Hope This Saves A Turkey From Blackhead

[esavvymom]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/blackhead-histomoniasis-references.1404177/

Yes. Thank you. I did come across this thread. Helpful information. Hopefully I can save the remaining. I just looked at them and they seem fine...active and normal.

 

[jessica_canada]

I noticed 1 of my 2 male Royal palms have started blackhead. He is kept with 3 females and 16 chickens in a large barn. Everyone has been fine for 2 years until I noticed it on my one male today. Should I seperate him and start to feed him as well as everyone the cayan pepper seeds? Any other recommendations?
I will post a photo tomorrow to get your opinion!
Your time is greatly appreciated

 

[R2elk]

I noticed my one of my 2 male total palms have started blackhead. He is kept with 3 females and 16 chickens in a large barn. Everyone has been fine for 2 years until I noticed it on my one male today. Should I seperate him and start to feed him as well as everyone the cayenne pepper seeds? Any other recommendations?

How do you know it is blackhead?

If it is blackhead, you need to separate all of your turkeys from your chickens and everywhere the chickens have been.

 

[jessica_canada]

How do you know it is blackhead?

If it is blackhead, you need to separate all of your turkeys from your chickens and everywhere the chickens have been.

Hi R2elk, I appreciate your response. I only have a dog crate to seperate him! Or a pen with our donkey. I will upload a photo of our Tom tomorrow to get your opinion. It looks like wet/dry dark blood on his head, fresh and almost wet looking. It's not extra bumpy since his head is already bumpy from his red blood bubble things.

 

[R2elk]

Hi R2elk, I appreciate your response. I only have a dog crate to seperate him! Or a pen with our donkey. I will upload a photo of our Tom tomorrow to get your opinion. It looks like wet/dry dark blood on his head, fresh and almost wet looking. It's not extra bumpy since his head is already bumpy from his red blood bubble things.

That sounds more like fighting injuries than blackhead.

 

[jessica_canada]

That sounds more like fighting injuries than blackhead.

 

[jessica_canada]

In this photo, he is with the rest of our flock which appears fine. Only the one Tom has this black on his head

 

[R2elk]

It is a misconception that a "black head" is a sign of blackhead. There are other indicators in behavior and droppings with yellow urates.

Yours looks like what can happen when two toms are fighting through a fence especially if the fence is made of poultry wire.

 

[Cbishop58]

Another turkey saved by cayenne!

We have raised turkeys with chickens and ducks for three years with no illnesses or deaths or any problems. We use organic apple cider vinegar in all their waterers and organic feed that contains live earth humate, kelp meal, and DE. We believe the ACV and the kelp and DE in the feed keep our birds in great health! But 3 weeks ago, we allowed our 5 week old meat chickens to mingle with the turkey flock for some additional pasture time.

A week after the flocks started co-mingling, one of our 11 week old Golden Narragansett jakes started spending his days in the nest box with his mother (who is broody again). When I took him out, he seemed unable to stand or unable to balance himself. I would place him in the yard where he would sit and eat the grass around him and then struggle to stand and eventually make his way back into the nest box with his mother. He didn't have diarrhea, but the normally white streak in the stool was a sulfur yellow color.

After checking BYC I figured out that it was blackhead and made plans to cull him and watch the rest of my flock get sick and die as well. I was completely heartbroken since my turkeys are my favorite birds. I can't imagine not raising them now that I've had them for 3 years and have been able to parent hatch 4 clutches so far this year! Our breeding turkeys were our greatest success this year and I thought we were going to lose them all.

Treatment day 1:
I found this thread about cayenne and decided to try it instead of culling the jake. The day we started treatment, I saw the first sulfur diarrhea from him. We dosed the turkey feed with about 1/4 cup of all natural cayenne to 10 lbs. of feed. We also mixed a teaspoon of cayenne into a cup of water and gave each turkey poult a large dropper full (about a tablespoon) every 3 days. So we were dosing the feed and giving them cayenne straight down the gullet. We also dosed the feed of the meat chickens to try and stop the blackhead at the source. And of course, the flocks are no longer co-mingling (although the turkeys still range with our egg flock of 8 chickens).

Treatment day 2:
A second poult started to become lethargic and spent the day in the nest box with momma and sick jake. We sprinkled extra cayenne in the feed.

Treatment day 3:
The second poult was no longer lethargic and the original sick jake no longer had diarrhea. We gave a second dose of liquid cayenne to all the turkey poults.

Every day we saw more and more improvement in the sick jake, and it was fast improvement! No other poults became sick but we continued the liquid cayenne every three days for 3 weeks. Now there is no sign of sickness in any of the poults!

Thank you Melanie, you saved my turkeys!! I had to share this success story in the hopes that others will try it too instead of culling. There is hope!!

Thank you for your post. I have been dealing with my sick turkey for 5 days now. I have dropper dosing him with a mixture of corid, oregano Purina electrolytes, as well as DE and ginger in the water. He is hanging on spots of yellow dropping's. He perched last night and had a massive yellow dark green mess.

I have only 1 idea how he could have gotten sick. He was free ranging outside the pasture and was eating a lot of acorns. 3 days later he got diarrhea.
I am definitely going to try the cayenne.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for your post. I have been dealing with my sick turkey for 5 days now. I have dropper dosing him with a mixture of corid, oregano Purina electrolytes, as well as DE and ginger in the water. He is hanging on spots of yellow dropping's. He perched last night and had a massive yellow dark green mess.

I have only 1 idea how he could have gotten sick. He was free ranging outside the pasture and was eating a lot of acorns. 3 days later he got diarrhea.
I am definitely going to try the cayenne.

If your turkey has Blackhead, none of the stuff you have been giving it will cure it. Acorns are not harmful to turkeys.

Blackhead (histomoniasis) references