Blackhead problem

Epona · Post by **Epona** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:41 am

My question is how do you clean / sterilize an area / coop after you get rid of the birds? I don't have the problem here. I sold 4 peachicks to someone. After 2 months of them being healthy and growing, she moved them out to a larger pen. They were dead in a week. She phoned me. I suggested either blackhead or bad infestation of worms. After a number of calls, the man of the house here says to find out what was in the pen before the peas. Turns out she had pullets, chicks and turkeys, she bought this spring from Freys. She even called UofG on this. They said blackhead, as do I now that I found out she has stock from Freys. She wants to replace the peas with older ones either this fall or spring. She is getting rid of the turkeys....heading to the freezer.

1/. Will the blackhead virus still be there in the chicken pullets now her layer hens?
2/ the coop is dirt floor.....is there any way she can clean it to get rid of any remaining risk to the birds?

Many thanks wise folks of PTO.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:46 am

Don't have an answer, but wanted to Thank you for going after the problem until you figured out the cause.
Too often people just look for "somebody" to blame, and don't bother to investigate further.

Post by **WLLady** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 12:57 pm

Blackhead is actually a protozoal infection. Not viral. And the cysts can live dormant in the ground for 3 or more years. Probably easiest if she wants to keep chickens and turkeys is to just treat everyone coming in....and keep treating. Not realistic for birds to give eggs or meat though.

She could try lye on the floor...remove all the birds (depopulate or move onto concrete which is easier to bleach after) and lye the dirt deeply and turn it in and then relye and turn it in and relye over the top. Hopefully the lye will kill all the protozoa.

Guelph could probably help with treatment for the birds...but earthworms in the area may be infected too so it may be really difiicult to eradicate.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 3:00 pm

I highly doubt that the Blackhead was brought in by the Freys birds. I suspect that there may have been chickens carrying blackhead there previously to allow the load to build up in the earthworms to the extent the peafowl would be affected like that.

ross · Post by **ross** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:55 pm

Never had it myself but have heard of folks spreading & tilling a fair/liberal amount of white spray lime dry in the run/soil & also mixing spray lime with water & liberally spraying all walls/roof etc inside out if able . & let stand for a year . Luck

Epona · Post by **Epona** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:04 pm

I don't know of any way to make a bird immune to it. Doesn't a bird have to get it and then be treated for it to develop immunity. I also thought the treatment is Emytryl which is put in birds water but is a banned substance now. I'm a pretty closed operation so knock on wood, I haven't had this in decades. I'm very careful of where I buy in from as well. So I'm behind the times on this disease. I feel for her, but not keen on any more of my birds heading that way unless she can guarantee conditions. So I'm working on updating myself for that coversation.

Post by **WLLady** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:43 pm

Dimetridazole is also used, a vet will probably know where/how to get it.....i have never seen any anti-protozoals at any feedstores....

Post by **Killerbunny** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:40 pm

Or flagyl, aka metronidazole. Don't know if you can get OTC at pharmacy. Used to treat trichomoniasis.

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:07 am

There is no guaranteed way to sterilize a dirt floor...earthworms carry the cecal worm which infects poultry, and the cecal worm carries the blackhead parasite. But lime tilled into the soil is your best bet if you want to try that. Yes, her chickens will have the parasite and pass it on, but it's almost always harmless to chickens. Problems will crop up again if she wants to get more turkeys, pea fowl or pheasants. Steps to take would include a washable floor in the coops and runs, regular deworming with a medication that targets cecal worms (the 'regular' wormers won't do it), keeping her different bird types in separate coops and changing shoes between coops (no free ranging allowed), or treating blackhead as it pops up. Only treatments available anymore for blackhead are "off-label". Metronidazole is the most common and easiest to get, it is sold for aquarium use in specialty pet stores and online on amazon and ebay, or you can usually find it for 'cage birds' on pigeon and falconry supply sites. The 'Fish zole' (also called aqua zole) is the cheapest by far, even though it is the same stuff just different packaging lol. Or, if you happen to have Flagyl around, you can crush tablets and use those too. I've dealt with the *(*&^%$# disease for years, tried pretty much everything except the flagyl, and the problem seemed under control... but I just ordered some metronidazole because I've got a turkey that was under the weather for other reasons and now has the tell tale poo that looks like yellow paint. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but with blackhead, the cure is fairly effective while the prevention can be expensive, time consuming, and hit and miss to boot. Turkeys do this gross thing called anal breathing, and meat turkeys are VERRRRY susceptible to blackhead because they do so much sitting around, regardless of the hatchery they came from. Unlike chickens that eat the parasites, turkeys literally take it up the

er. Any bird exposed to outside, dirt or earthworms can be a carrier or become infected.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 6:01 am

Hope she makes it Jan!