Sorry to hear of the loss, it is never easy to lose a pet. Blackhead doesn't usually run rampant through a flock although it is always best to treat all the birds in a pen if needing to treat one bird. Controlling the worms is key to controlling BH but the cure for BH is metronidazole. I have had BH in a flock of young birds with no worms present so it can happen.He died in the vet's office.. We were disappointed with the vet. He's an exotics vet but he had no idea what Blackhead was, even when I called it Histomonosis. Phoenix was very dehydrated, and he had extreme weight loss, so he had obviously been ill for a couple of weeks, anyway. His crop was empty; not compacted. I'm pretty sure he was fine during breeding season, if I had to judge by the amount of noise he made then, and he seemed to be eating fine back then, too, although we know how birds can conceal symptoms of illness. He dropped his train a little early..about two to three weeks ago; and that's when we noticed that he was not coming up to the house to beg for treats as he liked to do.He died while the vet was trying to give him fluids, but I think the vet should have let ME hold him; it would have reduced the stress...I'm just so upset and furious. The vet did everything he should have done; fluids, antibiotics, etc...it's just the way he did it. he acted very impatient and assy, and I think that contributed to the stress of the bird. I had the fecal done anyway, so we'll see what it shows. He pooped on the vet's floor..and the poop looked pretty normal...light yellowish, white, some dark. Not sulfur yellow. Diarrhea. So, considering that it looked pretty normal as far as I could tell...maybe it wasn't BH? Is there anything to be done preventatively to help the other peas NOT contract BH? (besides deworming?)
Agreed, I have lost at least three mature birds that had eaten sharp objects and pierced the esophagus letting feed into the body cavity and dying.So very sorry for your loss, I know how heartbreaking it is to lose one.
If I were you I would do my own necropsy. If it was blackhead, coccidiosis, or roundworms it will be obvious. Blackhead poop is not always yellow.
Other things to look for are things he could have eaten like sharp pieces of plastic or metal, that's pretty easy to spot too.
I did two necropsies for a friend, one had eaten a needle and a piece of plastic fence, the other ate a piece of metal. The first one had a ruptured proventriculus and gizzard, the second had a ruptured gizzard.
Ours were due to normal things like stones and feathers, then there was the piece of string that wrapped around the tongue that eventually cut the tongue off and killed the hen.
I just posted pictures one of them:
, I know how sad you must feel, I feel very sad when I lose one too.
