@duluthralphie @Ravynscroft This sounds like MS/MG, but I'm not sure how to treat.
It could be MS/MG. However, a good anti-biotic should kill it.
I doubt it is AI. There have not been any outbreaks of it, that I know of lately. The USDA is monitoring AI fairly tight.
Are the turkeys keep with the chickens? I would use tetracycline. It is not legal to buy for poultry. I buy calf boluses, I think they are 500 mg, then break them into pieces and shove down the turkeys cute little throats.
I did not know ms/mg to be a highly fatal disease, though. I assume some might de but it is more of an economical disease. There are only 15 states that even test or care about MS/MG. Minnesota is one.
I assume the reason is the millions of turkeys we raise here. MS/MG will slow the rate of growth for around 6 weeks as the disease runs it course. If you have 10,000 turkeys and they do not gain a pound a week for 6 weeks, you have lost 60,000 pounds of turkey. At 50 cents a pound that's $30,000 in losses. Not many farmers can survive that kind of loss. Hence, the reason Minnesota tests for it.
However, I think we may actually be looking at a relaxation of the rules on MS/MG. With the advent of indoor grow buildings each building is shower in and shower out so the spread is stopped. We use to have pastured turkeys, they are a thing of the past. When I was a kid we had a turkey coop on 40 acres and thousands of turkeys walking around the pasture. Then the spread of disease was easier and took a heavier toll.
