Turkeys with chickens

Call your Local County Extension Agent (Look in the phone book) Black Head is not a problem in many areas of the country! They can tell you if your area is one that Black Head is problematic. Also give you advise on how to control it. Black Head is usually not a problem in dry climates. Chickens are more resistant to the disease but they can and do get/carry it.

It’s caused by the cecal worm that “can be” in the ground, Chickens scratch and pick it up and then transmite it to Turkeys through the chicken droppings!


Just do your homework for your area would be the safest advise!
I've said this before, but I'll say it again... There is no way for any agency to know about the prevalence of blackhead unless necropsies have performed on *all* deceased chickens, peafowl, turkeys, gamebirds, etc. I say better safe than sorry, so assume it's on your property if you have chickens and stock up on the medication needed for control and treatment.

I can almost guarantee you that if I call the three nearest county extensions (Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey) and The California Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) Laboratory System at UC Davis that none of them will have this info.

Another thing... Did you know that poultry can get blackhead through a means called "cloacal drinking"?
Source: http://www.poultrymed.com/ftp/pub/flagellated.pdf

"Cloacal drinking is the reflexive intake of fluids through the cloaca in order to inoculate the young bird’s immune system with the microbial flora of the surrounding environment."

Bottom line, if you have chickens and turkeys or peafowl you should also have a wormer like Safeguard or Valbazen and metronidazole.

-Kathy
 
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The Safeguard (fenbendazole) dose for cecal worms that my avian vet recommended is 50mg/kg, which is .5ml per 2.2 pounds. Give by mouth and repeat in 10 days.

I don't use Valbazen (albendazole), but I think the most effective dose is 20mg/kg which is ~.2ml per 2.2 pounds. Give by mouth and repeat in ten days.

The amount of metronidazole my vet recommended is 30mg/kg once a day for five days, but I have heard of other vets prescribing it at 60mg/kg twice a day for five days.

Another important thing to remember is that is not caught soon enough your bird will most likely develop a secondary infection, most likely something like e.Coli and for that you will need and additional antibiotic like Clavamox or Baytril.

-Kathy
 

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