what happened to my turkey?

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This morning I noticed a blood stain about the size of a plate near my barn. I then noticed my 1 yo hen turkey laying dead a couple of feet away. There were no prints or decapatation. Her intestines were coming out of where she would either deficate or lay an egg. Could this have been an egg stuck? What other things could have caused this?

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), February 24, 2002

Answers

Prolapses can just happen with birds - they have an economical setup, but it has its weaknesses. Was it intestines as in digestive system, or was it oviduct? If the latter, that's definitive - prolapse. Probably doesn't matter - the bird's no longer with you, and that's that. However, if you can identify prolapse, and it happens again in the future while you're there, you'll know to either put the bird down, or butcher it - I don't believe it would be possible to stop a bird which is simply and helplessly built to lay eggs, from doing it again without major surgery amounting to a complete hysterectomy.

Oh yes - once things were hanging out, a small predator might have got into the act. It REALLY is desirable to confine poultry at night if at all possible.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 25, 2002.


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