the others. She has never seemed to be interested in the other turkeys but for a while hung around the house with them. Now she keeps completly to herself away from all the other animals. She wont even come to eat the feed i throw to all the other birds. Yesterday she just stood by the duck pond all day sleeping and didnt eat at all. She has stopped coming up to roost also. Any ideas on how to make this situation better?
> 
> 
> Farm junkie


What you have is not a depressed turkey, you have a *very sick* turkey. Acting lethargic, distancing from the flock, and not eating are all classic signs of an ill bird. And by the time a bird shows symptoms of being ill, such as a change in behavior, they are doing quite poorly. Birds hide illnesses until they are too weak to hide them any longer to protect themselves from flock members that would ostracize the sick individual. 

What you need to do is catch that turkey. Give her a thorough examination. Look for injuries, signs of diarrhea, look/listen for signs of respiratory distress, etc. Look for anything that is not normal.


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## Ruff Times (Feb 6, 2013)

StacyH202 said:


> What you have is not a depressed turkey, you have a *very sick* turkey. Acting lethargic, distancing from the flock, and not eating are all classic signs of an ill bird. And by the time a bird shows symptoms of being ill, such as a change in behavior, they are doing quite poorly. Birds hide illnesses until they are too weak to hide them any longer to protect themselves from flock members that would ostracize the sick individual.
> 
> What you need to do is catch that turkey. Give her a thorough examination. Look for injuries, signs of diarrhea, look/listen for signs of respiratory distress, etc. Look for anything that is not normal.


Worms...anytime my birds have started to show signs of lethargy, it's turned out to be worms. Take a poop sample to your vet and have them test it


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

You may have a sick turkey, but you also have a very depressed turkey!

Turkeys can and will die of depression. They are not chickens. They get depressed.

Even after all of the years that we supplied farmers in the western part of 3 states with their turkey poults each spring, we still made a mistake or two and had more to learn from/about our birds.

Several years ago we did it a little differently than usual and decided to 'retire' one of our senior toms.
So we picked a new tom from the male grow out pen and saved him for breeding.
Meaning that we butchered all of his friends.

We out him in with the ladies that were to be his.
Happy, happy, right?? Hubba hubba.

Now if you put a rooster in with a pen of new ladies it is a happy, happy day.
And that is what we expected.

This tom, who was completely healthy and strong and vigorous.. the best of the best.. stood with his head hung until he died.

We gathered him up in our arms, hand fed him, babied him.. tried everything that we could think of, to no avail.

He lost everyone he had ever known.
He got depressed and died.

We learned.
We never, ever, ever separated just one bird ever again.

And that is what I fear has happened to your new hen.
She lost everyone she had ever known.
She may not ever eat again.
You may lose her.


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## mwilken03 (Oct 13, 2013)

Im gonna try to get ahold of the people we got her from and see if they still have the tom she was raised with.


Farm junkie


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