kinda sick turkeys and odd turkey poop (pics inside)

Aj1911

Songster
10 Years
Jun 4, 2009
318
2
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i have 11 turkeys, there is something thats going though the flock, symptoms are slow, tired, hunched in and ruffled with being a little pale in the face

this is what their droppings look like

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the 2 birds that are sick now are the 3rd set, the last 2 pairs that got sick recovered in 4-5 days

treatment atm is cayenne pepper on feed, ACV and vitamins with probiotics in their water and it seems to help alot

they also seem to get worse when its cold out vs warm

anyone got any ideas? i did treat with anti-biotics at first which helped some but not alot, i did lose one of the smaller ones but it displayed different symptoms before it went (twitching of the head, convulsions etc) pretty sure it ate some toxic plants and i have found said plants with bits of leaf missing like they were ate by birds.

what do you guys think? i have another turkey in with my chickens that has never had this problem at all but shes also older (she was atleast 6-7 months old when we found her)
 
I have never actually seen Blackhead poop, hopefully someone who has can help you there but yellow poop is a symptom of it. Then again, they get yellow poop when anything is affecting the liver, not just Blackhead. In the meantime, I would treat with Metronidazole (also sold in pet stores as 'fishzole'). I would follow that up with a good worming of the flock - including the chickens. If it is Blackhead (Histomoniasis), it's doesn't 'live' in the soil, but can be picked up by other organisms such as earthworms, then a turkey can get it from eating a worm,

I don't know where you are located, but there seems to be a lot of Blackhead around this year, some 'confirmed' by the owner doing a necropsy to look at the liver, some based on symptoms. The 'slow, tired, hunched in and ruffled with being a little pale in the face' are basically symptoms that the turkey is indeed sick, they do that for about any illness. Yellow poop indicates that the liver is affected, and a necropsy to look at the liver would show distinctive symptoms for Blackhead.
 
oh i forgot to mention they get black poop at some point with this as well, i also read that cocci can cause the yellow poops

if it was black head wouldnt the 4 that recovered died tho? i thought it was very very deadly and shouldnt of my turkey living with my chickens of got it as well?
 
I have never heard of cocci causing yellow poop, but I am not a vet so...? According to the Merck vet manual most cases are fatal. They also say 'Histomonads interact with other gut organisms, such as bacteria and coccidia, and depend on these for full virulence.' The chickens may not have been infected yet, one of the turkeys could have eaten an infested worm and started the cycle (if that is what you are dealing with). If the black poop you are seeing is soft and pudding like in consistancy, that is a normal occurence in turkeys. I have heard of it referred to as a 'cecal dump' and other terms. Below is the link from the Merck vet manual, I hope your turkeys feel better soon!

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/203000.htm
 
ok thank you ^^ the black poop had me worried. i would think if some turkeys had it all of them would of tho? seems how my other turkey has been here over a year

right now i added GSE to their water see if it helps, i have read good things about it helping them get over blackhead, i just think i would of lost 1 of the 4 others that were sick if it was blackhead ya know? i heard it is fatal to nearly 90% of the flock.
 
I have only two turkeys this year and I noticed one getting very dopey, hunched up and very lackluster with feeding. They always roost outside at night but I caught him and put him in a shed w/Duramyacin in his water and sprinkled hot pepper flakes over his pellets/corn dish. I used about l/2 cup of pepper flakes. Was going out to see how he was doing this morning and my husband had opened the door and he was very perky and came running when I threw out bread scraps as a treat for the chickens & geese. He looks much better today. When I picked him up yesterday I was shocked how light he was. About a month ago he weighed about l0lbs and I would say he feels more like 4 or 5lbs. So hope the antibiotics and pepper in his feed has helped - tomorrow will give him a bit more.
 
Have a food grade diamataceious earth which I sprinkle in their nestboxes, on roosts and sprinkle in their feed. My new pullets hatched beginning of May are very big and well developed - in fact the few roosters I had in that batch could have been butchered a month ago. But my older gals are looking thin and feathers bedraggled. A lot of this is natural abuse from roosters but what is the safest and most effective product to use for worming? Put in the water?
 

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