Anyone who is thinking about adding turkeys to an existing poultry family needs to be aware of the threat of Blackhead. But good information about dealing with this protozoan-based disease can to be difficult to come by. So maybe those of us who have experienced this ordeal can contribute to a new thread about what we have learned (and what more needs to be known)?
Last year I began letting my incubator-hatch turkey poults go out on pasture with the chickens at about 8 weeks and saw the first clear symptoms in the largest poult at about 12 weeks. Here is a good Blackhead symptom description: “Clinical signs in turkeys may include sulfur-colored droppings, lethargy, drooping wings, eyes closed, head held close to the body, weakness, or emaciation.” http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_25.pdf
This turkey died on the way to the vet office. Necropsy showed the unmistakable yellow liver lesions associated with blackhead and this diagnosis was confirmed by a lab tissue analysis. See the above source for internal lesion photos.
Our vet prescribed metronidazole for the 7 surviving poults, which had no symptoms. This is also available OTC in the aquarium trade. So if someone has the dosage for a water-based treatment, that would be a good resource (and a lot easier than treating turkeys individually).
If you have blackhead present, it will be both in your chickens and the soil. Chickens with blackhead typically have no behavioral symptoms, but apparently do have the internal lesions. So one way to check on blackhead in advance might be to check the liver on a chicken that dies for some other reason.
After finishing metronidazole treatment, I put the turkey poults on a Blue Seal medicated feed containing Histostat (Nitarsone) to prevent reinfection. This feed is selectively available on the east coast, but may be more widely available? Or there may be regional alternatives?
This feed contains an effective, arsenic-based Blackhead preventative for turkeys, but it should NOT be used in a mixed flock. It is highly toxic to ducks, geese and other waterfowl, and is not recommended for laying hens … Would you like some arsenic in your eggs this morning? But I kept the turkeys confined while creating a new turkey area.
Finally, once they were settled in their new area, I took the turkeys off the medicated food and waited to see if the soil there was clear of the dreaded Histomonas meleagradis. I now have 10 week old poults growing up with their mothers on this new pasture, and all seems to be well. So I am hopeful that our Blackhead ordeal is over.
Last year I began letting my incubator-hatch turkey poults go out on pasture with the chickens at about 8 weeks and saw the first clear symptoms in the largest poult at about 12 weeks. Here is a good Blackhead symptom description: “Clinical signs in turkeys may include sulfur-colored droppings, lethargy, drooping wings, eyes closed, head held close to the body, weakness, or emaciation.” http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_25.pdf
This turkey died on the way to the vet office. Necropsy showed the unmistakable yellow liver lesions associated with blackhead and this diagnosis was confirmed by a lab tissue analysis. See the above source for internal lesion photos.
Our vet prescribed metronidazole for the 7 surviving poults, which had no symptoms. This is also available OTC in the aquarium trade. So if someone has the dosage for a water-based treatment, that would be a good resource (and a lot easier than treating turkeys individually).
If you have blackhead present, it will be both in your chickens and the soil. Chickens with blackhead typically have no behavioral symptoms, but apparently do have the internal lesions. So one way to check on blackhead in advance might be to check the liver on a chicken that dies for some other reason.
After finishing metronidazole treatment, I put the turkey poults on a Blue Seal medicated feed containing Histostat (Nitarsone) to prevent reinfection. This feed is selectively available on the east coast, but may be more widely available? Or there may be regional alternatives?
This feed contains an effective, arsenic-based Blackhead preventative for turkeys, but it should NOT be used in a mixed flock. It is highly toxic to ducks, geese and other waterfowl, and is not recommended for laying hens … Would you like some arsenic in your eggs this morning? But I kept the turkeys confined while creating a new turkey area.
Finally, once they were settled in their new area, I took the turkeys off the medicated food and waited to see if the soil there was clear of the dreaded Histomonas meleagradis. I now have 10 week old poults growing up with their mothers on this new pasture, and all seems to be well. So I am hopeful that our Blackhead ordeal is over.