Blackhead disease prevention 6/6/2015

[mamalaoshi]

Thanks for posting this. We got turkeys several months ago and when we had a bunch of our chickens die (we ate one, had several disappear, and one had to be culled), we put the remaining three in with the turkeys for company and to discourage predators. The turkeys and the chickens get along great and the chickens are even helping to brood the turkeys' nest.

I had never heard of blackhead until last week. I've been sick with worry thinking that I've doomed my lovely turkey flock and their soon to be hatched babies.

Reading through these few posts, I feel a little overwhelmed. What do you think is the #1 preventative action I should take? Would removing the chickens at this point be helpful at all or is it too late?


You can see my little black chicken poking her head up from under the turkey's wing.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC!

Go buy some poultry dust or 5% Sevin for the mites/lice (DE doesn't work), Safeguard liquid for goats and some metronidazole (Fish-Zole, Aqua-Zole or Meditrich) tablets. If you want to be really safe, buy some Baytril, too. You may never need the metronidazole or Baytril, but it's something you should have unless you will be able to take your poult to a vet if it gets sick.

-Kathy

Thank you,Kathy.

I have been all over town every farm and feed supply, local vets, and friends with kids in 4H and FFA. I have an email in to the director of animal science at calpolySLO...so far nobody has had blackhead or trouble with mixing turkeys and chickens in my area. I wonder if it is a regional thing? I did get the metronidazole and the Savin dust, and cayenne pepper and crushed chili's and DE (which I already had been using- I did one thing right.) I don't understand doseage. 30mg what per chick or poult per day? How do I do that! I'm not going to traumatize them by catching them, forcing a squirt of treated water down their throat every day for 5 days. By day 5theyll never come to me. I'll need a net to catch them. Can I just put it in the waterer?

Call the UC Davis lab nearest you and ask to speak with an avian pathologist about blackhead. They cannot give treatment advice, but they might be willing to talk with you about the various blackhead outbreaks in CA.
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs/services/lab_locations.cfm

IMNSHO, one should not use metronidazole unless they have a sick bird. As for how to treat them, sorry, you will have to catch them, weigh them, do a little math and give the medication orally, no way around it. Do not medicate with metronidazole unless they are sick or unless a vet tells you to.

Dosing should always be done by weight, so get yourself a kitchen scale. If you have a poult that weighs 2.2 pounds, it would get no less than 30mg (I give mine 50mg) for five days. If the poult weighs less, it would get less, and if it weighs more, it gets more. Make sense? A 250mg pill is way too much medication for a poult any most chickens (metronidazole can cause serious problems if too much is given).

If you need help with the math, just let me know and I'll do the math for you.

-Kathy

 

[charmedbaker]

Call the UC Davis lab nearest you and ask to speak with an avian pathologist about blackhead. They cannot give treatment advice, but they might be willing to talk with you about the various blackhead outbreaks in CA.
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs/services/lab_locations.cfm

IMNSHO, one should not use metronidazole unless they have a sick bird. As for how to treat them, sorry, you will have to catch them, weigh them, do a little math and give the medication orally, no way around it. Do not medicate with metronidazole unless they are sick or unless a vet tells you to.

Dosing should always be done by weight, so get yourself a kitchen scale. If you have a poult that weighs 2.2 pounds, it would get no less than 30mg (I give mine 50mg) for five days. If the poult weighs less, it would get less, and if it weighs more, it gets more. Make sense? A 250mg pill is way too much medication for a poult any most chickens (metronidazole can cause serious problems if too much is given).

If you need help with the math, just let me know and I'll do the math for you.

-Kathy

Thank you again!
I don't believe my turkey is sick with it. She had green funky stinky runny poops, then normal ones. She has never lost appetite or changed attitude.

I'm am prepared now tho.

As for the mites, we spray the coop today, and dust the girls. They aren't going to be happy, but will feel better.
Also, they are totally loving the crushed peppers and cayenne laced plain oats and feed.

 

[1 true Phoenix]

Call the UC Davis lab nearest you and ask to speak with an avian pathologist about blackhead. They cannot give treatment advice, but they might be willing to talk with you about the various blackhead outbreaks in CA.
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs/services/lab_locations.cfm

IMNSHO, one should not use metronidazole unless they have a sick bird. As for how to treat them, sorry, you will have to catch them, weigh them, do a little math and give the medication orally, no way around it. Do not medicate with metronidazole unless they are sick or unless a vet tells you to.

Dosing should always be done by weight, so get yourself a kitchen scale. If you have a poult that weighs 2.2 pounds, it would get no less than 30mg (I give mine 50mg) for five days. If the poult weighs less, it would get less, and if it weighs more, it gets more. Make sense? A 250mg pill is way too much medication for a poult any most chickens (metronidazole can cause serious problems if too much is given).

If you need help with the math, just let me know and I'll do the math for you.

-Kathy

How much for an 8 lb. Turkey?

 

[casportpony]

How much for an 8 lb. Turkey?

Welcome to BYC! Do you think your turkey has blackhead? Do you have metronidazole and Baytril?

 

[1 true Phoenix]

She possibly has blackhead. We have general cure by API.

 

[casportpony]

She possibly has blackhead. We have general cure by API.

Can you take her to a vet?

 

[1 true Phoenix]

Not really... My vet admitedly has little experience with poultry and can't really afford to pay someone to do the same guess work that I can do myself with some research...

 

[casportpony]

Not really... My vet admitedly has little experience with poultry and can't really afford to pay someone to do the same guess work that I can do myself with some research...

Your vet can sell you the proper drugs, which for treating blackhead should be metronidazole, baytril, and Safeguard, though that you can buy at Tractor Supply.

 

[1 true Phoenix]

I have safeguard 10% suspension liquid goat dewormer and general cure by API and will be getting antibiotic as I only have tylan 50 and penicillin On hand. I have read several threads on here and have found varying opinions on dosing both metronidizole and safeguard.