Is there any respiratory disease that is not a disaster in turkeys?

[jenniferf82]

I'm thinking I don't have gapeworm but instead one of the loathsome respiratory diseases. Long story short, brought home a new rooster from a swap about a month ago, kept him isolated and all was well. Bought from someone who was NPIP so thought I was probably safe. He just get mixed into the rest of the pack this week, too coincidental with the timing of this issue. I have NEVER lost a single bird to disease until this week. Now, I notice one of my turkey hens has a swollen face and watery eyes with sneezing. Is it time to cull everyone? I had hoped it was gapeworm that had caused my losses this week, but, not with the facial swelling on that hen. Is there any hope of it being anything but one of those diseases which they are carriers for life after getting?
I picked up Tylan, but, it makes no sense to treat something that is going to spread a loathsome disease. I hatch and sell birds, well, I used to, guess not anymore. I have about 200 poults and 20 adult birds.

 

[syble]

i feel your pain, was there first thing this spring with IB, had to cull and start all over again. I'm too new to turkeys to be able to help, all i've had so far was blackhead, which is bad enough lol. I can't stand the respritory disease, after my first problem there, every time i hear a random sneeze i freeze and listen for more fearing some random outbreak! Hopefully some of the pros will chime in.

You mentioned loss, what died? Any photos of the infected bird?

 

[jenniferf82]

Lost four 16 week old turkey poults, blue slates. Definitely respiratory symptoms, but, because we've never had disease and quarantined carefully I assumed we just had gapeworm as that sort of fit the symptoms and we've never had to deworm anything. We've had turkeys for about 4 years now without issue until this week. They go downhill fast, go from walking around normally to moving around slowly but still drinking and eating and then dead the next day, so, probably too fast for gapeworm. No blue or discoloration except for some darkening/dirtiness around the nostrils which I'm assuming is dirt getting stuck in nasal discharge. ?
Adult turkeys were looking a bit rundown, but I attributed that to the molts they're starting on, they always look a bit rough this time of year. But, then this afternoon I noticed swelling around the face of one hen and definite sneezing. I'm guessing that the young ones aren't living long enough to have those symptoms. No diarrhea or anything, they go from looking fine to dead in about 36 hours.

 

[chickenzoo]

You may want to talk to our States Dept of Animal & Ag in Live Oak. They do necropsys very reasonable, like $30 for up to 3 birds. It may be a drive but samples are best brought in alive but you can also ship recently deceased birds to them. Also get with Jennifer Glover to set up NPIP testing on your farm, it is free and they test for different things if you ask them too. that way you will know what exactly is going on within your flock and make decisions from there. In some of these illnesses it can lay dormant for a long time,,,, then come out during stress.

 

[Frosty]

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I have never heard of respiratory problems killing them that fast. Although with respiratory cases with swollen sinus, the infection itself is usually a secondary infection (such as e-coli) that sets in while the immune system is fighting the virus. I hope you find out what it is!

 

[ivan3]

If I had that many birds I'd treat them all with antibiotic in water ASAP (if it is bacterial you'll have that covered). I'd sacrifice the roo and take roo and turk in for necroscopy. I'd want to know what was going on and then weigh my options.
Also, did anything else change recently, e.g., new bags of feed/lots of rain, etc.

Best of luck!

 

[jenniferf82]

chickenzoo, do you have contact information for them? I can't seem to find the right number. My favorite pet rooster died out of the blue yesterday afternoon, he was older, about 7. Only symptom he had was some lightening of the red parts around his eye, otherwise he was up and around and eating like normal when he died. We've been treating the turkeys with tylan just until we figure out what's wrong, the two that looked sick last night are still alive, but, one that didn't look sick at all at 11pm is dead this morning. There's no diarrhea in the pen, it's all formed regular poops out there, none of those weird watery ones. The younger turkey poults are not affected so far, we have about 50 that are around 6 weeks old and no death or issues in their pen. A couple losses in the brooder, but, we usually chalk up a couple losses in the brooder to hatch issues. We usually lose about two in the days right after hatch, so, so far normal for the brooder.

We've had birds forever and never had a single problem with disease. I am so mad at myself for bringing an adult bird home from the swap. We quarantined it, but, I'm certain it was a carrier for something because that darn thing is still healthy while everything that's been near it is dropping dead. Our biggest issue before this was the very occasional mite flare up. I can't even say for sure it's a respiratory thing, the one turkey hen might have something different from everyone else. Everyone has quit yawning since treating them for gapeworm, so we may have had that to some extent. It's definitely to the point where we need to test and make some decisions. I can't believe this, last week we were planning on heading to a swap, but, decided not to go Friday night because a few birds looked 'off'. Since then we've lost ten, nine 16 week old turkeys and a rooster. I'm just glad we didn't carry it to a swap! I'm really ticked though at the person that sold me this one. I knew her birds didn't look great, my instincts said not to buy from her, but, I figured since she was NPIP that her birds were probably safe and just underfed or something. That was the only thing we took back from the swap.

Edited to add, think we figured it out. Went ahead and opened up our most recently deceased. Familiar with what the insides look like because we have eaten them in the past. Some fluid in the lungs, but I would say the fluid in the lungs is secondary to other organ failure. Liver enlarged and covered in spots and lesions. My guess would be liver failed, then kidneys failed, then birds lungs filled with fluid due to mass organ failure. That pretty much leaves me with blackhead doesn't it? Otherwise bird was clean as a whistle on the inside, definitely no gapeworm in the lungs or trachea. Just that horrible large spotted liver. Probably missed the blue coloring because they are blue slates and some blue coloring is normal on them. What would've been a dead giveaway on a royal palm or otherwise colored turkey was very much not obvious on these guys. Didn't bother opening the intestines. Didn't see the need after seeing that massive liver.

 

[chickenzoo]

I sent you her email. I would still get a necropsy test done or send them pics of the one you did. Their are other illnesses that affect the liver. Blackhead does not always show darking of the face, but they do lose weight, drink way more, stop really eating and get yellow poo. With the respiratory symptoms I would guess it was something else.

 

[jenniferf82]

I wrote to the address you gave me, but the email bounced right back. Is there another one I can try?