Coping with Blackhead

[retlaw]

I have noticed that the risk of them getting sick is greatest from hatch to 9 months of age, after that, they seem to do okay.

-Kathy

Is that maybe because most of the birds are harvested before 9 months so the majority of turkeys ( percentage wise) never make it to an older age?

The only birds older then 9 months would be pets and breeders which would be a tiny percentage compared to the birds raised for slaughter before the 9 month age mark.

Just a thought put out there.

 

[pips&peeps]

I recently got turkeys and found that yes, my soil is contaminated with blackhead. I raised my turkeys for several weeks indoors and they got sick about 6-7 weeks after they were introduced to the outdoors. At first I thought they had cocci because I noticed loose stools and the juvenile chickens I had put out at the same time went through a bout of cocci and everyone was treated together.

Then I lost a couple female poults and one of the weakest went inside to be treated inside with her own source of amprolium. She didn't get any better and I did more research on cocci and realized that turkey and chicken cocci are different species. Then I came to the realization that it was blackhead.

So, amprolium in my recent experience does not work at all on blackhead. Do not waste your money.

Kathy, I would love to confer with you through pm on what you have been doing to treat your birds. I am waiting for a shipment of oregano oil and more metronidazole from Peter Brown right now. I will probably end up giving up my turkey dream because this will just be too much work with the sheer number of birds on my property. I have nine turkeys and the healthy ones are getting a bit hard to handle.

 

[wncpalm]

The Histostat50/Nitarsone is the active ingredient in the Blue Seal medicated Turkey food, discussed earlier. It is an arsenic compound and is effective as a blackhead preventative at the time of exposure but not as a treatment after symptoms appear. After a positive clinical blackhead ID on my first dead turkey poult (last year), and treating my remaining poults with metronidazole, I used the food with nitarsone to protect them from blackhead while waiting to get a new turkey area pulled together. And all those poults came through fine, while still living in an area with known blackhead infestation. Unfortunately, nitarsone is toxic to waterfowl, so this strategy can't be used in mixed flocks.

 

[ivan3]

Just some additional material:

H.M.. kill times, or not, (in vitro) of a wide range of anti-protozoals: http://ps.fass.org/content/81/8/1122.full.pdf

Symptomatic chickens: http://en.aviagen.com/assets/Tech_C...es/English/AviagenBrief_MaleHealth_June09.pdf

Just file away `all the rest' (to worry about later...) from the following reference and go directly to chapter 35: http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/field_manual/

Other than regular worming schedule (and/or building and indoor aviary) making sure runs have better than adequate drainage and soil is `amended' sufficiently will decrease opportunistic transport of disease agent (consider starting with: http://www.lime.org/lime_basics/faq.asp - scroll down to articles listed under: Soil-Related & Agricultural Applications), sand (lots of it) is a good addition after turning and liming. Keeping turks off the ground for the first three months in an area known to have a history is a good strategy (whether there are chickens or not).

 

[wncpalm]

Just some additional material:

H.M.. kill times, or not, (in vitro) of a wide range of anti-protozoals: http://ps.fass.org/content/81/8/1122.full.pdf

Symptomatic chickens: http://en.aviagen.com/assets/Tech_C...es/English/AviagenBrief_MaleHealth_June09.pdf

Just file away `all the rest' (to worry about later...) from the following reference and go directly to chapter 35: http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/field_manual/

Other than regular worming schedule (and/or building and indoor aviary) making sure runs have better than adequate drainage and soil is `amended' sufficiently will decrease opportunistic transport of disease agent (consider starting with: http://www.lime.org/lime_basics/faq.asp - scroll down to articles listed under: Soil-Related & Agricultural Applications), sand (lots of it) is a good addition after turning and liming. Keeping turks off the ground for the first three months in an area known to have a history is a good strategy (whether there are chickens or not).

These are really excellent information sources concerning all aspects of the "blackhead cycle". Thank you for contributing.

I think that we participants have learned a lot in the above back-and-forth discussions about amprolium and blackhead. But for the sake of those who come later, I would like to summarize some of the critical issues from that discussion.

First is the distinction between "Prevention" and "Treatment" of blackhead. Prevention applies to poultry that may be exposed to the blackhead organism, and it works by preventing that protozoan organism (Histomonas meleagridis) from getting established inside the bird. Presumably, prevention substances work by targeting the cecal worms that carry the protozoan into the poultry? Two possible prevention agents that we have identified above are nitarsone and amprolium. Nitarsone (and the related carbasone) are arsenic derivatives which can be effective 4-5 days after exposure to blackhead: From Kathy's post: "This product is not effective in preventing blackhead in birds infected more than 4 or 5 days." Amprolium can apparently also be effective as a blackhead preventative, but it needs to be given well before exposure: From Retlaw's post: "Feed continuously 2 weeks before coccidiosis and blackhead are expected and continue as long as prevention is needed."

But when the symptoms of blackhead appear, that means that the protozoan is already established inside the bird. And preventative applications will not help with a bird that is already infected with blackhead! "Signs of blackhead (Histomoniasis) do not appear until 7 to 12 days after birds become infected." For this situation, you need a Treatment substance that can kill the blackhead protozoan organism that is already inside the bird. And so far, the only treatment that has been shown to be effective against the blackhead organism is metronidazole (and its less readily available chemical relatives).

 

[retlaw]

Another important issue that the vet told me is the moist ground.
In wet season the parasite thrives because the eggs survive in wet moist conditions.

Right now where I live it is hot and dry so the vet told me that I have nothing to worry about putting this years poults out in the run where I had a tom die a month before from blackhead.

He said the parasite eggs can't survive, they dry out and the heat cooks them.

Burning pasture land might be a good way of killing off parasite eggs.

 

[casportpony]

Another important issue that the vet told me is the moist ground.
In wet season the parasite thrives because the eggs survive in wet moist conditions.

Right now where I live it is hot and dry so the vet told me that I have nothing to worry about putting this years poults out in the run where I had a tom die a month before from blackhead.

He said the parasite eggs can't survive, they dry out and the heat cooks them.

Burning pasture land might be a good way of killing off parasite eggs.

Many of my blackhead outbreaks have been in the summer, and it's definitely dry here, but never much more than 103, so proceed at your own risk, but don't say I didn't warn you, lol. Don't forget that they can get it from earthworms, too.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Is that maybe because most of the birds are harvested before 9 months so the majority of turkeys ( percentage wise) never make it to an older age?

The only birds older then 9 months would be pets and breeders which would be a tiny percentage compared to the birds raised for slaughter before the 9 month age mark.

Just a thought put out there.

Not the case here, mine are pets.

-Kathy

 

[wncpalm]

Another important issue that the vet told me is the moist ground.
In wet season the parasite thrives because the eggs survive in wet moist conditions.

Right now where I live it is hot and dry so the vet told me that I have nothing to worry about putting this years poults out in the run where I had a tom die a month before from blackhead.

He said the parasite eggs can't survive, they dry out and the heat cooks them.

Burning pasture land might be a good way of killing off parasite eggs.

Is this the same vet that prescribed amprolium to "treat" blackhead? I would strongly recommend doing your own research on this issue before putting your poults at risk.

There is no question (from what I have read) that moisture can support the blackhead ground cycle, which involves cecal worms and earthworms, as well as reinfestation from other poultry that "carry" the blackhead protozoa. But the stretch from "supported by moisture" to "killed by lack of moisture" is a long one, and the normal duration of the blackhead soil cycle is three years. So I would want to see some sort of research support for a "one month blackhead elimination due to dry weather conditions" hypothesis, before I put poults out in the area where your tom died of blackhead.

I live in a rain forest (>90" YTD), so I will never learn whether dry conditions will help control blackhead.

But I will be interested to learn what you find out!

 

[Celie]

Is that maybe because most of the birds are harvested before 9 months so the majority of turkeys ( percentage wise) never make it to an older age?

The only birds older then 9 months would be pets and breeders which would be a tiny percentage compared to the birds raised for slaughter before the 9 month age mark.

Just a thought put out there.

Thank God, we do not have Blackhead here, I do not process my turkeys until 18 months old, because Heritage turkeys take that long to get to full size. I don't know why anyone would want to slaughter a Heritage turkey before 9 months old, since it takes 9 months to grow their framework and the next 9 months they put on the bulk of their meat(muscle).