Turkey's with possible Blackhead disease, are they safe to eat?

[KidsKOG]

I have two female turkey's that are 21 weeks old and about 10 days ago they started to show symptoms of Blackhead disease (just figured this out today), there is also a Tom that is showing possible symptoms. They are scheduled to be butchered in 10 days and they are all eating and drinking a little though one has not walked for over a week (but can stand on own).
My question is whether I should be culling these three and discarding their carcass' or should I butcher them with the rest and eat as normal? My other concern is should I try and get them butchered earlier so the other 7 don't get sick? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I personally would not eat any bird that is sick. I would burn the carcass.

 

[junglebird]

<Bump> I'm wondering the answer to this question, too.

 

[Jocasta]

Aside from any possible contamination, on a purely practical level, blackhead would cause significant muscle loss so I doubt there'd be much meat on the carcass anyway.

That said, can you not treat them? 10 days isn't long to get them healthy and I certainly wouldn't want to be using strong meds that close to slaughter, but high doses of garlic, grapefruit seed extract and cayenne pepper all at once in all feed may be enough to kick it in the bud.

If these birds are mixing with other birds already, chances are your whole flock will have already been exposed to the protozoan that causes blackhead (if indeed, this is what they have). In which case, the above therapeutic strategies would be sensible as a preventative measure for all your birds.

And as for the original question, no, I wouldn't eat a bird with untreated blackhead disease - or any other illness for that matter.

 

[Evelle]

Quote:
i agree gave mine organic apple cider vinager, garlic and pumpkin for 6 days and they came out of what i thought was blackhead (now not to sure)
but they are back to normal happy pecking everyone and getting into the barn stealing food from me

I WOULD NOT EAT A BIRD THAT IS SICK EVER!!!!!

 

[blakhawq]

I know this is an older post, but I thought I'd reply for anyone else wondering...
Blackhead disease is an internal parasite, the meat is ok, just do not eat the liver. It is up to you if you want to eat the bird depending on the birds condition. Many of them get very unthrifty and stunted/thin, therefore the meat quality/quantity is affected. Health/safety wise, a turkey affected by this is fine to eat, just personal preference on if you chose to or not.

 

[casportpony]

I know this is an older post, but I thought I'd reply for anyone else wondering...
Blackhead disease is an internal parasite, the meat is ok, just do not eat the liver. It is up to you if you want to eat the bird depending on the birds condition. Many of them get very unthrifty and stunted/thin, therefore the meat quality/quantity is affected. Health/safety wise, a turkey affected by this is fine to eat, just personal preference on if you chose to or not.

Secondary systemic infections often go hand-in-hand with blachead (histomoniais), so if you feel safe eating a a bird that might have septicemia due to a raging e. Coli infection, go ahead, lol, but I sure wouldn't! FWIW, two of my birds that died from blackhead also had systemic bacterial and fungal infections.

-Kathy