Blackhead, turkeys and cayenne!!!

[casportpony]

I had a feeling you meant that, but I hate to say this, unless they are on deaths door and cyonotic, blackhead does not cause discoloration of the head.

This is a turkey with blackhead, and next to it is one that died from blackhead.

 

[casportpony]

"Blackhead Disease Does Not Really Cause Black Heads
By W.R. Davidson
& G.L. Doster
NWTF WILDLIFE BULLETIN NO.25


Histomoniasis is caused by a protozoan parasite named Histomonas meleagridis. Often called blackhead disease, histomoniasis primarily affects gallinaceous birds (chickens, grouse, partridge, peafowl, pheasants, quail, turkeys). The old name “blackhead disease” is a misnomer because the heads of birds infected with histomoniasis do not turn black. Despite the limited number of confirmed reports, histomoniasis is an important disease of wild turkeys."

https://www.mdwfp.com/media/4006/blackheaddisease.pdf

 

[Molpet]

I had a feeling you meant that, but I hate to say this, unless they are on deaths door and cyonotic, blackhead does not cause discoloration of the head.

This is a turkey with blackhead, and next to it is one that died from blackhead.
View attachment 2328074

What else can cause liver lesions?

 

[casportpony]

What else can cause liver lesions?

I think some type of cancers can, probably something else too. For me, when there are lesions on the liver and diseased cecal pouches, it's blackhead.

 

[fairie]

I think some type of cancers can, probably something else too. For me, when there are lesions on the liver and diseased cecal pouches, it's blackhead.

I didn’t diagnose the birds only by looking at them. I took stool samples to the vet. The birds head coloration was noticeably different when we bought them. A few months later I noticed changes. Then I had them tested. I had them tested every 6 months then re- medicated. This all under the instruction of a fowl veterinarian.

 

[kiara0927]

**this is my personal experience with an outbreak of blackhead in my turkey flock. If your turkeys are showing signs and not eating, this method may not work for you and prescription medication may be warranted.

Also take care in reading labels and warnings if your turkeys are a meat stock or if you plan to sell the eggs, some medications are banned for human consumption of meat/eggs**

I have been raising large flocks of turkeys for two years. We also have 200+ chickens. Our turkeys got blackhead this spring and we lost two with 6 others very lethargic, yellow frothy poo, wings low to the ground and just plain sick looking. Blackhead does not necessarily turn their heads black. What it can do late in the disease is make breathing difficult which turns their heads a darker color due to lack of oxygen. Blackhead will destroy a turkey's liver, which is why the yellow frothy poo is a good indication of blackhead. We did a necropsy on one of the turkeys that died, we found the liver and our fears were confirmed with the bullseye sores shown on the liver (see pics on google or bing). With such a large flock (50 turkeys) I couldn't afford the medicinal treatments-- we're talking hundreds of dollars! I am a member of the American Pastured Poultry Producers and found multiple articles in the APPPA newsletters and by ATTRA. We needed something that was economical and natural. We don't use antibiotics in our flocks. Although this method has not been studied in documented research, pastured poultry producers have had great success with cayenne and we had to do something and quick. So we started socking the cayenne pepper to them immediately after reading the article. Turkeys and chickens cannot taste the hot of the pepper, so no worries there. Within two days of using the cayenne -- heavily applied to their feed, they all started acting more normal, and their poo started to turn back to brown, with a hint of black from the cayenne. We haven't lost a turkey since. When we butchered 20 of our turkeys two weeks ago, almost all of them had pock marks on their livers. But they were thriving! Most of them were over 20lbs each. What you have to remember is that blackhead stays in your soil for up to three years, treating them with fish zole, flagyl or other medicines will only treat that incident, it will come back. Adding ground cayenne, which we now buy by the 5 pound bucket, will keep your turkeys healthy -- but they may still carry or have the blackhead parasite. We feed the cayenne to the chickens and the turkeys daily. Cayenne will keep your eggs a nice orange color too! A bonus in the winter when snow covers our land for 6+ months and fresh grass and bugs are nonexistent! Cayenne has also been used to ward off cocci and other worms, but there are less articles using this method. All in all, if you want to keep turkeys with chickens, I suggest stocking up on cayenne. It has definitely worked for us and many other pastured poultry producers.

We listen to a live teleconference question and answer session offered monthly to paid members of APPPA and we asked about blackhead and cayenne. One of the producers that has flocks of 1,000 or more uses cayenne regularly. He told us to keep using it and we shouldn't lose anymore, although as stated, they may carry it.

I hope you find this article useful, it was a life (and money) saver for us and flocks.

I know this an old post but my turkeys have the same symptoms as I've read here and other places I've done lost 7 .how do I administer cayenne pepper how much do I put in their feed, and I have a poult that's not eating any advice will help alot .ty

 

[casportpony]

I know this an old post but my turkeys have the same symptoms as I've read here and other places I've done lost 7 .how do I administer cayenne pepper how much do I put in their feed, and I have a poult that's not eating any advice will help alot .ty

Is a vet an option?

 

[kiara0927]

Is a vet an option?

She is 3 months old I have taken several to the Vet but they never take blood test or anything they just treat them with antibiotics, everything was fine up till about 2 months ago and someone gave me a hen Turkey after I put her in the Lot 2 days later I noticed she had bright yellow foamy runny poop so I thought it may be worms so I treated the whole flock then I started to notice that some of the other hens had really black poop like tar it was also runny,so I called the Vet he said it was probably an infection and gave me some antibiotics he said he would need to ship one off to find out for sure what is causing it, so he said if i have one to die to put it in the freezer and bring it to him the next day, well my daughter was using my car for work and i had 2 hens die the same day, then my big tom died, they all got so that they wouldn't eat and stayed to themselves with their wings down, the 2 hens and tom acted like they were having a seizure before they died and then about three minutes later they died,i had the turkeys with my chickens so I decided to separate them yesterday after finding the 3 month old poult doing the exact same thing as the others so I have her penned up..i dont no what to do I have spent so much money at the Vet and I'm on a fixed income.the last thing the Vet gave me was SMZ-MED 454 I picked it up 2 days ago.

 

[Molpet]

I know this an old post but my turkeys have the same symptoms as I've read here and other places I've done lost 7 .how do I administer cayenne pepper how much do I put in their feed, and I have a poult that's not eating any advice will help alot .ty

I put a heaping 1/4 cup in a gallon of water as I fill the bucket and then add as I stir a gallon of feed. Mix and let soak at least a few hours. The water makes it stick to the feed. May need to add more feed or water to get a stiff consistency.
Some people add it to water, I imagine the same amount but I am not sure

 

[Chuckkeeper]

Metronidazole can be purchased for much less if you know where to look.

-Kathy

Hello
Are you aware of any products in UK?