Lost another turkey, the hospitalized one.

Today was marked by a sad event. The turkey that had ingested some milkweed and suffered, almost died, was making a decent comeback. After a few weeks in isolation in the barn, he was almost walking normally, eating and drinking well, and showed signs of being as recovered as he could be. So... I decided to let him out of the barn stall to get some fresh air, sunshine, and grass.  I opened the barn door and left to go pick some cabbage's to make sauerkraut.

After an hour or so I wondered where Louie (our farm dog) had gone. Suddenly the realization and fear hit me. Frantically calling for Louie did no good, and sure enough the turkey was missing.  I immediately started searching the farm, but couldn't find either anywhere. Then I noticed Louie, in the far corner of the arena. I ran over and sure enough.... there they both were. Louie had torn off the entire side of the turkey who was alive but laying on the ground breathing heavily. So much of his side was missing that I could see the lungs breathing. Louie couldn't resist his instincts with a lone injured bird and had attacked him.

As frustrating as this is, there was little that could be done for the turkey. There was no chance he would live with those injuries. I had to put him out of his misery.  We couldn't keep the meat after because of the extensive damage and uncertainty of for sure why he had been sick. I did do a quick "farm autopsy" and could not find any evidence of worms or parasite infection in his organs. that is the one piece of good news, that it must have been milkweed poisoning and nothing contagious.

The bigger problem here is Louie. He has now killed two turkeys. I have to find a way to train him better soon.