black head, any medication for it??

[jvls1942]

Is there any medication for preventing or curing black head disease??

please do not tell me to "search"..

been there done that.......

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

No there isn't. The issue is once the birds have it, it's in the soil. That's why the recommended treatment is depopulate. If you did decide to search more.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/203000.htm&word=blackhead

Steve in NC

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
I'm depopulating already, 1 to 2 a day.. it is hitting the two week old ones..

thank you for the reply..

 

[Zahboo]

Are they around chicks? I read (so I don't know first hand) that they shouldn't be around chicks since chickens carry blackhead, which are a parasite, that kills turkeys....

 

[jvls1942]

not directly with chicks,, but I learned yesterday that direct contact with chickens is not neccessary... chickens need to only have been there previously..

they are going to a brand new concreted floor pen, never used by chickens..

I do have a lot of chickens ,,,

I have had turkeys for years, and never had this happen before..

from the info from Steve, it looks like there is no chance of building up an immunity to it, either..

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Are your 2 week olds on the ground? Are you sure it's blackhead?

Steve

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
The poults go directly from the brooder in the house out to the brand new concrete slab brooder coop..

the poults are fine today, then tomorrow they lay on their stomachs and in a few hours they die..

I have a tom and a hen who were raised here.. I cannot keep them out of the chicken coop.. they go where they want and fly over fences.. they are both 3 seasons old.. the hen even lays her eggs in the chicken nests.. go figure ??

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

ours do the same thing and end up breaking the chicken eggs in the nest.

Steve

 

[hinkjc]

I will first say that it doesn't sound like your turkeys have blackhead. Blackhead is actually more rare than folks think. In most cases, turkey succomb to other illnesses that resemble it, but are not associated. When we thought our turkeys had blackhead several years ago, it turned out to be a bad case of coccidiosis. With the way you mention them going down, it almost sounds like a toxin or bolutism. Is there any wet bedding, moldy feed they could have gotten into?

There is treatment for blackhead, metronidazole, but you will need a vet to prescribe it. I have it here from our vet just in case from when we thought that's what we had, until tests proved cocci as the issue affecting our flock at that time.
http://www.poultryscience.org/ps/paperpdfs/02/p0281122.pdf

 

[Zahboo]

Quote:
Awesome link hinkjc