Updated with Very Graphic Pictures! - Blackhead Five Miles from My Place

[zazouse]

Kat have you had alot of rain when these outbreaks occur?

Have you ever seen it break out in the winter or do you have mild weather all the time?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Well speak of the devil!!!

One of my turkeys had bright yellow poop yesterday, today he is lethargic and I do not have metronidazole on hand but did dose with more Vit B complex, though that alone will not help. This is not supposed to be very common in my area BUT I did put these boys on ground that has had chickens free ranging for a good many years.

Thank goodness my peas are not here to my farm yet but even so, I feel the need to treat their new area with high doses of salt to kill out everything that will be where their pens are.

I am super ****** about this. I have had turkeys for well over a year with no problems.

 

[margaret8]

...

In the beginning symptoms can be very subtle which is why a weigh mine and track their weight. Had the people that I sold the two to weighed them once a week like I advised they would have noticed a drop in gains and then a loss. More advance symptoms can include not eating or drinking, excessive drinking, wings dropped, ruffled feathers, abnormal poop (runny, blood, yellow, etc), vomiting, depression, inability to stay warm and probably more.

So if you want to head it off before it really takes hold, weigh your chicks once a week and start tracking their weight... The two I sold on 8-25 weighed ~1360 grams and the one male from the same hatch date weighed 1400 grams. When I weighed all of them again on 10-28 the two I sold weighed 1700 and 1900 grams, but the one that I still had weighed 2800 grams, which is a *huge* difference.

In case one is unlucky enough to have to go through this I can tell you that having the medicine on hand is the best way to be prepared.
I wouldn't say expert, lol, but I have seen many with blackhead, way too many.

-Kathy
[/quote
]Have you ever herd of blackhead in Oklahoma?

 

[casportpony]

Well speak of the devil!!!

One of my turkeys had bright yellow poop yesterday, today he is lethargic and I do not have metronidazole on hand but did dose with more Vit B complex, though that alone will not help. This is not supposed to be very common in my area BUT I did put these boys on ground that has had chickens free ranging for a good many years.

Thank goodness my peas are not here to my farm yet but even so, I feel the need to treat their new area with high doses of salt to kill out everything that will be where their pens are.

I am super ****** about this. I have had turkeys for well over a year with no problems.

I'm really sorry... what are you going to do? Zaz found that metronidazole/praziquantel for fish labeled as "API General Cure" and I just saw that Petsmart carries it:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...ferralID=a269bba6-4327-11e3-bae4-001b2166c2c0
Just check the ingredients on the back and make sure metronidazole is listed.

Kat have you had alot of rain when these outbreaks occur?

Have you ever seen it break out in the winter or do you have mild weather all the time?

Three years in a row now most of the majority of outbreaks have occured between August and December and it's been real dry, even in the winter.

Quote:

I haven't, but that doesn't mean a thing, lol.

You should call:
http://www.cvm.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=101
Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory
Address: W Farm Rd, Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone:(405) 744-6623
Hours:
Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm




-Kathy

 

[margaret8]

I

I'm really sorry... what are you going to do? Zaz found that metronidazole/praziquantel for fish labeled as "API General Cure" and I just saw that Petsmart carries it: http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...ferralID=a269bba6-4327-11e3-bae4-001b2166c2c0 Just check the ingredients on the back and make sure metronidazole is listed. Three years in a row now most of the majority of outbreaks have occured between August and December and it's been real dry, even in the winter. Quote: I haven't, but that doesn't mean a thing, lol. You should call: http://www.cvm.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=101 Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory Address: W Farm Rd, Stillwater, OK 74078 Phone: (405) 744-6623 Hours:
Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm



-Kathy

called to their knowledge there has not been a case if it in Ok. Seems it is not wet enough.

 

[zazouse]

Good read here on blackhead,
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1285/control-of-blackhead-disease

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I still have about 8 poults up on a wire bottom brooder pen but these 4 that I moved out to the ground pen had gotten so big they needed to be out. I will be getting metronidazole but often the liver is already in such bad shape by the time you treat for it that it is often a lost cause. I will do my best with these other 3 in the pen. I have a waiting list for my turkeys and I do not want to lose them nor do I want to send out sick turkeys so it will be a few weeks for me to make sure.
I think when the other 8 are ready to leave the wire bottom pen I will either send them directly to a new home or make a pen out in my front pasture where chickens have not roamed.

 

[margaret8]

I
called to their knowledge there has not been a case if it in Ok. Seems it is not wet enough.

I just talked to Oklahoma State University (the ag school in our state) we do have blackhead in our state, but it is mainly where chickens and turkeys have been. he said I have little chance of having it since there have been no chickens or turkeys for at least 30 yrs. He said you have to break the life cycle. He also said there was no cure once the disease was advanced.

 

[zazouse]

I still have about 8 poults up on a wire bottom brooder pen but these 4 that I moved out to the ground pen had gotten so big they needed to be out. I will be getting metronidazole but often the liver is already in such bad shape by the time you treat for it that it is often a lost cause. I will do my best with these other 3 in the pen. I have a waiting list for my turkeys and I do not want to lose them nor do I want to send out sick turkeys so it will be a few weeks for me to make sure.
I think when the other 8 are ready to leave the wire bottom pen I will either send them directly to a new home or make a pen out in my front pasture where chickens have not roamed.

Remember this can be tracked in on your shoes also.

 

[casportpony]

Remember this can be tracked in on your shoes also.

Very true... and one could also introduce it by adding new birds to their flock. Our property *never* had poultry on it and I had no issues at my other place (10 miles south), so how did it get here? I guess I'll never know for sure, but it could have come in on shoes, tires, wind, new or existing birds.

-Kathy