Blackhead

[BigPeep]

I have not seen the answer posted anywhere to this question.

I understand that Blackhead disease can be transmitted from chickens to turkeys but no one has explained how the chicks can get it so your flock becomes infected in the first place.

Since the Blackhead organism is a protoza as I understand it, I would think it could not be transmitted from the hen into the egg where the chick is. In order to get it I would think the chick would have to be hatched in a nest and then pick at the adult droppings in the nest.

If you are getting your chicks from a hatchery where they are incubated in incubators, they would not be exposed to any adult droppings and therefore should not be able to pick up the disease. Therefore, it should be safe to keep your chickens and turkeys together if all of the chickens come from hatcheries that use incubators and you keep your own property secure.

Comments?

 

[texascowboy1979]

Im no expert.. but, Its been my experience, that every year, all my turkey chicks get it, I treat them, then there immuned. Kinda like chicken pox. SO this year.. Im expecting them to all get sick. I think they get it from there parrents who have become immune but still carry the sickness..

That is the only thing I can come up with... why else would my turkey chicks break out every year on there 1st year. They only get sick once in there life.

 

[spish]

i thought it was in the ground, therefore if you keep the chicks 'off' the ground for the first 12 weeks of life, it gives their immune system a better chance of fighting off the blackhead when they come into contact with it?