poults, keets and coccidiosis

Misty · **Posted:** Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:16 pm

I usually lose a lot of my turkeys at a few weeks old due to coccidiosis (symptoms indicate this - could be black head also). Is it okay to give them a preventative dose of sulpha quin in their water from when they are only a few days old - or should I wait until they are a little older. I find it very difficult to get the remedy into them when they run with their mothers - but while they are contained (for the first 2 weeks) - I can put it into their water. I also incubate some eggs and they are being bred with keets at present - would it be okay if the keets also got it in their water.

andre · **Joined:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:21 pm **Posts:** 612

Yes you can give them preventative coccidiostat in their water. I think there are several that get used other than the sulphur based ones.

If you buy commercial turkey and meat chicken starter feed, then it will have the coccidiostat already in it. That may be a better plan? Then as you change to 'grower' and thence onto adult feed, the level of coccidiostat steps down and natural immunity builds. By the time they are adults they should require no coccidiosis control.

The other option to control coccidiosis and blackhead is to observe spectacular hygiene in their pen. If you had one of those brooders with the mesh floor, that would be perfect. Otherwise if you have them in a home made brooder, you could change the newspaper or pine shavings or whatever on their flooring every day??? Make sure their pen is warm and very dry.

As far as I know, there is now no drug to control blackhead on the market (since the withdrawl of Emtryl).

oldchook · **Joined:** Sun Oct 17, 2010 10:19 pm **Posts:** 1

As I found out the hard way there is no cure for blackheads disease and lost 90% of my stock so I adopted the adage prevention is better than cure so the secret is proper worming treatments and do it regularly and make sure they take it even if you have to force it down, I wish I had!

Misty · **Posted:** Fri Oct 22, 2010 12:31 pm

What other coccidiostat would you recommend apart from sulpha quin? That kind of cleanliness is probably not an option for me....I have too many birds to handle it. They get clean straw every few days and that's about all I can fit in. It's the little turks born in the shed to their mothers that worry me the most - I don't want to disturb the sitting mother by cleaning up around her, but once the babes are born I have trouble keeping them on anything special as they free range with their mothers and drink whatever is around. (And they share the area with ducks, so there is plenty of water everywhere.)

JOKE · **Posted:** Fri Oct 22, 2010 5:57 pm

Read some info using cayenne pepper to treat blackhead not sure if it does coccidiosis as well.

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