Bronze Turkey Question

[Kessel23]

So long story short, I want to get peafowl and cool heritage turkey breeds but I do not know if my chickens have black head. I do not want to spend like $600 on peachicks and then have them die from black head so I got a few turkey poults to use to find out if my chickens have black head. I have had the turkeys for over a week now and they are still doing fine but I still need to wait longer to be sure... Well anyways, the guy I got the turkeys from said they were Bronze turkeys, he did not say if they were broad breasted bronze or heritage bronze. I was wondering when I could tell what they are and how I could tell what they are. I would prefer that they were heritage but either way they will just become pets, assuming they live.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Too young to tell for sure.

It isn't chickens that have blackhead, though they can come down with it, but it usually doesn't cause them problems. They can be an intermediate host. Blackhead comes from the cecal worm, that carries the protozoan parasite that causes blackhead. So what's in your soil can determine whether you will see Blackhead or not.

 

[Kessel23]

Thanks. I read that the chickens will eat an infected earthworm who has eaten a cecal worm egg. The earthworm is carrying the cecal worm who is carrying the black head. When the chicken eats the earthworm it gets infected but the black head has little to no effect on them. The chicken can then spread cecal worm eggs through their poop and saliva to other chickens, ducks, pheasants, or geese but it also has almost no effect on them. They can also spread it to guinea hens and they are less immune. They can also spread it to peafowl and turkeys, they have almost no defence against it and usually die a few days after showing symptoms. I read that it can take up to 14 days from infection for them to show any signs though.
When should I post pictures of them? When do you think I will be able to tell, right now they are a little over a week.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

you said it better than me.

Heritage poults will stay thin through the breast and broad breasted, I believe as I haven't had one in decades, will get a meaty feeling breast fairly early. Maybe in another week or two you should be able to tell.

 

[Kessel23]

Alright, I will post new picture in a week or so, thanks for the help