Turkey disease help please

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fishmilk

fishmilk

Hatching
7 Years
Jul 5, 2012
6
0
7
Dade City Florida
I have started rasing some turkeys this year, and currently have 7 broad breasted. They started developing these marks on their faces and necks, cant find anything about what they are. They appear healthy and eat like champs, no apparant health issues other then the spots. I at first feared black head disease, as i have chickens,ducks and geese...but everything is healthy, and the turkeys are alive. I am almost thinking maybe a fingus? it doesnt look hairy or anything..i was going to just quarantine and put anti boitics in their water for a while, but because i want to eat them, i need to know what this is. If you can help, thank you.
 
Blackhead disease....You need Fish Zole. Aquarium pet shops sell them. This disease attacks the liver and will kill slowly. Google black head disease or fish zole for black head disease and you will find what you need. Good luck!
 
I'm not sure if that is Black head or not. But it looks like it could be fowl pox or the beginning of a respiratory problem. My very 1st tom had those black spots on him when he had a respiratory problem years ago. I treated him with Tylan and in days the black spots/scabs disappeared.

Can you pick up the turkey and listen to his breathing VERY closely? Listen to see if there is any rattling of the chest. Check to see does his breath stink. Check to see what the inside of the nostrils look like. You have to do a head to toe check of things that may not be obvious to the eye.

Good luck with him.
 
It's fowl pox, caused by a virus. not much you can do but let it run it's course. Antibiotics will have no effect. Just make sure they have plenty of clean water available and feed, though they may not have much of an appetite for a couple of days. It usually isn't too serious. It isn't black head.
 
I spoke with J.R., one of the poultry experts at Jeffer's, and he walked me through the symptoms of Blackhead. Like coccidiosis, yellow poop, sometimes with blood, their skin will become red. He didn't mention black spots but the disease got it's name from somewhere....... What chicmom said is right on the money for what he told me. Jeffer's has metronidiazole [Fish Zole], the item numbers are TLFM-60 for 60 tabs and PLFP-30 for 30 tabs. You can find them in the exotic pet section under fish. The price is up there, you might be able to find it locally and for less.

The treatment is 4 250 mg. tabs per gallon of water for 6 - 10 days.
 
Haunted55 said:
I spoke with J.R., one of the poultry experts at Jeffer's, and he walked me through the symptoms of Blackhead.  Like coccidiosis, yellow poop, sometimes with blood, their skin will become red.  He didn't mention black spots but the disease got it's name from somewhere.......  What chicmom said is right on the money for what he told me.  Jeffer's has metronidiazole [Fish Zole],  the item numbers are TLFM-60 for 60 tabs and PLFP-30 for 30 tabs.  You can find them in the exotic pet section under fish.  The price is up there, you might be able to find it locally and for less.

The treatment is 4  250 mg. tabs per gallon of water for 6 - 10 days. 
Click to expand...

So is it or is it not blackhead? I'm confused. :idunno
 
it is NOT black head. It IS fowl pox. I have been raising birds for over 40yrs. and have seen it several times. Black head has no symptoms like the scabs your birds have. there is no treatment for fowl pox other than keeping them secure, well fed and watered and try to keep the flies and gnats away from them. Since they are already forming the scabs, you are pretty much through the worst part. Just keep an eye out for any infection setting in in any of the scabs.

The term blackhead comes from the infected birds sometimes developing an overall bluish tint or coloration of the head, not spots.
 
Last edited:
It's pox. It is NOT blackhead. Don't go wasting your money on a treatment they don't need. It crops up from time to time and looks worse than it is.
 
I agree... fowl pox! If you read about the two (fowl pox and blackhead) and google pictures... I think you would feel very confident yourself that it is fowl pox NOT blackhead. And it looks like a pretty nasty case of the pox. Not sure how long they've had the scabs, but it appears its been a while... and if it was blackhead (which doesn't produce those scabs anyways), they would likely have gone down-hill much quicker than that. With fowl pox - there is a a good success rate and it doesn't rapidly affect them. Turkeys will get the sores/scabs and if taken good care of and nursed through it (I would recommend good quality feed along with the other recommendations and attempt to prevent any secondary infections), they scabs will usually heal up and become less and less.
 
I wanted to say thanks for posting this. I seem to have the same situation here at my farm with a turkey I just bought. I will take really good care of him and see if it clears up.
 

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