Any turkey owners who have experienced blackhead?

[kfelton0002]

That pic was taken a week or two ago. He has grown some since then. He is a handsome bird.

 

[Nckyturkma]

I used a maintainence dose because my birds were still under 3 months and that is when they are most vulnerable to blackhead. For the maintenance dose after the ill birds competed their full treatment, I used a 250mg tablet crushed in a gallon of water and it worked very well. All are doing great and the only one to get sick again was my Narragansett jake but after this second round of treatment he is doing so much better. I am hopeful after thus he has immunity to it and I don't have to worry about him anymore. He is my son's favorite. His name is Ruger.

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He is so beautiful! Thank you so much for the information and for sharing with me. I live in a more rural part of CA (for the area) but I don't know anyone that has turkeys, just chickens. My boyfriend is so tired of hearing me go on and on about blackhead haha. Best of luck to your Jake and all of your flock!

 

[kfelton0002]

He is so beautiful! Thank you so much for the information and for sharing with me. I live in a more rural part of CA (for the area) but I don't know anyone that has turkeys, just chickens. My boyfriend is so tired of hearing me go on and on about blackhead haha. Best of luck to your Jake and all of your flock!

I'm sure my husband is sick of hearing it too! Lol. You're welcome. Glad we have a place where we can learn from one anothers situations. Feel free to message me anytime and we can keep each other updated. Best of luck to you with your turkey.

 

[Nckyturkma]

I used a maintainence dose because my birds were still under 3 months and that is when they are most vulnerable to blackhead. For the maintenance dose after the ill birds competed their full treatment, I used a 250mg tablet crushed in a gallon of water and it worked very well. All are doing great and the only one to get sick again was my Narragansett jake but after this second round of treatment he is doing so much better. I am hopeful after thus he has immunity to it and I don't have to worry about him anymore. He is my son's favorite. His name is Ruger.

View attachment 3576850

How is your jake doing? My girl is back to her old self. Her poops went back to normal 2-days ago (3 days into treatment) and she started eating 1 day after treatment. She is on her last day (day 5) of the metronidazole (20% powder) and baytril. Do you think I should keep her on lower maintenance dose of the metronidazole for another 5 days? I'm just so worried she is just going to get sick again. I did buy Natustat online and it should be here in a week. I heard good things about it being very effective at preventing blackhead, maybe even as effective as the discontinued Histostat but minus the arsenic, fingers crossed.

 

[kfelton0002]

How is your jake doing? My girl is back to her old self. Her poops went back to normal 2-days ago (3 days into treatment) and she started eating 1 day after treatment. She is on her last day (day 5) of the metronidazole (20% powder) and baytril. Do you think I should keep her on lower maintenance dose of the metronidazole for another 5 days? I'm just so worried she is just going to get sick again. I did buy Natustat online and it should be here in a week. I heard good things about it being very effective at preventing blackhead, maybe even as effective as the discontinued Histostat but minus the arsenic, fingers crossed.

He finished his medicine and is back to eating and has normal poops but he still doesn't act 100%. He may take a little longer to completely rebound. I want them to develop a strong immune system and fight it some on their own. I have them all back on cayenne because it couldn't possibly hurt. I upped the concentration from what I used previously. I am giving about 2 tbsp per gallon now. They are on a pellet/grain mix and they only will eat dry feed. They won't eat it mixed in water so I cant put the cayenne in their feed. They peck at it and cry because they are hungry and "what in the world is this stuff??"

I'm glad to hear your poult is much better!!

 

[Sussex19]

This is a thread on using Cayenne pepper for blackhead, which was recommended to me when I was thinking about keeping turkeys.
I haven't read the whole thing, but thought it might be useful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-a-turkey-from-blackhead.134230/#post-1638502

 

[kfelton0002]

This is a thread on using Cayenne pepper for blackhead, which was recommended to me when I was thinking about keeping turkeys.
I haven't read the whole thing, but thought it might be useful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-a-turkey-from-blackhead.134230/#post-1638502

I have quite literally read every thread on this website that even mentioned blackhead. I've read the entire thread you suggested more than once. I've done everything under the sun to prevent blackhead aside from laying a concrete foundation or putting thick gravel in their pen. They still got blackhead. I have just learned to manage it and so far we are doing well. The cayenne may help to prevent it, but it isn't a guaranteed prevention. My poults were on cayenne when they got blackhead. Which is why I've increased the concentration to experiment with it that way.

I will use mats or tarps to keep poults off the ground when I move them to outdoor brooders from now on and thick straw for bedding. Once they are past 3 months old when they get blackhead they give you more time to treat them before they die. And tend to recover faster. But they most certainly can still get it past 3 months and even past 6 months. So my view is I cant keep them in a sterile bubble until they are grown. My friend had a grown hen he treated for it. So they can still get it as adults. So I have to just do what I can and save the ones I can. Which is proving to be working thus far. Ive only lost 2 to blackhead. It has been a great source of stress but I'm managing it now and can spot it early so I can begin treatment early.

 

[Nckyturkma]

I have quite literally read every thread on this website that even mentioned blackhead. I've read the entire thread you suggested more than once. I've done everything under the sun to prevent blackhead aside from laying a concrete foundation or putting thick gravel in their pen. They still got blackhead. I have just learned to manage it and so far we are doing well. The cayenne may help to prevent it, but it isn't a guaranteed prevention. My poults were on cayenne when they got blackhead. Which is why I've increased the concentration to experiment with it that way.

I will use mats or tarps to keep poults off the ground when I move them to outdoor brooders from now on and thick straw for bedding. Once they are past 3 months old when they get blackhead they give you more time to treat them before they die. And tend to recover faster. But they most certainly can still get it past 3 months and even past 6 months. So my view is I cant keep them in a sterile bubble until they are grown. My friend had a grown hen he treated for it. So they can still get it as adults. So I have to just do what I can and save the ones I can. Which is proving to be working thus far. Ive only lost 2 to blackhead. It has been a great source of stress but I'm managing it now and can spot it early so I can begin treatment early.

I feel this to my core. Since getting our turkey poult in early March, i have done unending research on blackhead and read everything I possibly could (other than like you said pour concrete and remove all exposure to dirt). It kinda irked me because we took our little rooster to the vet recently, the only avian vet here, and the first visit was 150 bucks just for them to tell me he had a bacterial infection (resp) gram positive and prescribe an antibiotic that didn't work. Went for follow up and then they offered to do a culture, which would have been nice from the start, so we paid another 260 bucks for a follow up visit to tell them the antibiotics did nothing and the culture. I tried to ask the vet some questions about blackhead while i was there, and she proceeded to shame me by questioning how I acquired metronidazole, that I didn't even know for sure my turkey had blackhead, that you can't believe everything on the internet, and that I am basically negligent for having a turkey and chickens (saying the ONLY way they get blackhead is this way, not from say earthworms, wild birds, soil, etc). Then she proceeds to tell me the only cases she ever dealt with were necropsies and basically saying there is no treatment. I didn't appreciate her vibe at all. Like not everyone can afford to spend over 400 bucks on one bout of illness for one of their animals, esp if you have many and given the stress of transport, so obviously people treat their sick animals themselves and this forum is so helpful with so many wise people who have incredible experience...so to deny that made me mad. I totally respect veternarians and the time they dedicated to getting their degree, but as someone with a degree myself I would never claim that i know everything in my field and others without it but with real world experience do not know what they are doing.

I just appreciate everyone here so much and for teaching me and helping me along the way.

Blackhead sucks. I cannot believe there is not a better way to prevent it. I am still trying to understand how an antibiotic like metronidazole provides protozoal suppression. I
most recently read "The mechanism of antiprotozoal activity is not understood yet. However metronidazole's antibacterial activity is believed to result from the disruption of bacterial DNA and nucleic acid synthesis in susceptible anaerobes via a polar metabolite. The 5-nitro group is essential for the therapeutic action of nitroimidazoles."- not sure what that even means yet.

I wish there was more research on finding alternatives to histostat banned in 2000, which previously was used to prevent blackhead but contained arsenic. So crazy! I also wish people were more supportive of using chemical compounds in plants to prevent disease. There is some interesting scientific research on a synergistic effect of citrus oil, cinnamon oil, and allium oil to have antihistomonal activity.

 

[Nckyturkma]

He finished his medicine and is back to eating and has normal poops but he still doesn't act 100%. He may take a little longer to completely rebound. I want them to develop a strong immune system and fight it some on their own. I have them all back on cayenne because it couldn't possibly hurt. I upped the concentration from what I used previously. I am giving about 2 tbsp per gallon now. They are on a pellet/grain mix and they only will eat dry feed. They won't eat it mixed in water so I cant put the cayenne in their feed. They peck at it and cry because they are hungry and "what in the world is this stuff??"

I'm glad to hear your poult is much better!!

So happy to hear he is on the mend! I have been mixing cayenne with a mashed banana, some oats, and some honey, and then they gobble it up and get mega dosed with cayenne.

 

[kfelton0002]

So happy to hear he is on the mend! I have been mixing cayenne with a mashed banana, some oats, and some honey, and then they gobble it up and get mega dosed with cayenne.

My turkeys must be broken. They just alarm putt in disdain when I offer them treats. Lol. They only like their dry feed. A few will eat scrambled eggs. My Royal Palm Tom is a garbage disposal and will eat anything.