Coping with Blackhead

[casportpony]

FYI, there have been a few people on BYC that have had blackhead in their chickens lately and UC Davis had few outbreaks listed in one of their recent news letters.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

http://www.k-state.edu/parasitology/625tutorials/Histomonas.html




-Kathy

 

[Yadigar]

https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/assets/464eax1.pdf

Granted, this is a slideshow missing a lot of information. However, It has great visuals of Histomonas meleagridis; the protozoa itself. I found it very informational.

 

[casportpony]

https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/assets/464eax1.pdf

Granted, this is a slideshow missing a lot of information. However, It has great visuals of the protozoa itself. I found it very informational.

Welcome to BYC! thanks for posting that.

 

[WoodstockChickens]

I'd keep it, but I'd ask your vet to explain to you why he prescribed it to be used after the Metronidazole (I think I know why, but you should hear it from him, not me).

-Kathy

Hey Kathy,

Reading this post and so grateful for it.. I have a chicken that checks all the boxes of blackhead... Can I do the Metronidazole with Doxy? She has been prone to E Coli infections, and now realizing that it may be the secondary from the blackhead.. Can she take both together? Doxy/Metro?

Thank you so much for this thread..

Barton

 

[casportpony]

Hey Kathy,

Reading this post and so grateful for it.. I have a chicken that checks all the boxes of blackhead... Can I do the Metronidazole with Doxy? She has been prone to E Coli infections, and now realizing that it may be the secondary from the blackhead.. Can she take both together? Doxy/Metro?

Thank you so much for this thread..

Barton

sorry I missed this. How's your hen doing? I am not positive, but I think they can have doxy and metronidazole.

 

[WoodstockChickens]

Good Morning!

Now I must say sorry for missing your reply! My little hen is still touch and go, but better than she was... The cultures of the lash material she was passing came back with heavy loads of e coli, and enterococcus - the strain of e coli being sensitive to SMZ-TPH (or whatever the letters are) and she's on a 30 day dose of that because she's been sick for so long, then moving to clavimox after that is finished because that should take care of the enterococcus... The vet didn't want to do them together (unless she really went downhill fast because of potential damage to kidney/liver because she's had so much medication).

She has her implants so hopefully we've shut down the oviduct, and addressing all the bacteria inside... She was near death about 10 days ago - gasping for air, comb and feet white, and we kept giving her electrolytes and added charcoal from our wood stove and about an hour after the charcoal she started to perk up, and has been moving forward ever since.. Her poop is ALMOST white, and that yellow (assume the e coli) is slowly going away..

Anyway, thank you so much for the follow up - we're hoping she's on the mend for good!!

Again, thank you for all your help!

 

[cgmccary]

Anyone who is thinking about adding turkeys to an existing poultry family needs to be aware of the threat of Blackhead. But good information about dealing with this protozoan-based disease can to be difficult to come by. So maybe those of us who have experienced this ordeal can contribute to a new thread about what we have learned (and what more needs to be known)?

Last year I began letting my incubator-hatch turkey poults go out on pasture with the chickens at about 8 weeks and saw the first clear symptoms in the largest poult at about 12 weeks. Here is a good Blackhead symptom description: “Clinical signs in turkeys may include sulfur-colored droppings, lethargy, drooping wings, eyes closed, head held close to the body, weakness, or emaciation.” http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_25.pdf

This turkey died on the way to the vet office. Necropsy showed the unmistakable yellow liver lesions associated with blackhead and this diagnosis was confirmed by a lab tissue analysis. See the above source for internal lesion photos.

Our vet prescribed metronidazole for the 7 surviving poults, which had no symptoms. This is also available OTC in the aquarium trade. So if someone has the dosage for a water-based treatment, that would be a good resource (and a lot easier than treating turkeys individually).

If you have blackhead present, it will be both in your chickens and the soil. Chickens with blackhead typically have no behavioral symptoms, but apparently do have the internal lesions. So one way to check on blackhead in advance might be to check the liver on a chicken that dies for some other reason.

After finishing metronidazole treatment, I put the turkey poults on a Blue Seal medicated feed containing Histostat (Nitarsone) to prevent reinfection. This feed is selectively available on the east coast, but may be more widely available? Or there may be regional alternatives?

This feed contains an effective, arsenic-based Blackhead preventative for turkeys, but it should NOT be used in a mixed flock. It is highly toxic to ducks, geese and other waterfowl, and is not recommended for laying hens … Would you like some arsenic in your eggs this morning? But I kept the turkeys confined while creating a new turkey area.

Finally, once they were settled in their new area, I took the turkeys off the medicated food and waited to see if the soil there was clear of the dreaded Histomonas meleagradis. I now have 10 week old poults growing up with their mothers on this new pasture, and all seems to be well. So I am hopeful that our Blackhead ordeal is over.

I keep my chickens and turkeys wormed. That is the first blackhead preventative. Also, I use oregano oil with piperine in their water which I buy from First State Vet. It will prevent blackhead. I use it religiously in the water of poults and young turkeys. Older turkeys past one year of age normally rarely get blackhead I find. I keep metronidazole on hand for when they do.

 

[Rosecoral]

Hello everyone.
I am a total newbie here. Let me say, this site is awesome. I am impressed with the live community here conversing and sharing.
Now I too, have a problem. It could be blackhead disease.

To date: my turkeys are Broad breast bronze, born on May 5th. Are eating and drinking and seem to be ok. However, I began to see yellow poo.
So, on May 31st I put them on Safe-Guard medicated food for worms. Mixed per instructions into their gamebird crumbles. Then I read a post about putting them on Corid. So, on June 1st they have also been recieving that too.

Now some of the time the poo is normal and then still this yellow.
Do i need to find the blackhead medication asap and put them on that?

 

[cgmccary]

Hello everyone.
I am a total newbie here. Let me say, this site is awesome. I am impressed with the live community here conversing and sharing.
Now I too, have a problem. It could be blackhead disease.

To date: my turkeys are Broad breast bronze, born on May 5th. Are eating and drinking and seem to be ok. However, I began to see yellow poo.
So, on May 31st I put them on Safe-Guard medicated food for worms. Mixed per instructions into their gamebird crumbles. Then I read a post about putting them on Corid. So, on June 1st they have also been recieving that too.

Now some of the time the poo is normal and then still this yellow.
Do i need to find the blackhead medication asap and put them on that?

Poults hatched on May 5 should not be on Safeguard, nor any wormer. It could kill them. They also should not have blackhead already. The medication, Metronidazole, will kill poults that age. Corid does not prevent blackhead and it is not a wormer. It is a thiamine blocker that acts to starve cocci of the needed nutrient. It blocks your poults from the vitamin too. You should only use it if they have coccidiosis. Blackhead kills in about 48 hours so if they did have it, they’d be dead already. Feed your poults a turkey, quail or gamebird starter containing at least 26% protein. Make sure they have fresh clean water at all times. Make sure they and their bedding stays dry and clean. Provide them with a warm place until they are about 7-8 weeks old. The down on their heads will be mostly gone. They shouldn’t be medicated at their young age.