Hope This Saves A Turkey From Blackhead

[Jocasta]

Quote:
Oh that's brilliant - I've always got that in - I use it to dust all the birds regularly to protect against mites and have been adding it to their food sporadically for years as I hear it's a decent wormer too. Wasn't too sure how effective it could have been considering the turkeys still got blackhead but perhaps they got that from the ground and not from chicken stools. I'll continue to add that to the feed then

As for your problem, personally, I'd get some metronidazole into them. I think the cayenne and other things you're doing is probably buying you time but your birds are pretty young to be suffering blackhead and survival rates are NOT good with birds so young. Having seen the immense improvement in my own birds since starting the metronidazle, I can't recommend it enough! They were all pretty black in the head (one still isn't as pink as the others). They've been on the meds for 3/4 days and they are strutting again, stools are back to normal, and they are behaving normally (roosting high etc)

Mine are all meat stock too. I'm going to get them back onto their organic feed and am figuring that all trace of the meds will be out of their system by the time we come to eat them. I tell you what though, having to nurse them back to health has meant that I'm bonding with them far more than I ever intended to. darn! I hoping I get plenty of time to become impartial again lol.

 

[SAHMof2]

I just came from my local farm store and saw some paste made by safeguard. Turns out there is a dewormer that is made by safeguard. Strange, I could have sworn safeguard made my bag of DE.

I just bought some polytonne A and piperazine. No sign at the farm store or walmart for metronidazole or Fishzole. I check a large pet store in the city tonight.

 

[mitchell3006]

Safe-guard is a brand name for the wormer FENBENDAZOLE. It is also called by the brand Panacur. Most people use the paste form made for horses.

 

[iajewel]

Thank you so much. I try really hard to keep the Turkeys away from the Chickens, however I think I will use the Cayenne as a preventative. Thank you.

 

[WindsOfChange]

Safeguard makes a goat wormer with Fenbendazole. That's used to worm the turkeys/chickens/etc. There's another wormer, more effective against Blackhead, called Valbazen. First State Veterinary Supply has it and you can mail order.

The owner is GREAT with poultry and goes out of his way to help us help the birds. He also carries a LOT of other things, including Metronidazole, which was also mentioned on this thread. When I had more acute cases of blackhead breaking out before my rush order of meds from him got here, he helped me figure out how to find Metronidazole at an aquarium shop. Incredibly helpful man. It saved my turkey hen's life and I'm very grateful.

As to the continuing effectiveness of cayenne and AVC, etc, for blackhead, I think that while those things make the gut more unpalatable for the protozoan that causes blackhead, it won't completely wipe it out. Also, the microorganism that causes it can be dormant in soil for up to FOUR years. So you're going to be constantly treating and re-treating unless you treat the soil too. I was told that hydrated lime is one of the only things that will change the chemistry of the soil so much that the protozoa can't live in it. I was wondering though, if DE would do it. It'd have to be done on bare soil.

I'm hoping that because I have heritage breed (Bourbons) turkeys, that they're tough enough to overcome this bug on their own. At least some of 'em. Knock wood~ I'm watching them like hawks though....just in case. On the bright side, I still have 30-40 poults in the brooder room/incubator, so ..if worse comes to worse, I can make a big pen with a wire bottom to raise them in. I'd HATE to, oh, I'd hate to, but gosh. I am also putting out feelers for a local farm that doesn't house chickens to maybe lease me a pasture for turkeys. It'd be hard going out everyday to tend to them though- I have so much going on here with the other poultry we have! Argh.

Wishing good luck to all of those afflicted with this awful disease.

Barbara

 

[SAHMof2]

Hi Barbara. I also have Bourbons and am struggling with Blackhead currently.

I just bought some safeguard but it says on the box not meant for horses (I know I have turkeys) that are meant for food consumption.

I do plan on butchering them if I can keep them alive long enough, although I"m getting so attached to them nursing them back to health.

I was wondering about the DE as well on the soil. A huge bag of it here is $15.00 and would do my entire run.

 

[Jocasta]

Just any update for anyone interested. My turkeys all recovered beautifully from the dreaded blackhead. I dosed them twice a day on 100mg (they were only just over 1kg but I figured it was best to be safe than sorry) of metronidazole, after a week of cayenne pepper. I didn't really know how to dose them as I had 400mg tablets and no way of cutting them resulted in a clean cut so I decided to grind them down and mix them with 20ml of water. I then fed 5ml to each bird (four birds). They started showing such huge improvement after just two days and by the end of the week, the colour had returned to them, they were acting normally and their stools were no longer sulphur tinged. I am continuing to add a generous quantity of cayenne to their feed and this has thus far been successful at preventing a further outbreak.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed on this thread. It's saved my turkeys lives!

Jo x

 

[kuntrygirl]

Glad to hear that your turkeys all recovered. That is great!!!!!!!

 

[SAHMof2]

I cannot find large quantities of cayanne in my town nor in the neighbouring MAJOR city. I have not tried a health food store though. All I can get is a very small very expensive bottle of it at the grocery stores.

I don't suppose chili powder would work would it??

 

[Frosty]

Chili powder is usually cayenne I think? But any kind of hot pepper will do. It might be cheaper if you can find an Asian food store and buy hot peppers in bulk. Or check local farm markets. A lot of grocery stores (and I think I saw in Walmart) have bags of dried peppers. Buying the stuff in the bottles can get expensive after a while...