California - Northern

[KristyAnn]

Watch for blackhead. It is an old custom, from maybe the mid-20th Century, to put a turkey poult in with baby chicks. The turkeys tend to carry a virus closely related to Marek's in chickens that does not make chickens ill, but does provide cross immunity for some strains of Marek's disease. Another traditional "immunization" was to scatter lots and lots of turkey feathers in chick bedding. Unfortunately, chicks frequently carry the organism that causes blackhead in turkeys and rarely, if ever, causes disease in chickens.

Interesting. I heard something about blackhead from the person who gave me my first poult. So far so good and I've got chickens here and there so I can only hope for the best, but I will keep my eye on it for sure, thanks.

 

[chiqita]

Lalo is the Mexican man that works the register. I have two beautiful hens from their stock!

-Kathy

since we are close enough that we probably have the same strains of blackhead would you be willing to share your treatment method with us?I would be really interested and save it.

 

[KristyAnn]

It's a bronze, most likely a commercial Broad-Breasted Bronze (BBB)

Thanks! That's good news to me

 

[casportpony]

Here are some pictures of my size 30 french tube and it in the hen of mine that died. I tried to get a picture that showed it placed into the crop, but she had eaten a whole bunch the day she died, so her crop was too full.

Look closely at the tube and you'll see the holes are big enough for crumble mixed in water to flow through. A size 30 can be used on most large birds, but it's way too big for banties.





-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Quote: I start by tracking their weight gain, which I think in a heritage poult will be about the same as a peachick and that's been about 7% - 12% per day for me. I also look at their overall appearance, attitude, appetite and droppings. Symptoms of blackhead and coccidiosis can look the same, so if I have one that looks iffy, isn't eating, isn't gaining weight or has abnormal poop it gets started on metronidazole and Safeguard. The metronidazole dose recommended by the AAAP Avian Disease Manual is 30mg/kg once a day by mouth for five days, which is what my vets have told me to use, but I have read that other vets prescribe it up to 50mg/kg *twice* a day for 5-14 days. The amount of Safeguard my vets told me to use is 50mg/kg once by mouth and repeat in 10 days.

If one does not catch the symptoms in time, it's likely that the bird will also have a secondary E. coli infection which will need to be treated with something like Baytril, Cipro, Clavamox or Augmentin. I know that Baytil and Cipro are banned for use in poultry, so one would need to research that.

If they aren't eating and drinking while sick they also must be tube fed. Improvement is usually seen after two days of treatment and caught soon enough at treated per the above survival rate is close to 95%.

-Kathy

Edited to add:
All meds must be given orally or by injection (Baytril)!

 

[casportpony]

Quote:

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It's a bronze, most likely a commercial Broad-Breasted Bronze (BBB)

That would make sense and it's possible that it's one from their last order. Next time I go there I'll take some pictures of the ones they have hatched.

-Kathy

 

[Kaylish]

Hi everyone.
I'm in N. Cal. Cottonwood. Just south of Redding.
I am new to chickens and I currently have 10 5-6 week chicks.
I am addicted to them.

and Welcome to our thread! Feel free to ask any and all questions. There are some amazing people here with a lot of knowledge. What breed(s)? do you have?

I'm not Kathy, but yes, they are two entirely different diseases. Lymphoid leucosis and Marek's are caused by separate viruses; there is no immunization generally available for Leukosis.

Here is one of the best information sources for poultry:

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disviral.htm

ANY time you have a question about poultry, do a google search combining the words "extension" and the specific issue. America's land grant colleges have extension services to serve you, the chicken owner, the home owner, whatever. Extension sites are a great source of sound information about everything from home canning, through laundry, to back yard chickens, and how to manage a 100,000 acre ranch.

Good info! I would never have thought of that.

 

[fowlman01]

Raising chickens with turkeys is good for the chickens, but bad for the turkeys. It will help the chickens avoid Mareks, but it can kill the turkeys....especially young turkeys. years ago blackhead was easy to treat with the medicine they had back in the day, but you can't get it in the US now. I can't think of the name, but it was highly effective for blackhead. (Kathy jogged my memory, it is Baytril) Turkey females last about 2-3 months and the males up to 8-9 months here before they die of blackhead. It is because I have had chickens here for over 40 years. I got this info from a vet at Nicholas Turkey farms.

Walt

 

[casportpony]

Raising chickens with turkeys is good for the chickens, but bad for the turkeys. It will help the chickens avoid Mareks, but it can kill the turkeys....especially young turkeys. years ago blackhead was easy to treat with the medicine they had back in the day, but you can't get it in the US now. I can't think of the name, but it was highly effective for blackhead. (Kathy jogged my memory, it is Baytril) Turkey females last about 2-3 months and the males up to 8-9 months here before they die of blackhead. It is because I have had chickens here for over 40 years. I got this info from a vet at Nicholas Turkey farms.

Walt

I think the drug you're referring to is dimetridazole, which I think I have seen for sale for pigeons. The drug currently used for treating blackhead in poultry is metronidazole (Flagyl, fishzole, Meditrich, etc), but it is banned.

I raise turkeys and peafowl with chickens *and* I have blackhead. Whether or not they live or die from it really depends on how soon one starts their treatment with metronidazole. It is treatable, but the all the drugs used to treat it are banned in food animals.

Because of blackhead, I now keep my poults and peachicks off the ground in brooders that chicken chicks haven't been in until they are at least 3 months old. This seems to help a little, but it's no guarantee they won't need to be treated.

I read somewhere that once they've been exposed to and recovered three times from it that they aren't likely to to get sick again, but don't quote me on that.

For those that don't currently have turkeys, if you're thinking about getting some, I'd suggest that you think very seriously about what that could mean for you if you have blackhead. Many people do it for years without any problems, but for others, like me, it's a constant problem, but it *is* treatable.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Good blackhead info here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/804570/coping-with-blackhead

-Kathy