For many years my father kept turkeys in our rural village – Lung’anyiro somewhere in Mumias under free range system together with our indigenous chicken with minimal success. I still remember the frustrations he went through; as the poults (turkey babies) all died at a young age
His stock therefore did not grow in size for a long time and for the love of turkeys, he had to buy new ones to replace his stagnant ageing stock. I did not quite understand what was causing these deaths until I went through vet school where I learnt that mixing of birds of different species and ages is a disease predisposing factor and that turkeys and chicken do not mix. It is a recommended biosecurity measure not to mix birds of different ages due to disease dynamics that vary with age and species.
There are diseases virulent to young birds but to which older birds are resistance to. In this case, the older birds can act as the disease reservoir of the young stock. What my dad went through; many farmers are still experiencing today as they struggle to raise turkeys mixed with chicken in their backyard farms. Nonetheless, many farmers are at peace with stunted turkey flocks because they are yet to venture into commercial production.
Turkey meat market remains largely unexploited neither are they considered as a subsistence source of protein for home consumption.
Our eating habits have not created room for turkeys.
Turkeys are large birds; a mature male turkey can weigh over 18 kgs, which is a lot of meat for an average family. They would rather sell it off and buy a kg of beef. What traditional turkey farmers need to know is that turkey meat is a favourite daily delicacy in five-star hotels; with a bit of awareness creation turkey can serve as a good dish for family gathering to which production can be planned to coincide with festive seasons like Christmas. Back to our topic of the day, why should you not keep your turkeys together with chicken in the same farm. Remember there are many other poultry diseases shared across ages and species which one group serves as a source of the disease for others. But today I pick on this specific case of young turkeys and chicken. Poults unlike chicks require special treatment in their initial weeks of life. Up to around two weeks, turkeylings have poor eyesight which greatly lowers their feeding ability.
Many farmers will not notice this as poults absorb yolk which enables them to survive for up to six days without food or water; however inasmuch as they can survive during this time if not fed death may occur.
During this time, temperature regulation is of critical importance as they are yet to grow feathers to keep warm by themselves thus an artificial source of warmth is a necessity. Cold as this age causes a lot of stress to the poults and predisposes them to other diseases. Most Kenyan farmers lose their turkeylings at this stage especially those under free range system where the hen is released into the morning cold and dew with her poults. Other sources of stress at this age are overcrowding and poor ventilation.
The Killer blackhead disease
Blackhead is the most important disease in turkeys. It is a fatal disease caused by a protozoa called Histomona meleagridis — hence the scientific name histomoniasis for the disease. This is primarily a disease of poults. It attacks the intestines and livers and has two classic symptoms namely a black head and watery yellow diarrhoea. Death follows shortly if appropriate and timely treatment isn’t instituted by a veterinary surgeon.
Chicken are important in the epidemiology of blackhead as they are its carriers (they can harbour the disease causing micro-organism without necessarily showing any clinical signs). Chicken therefore carry the disease causing micro-organism found in eggs of worm they harbour in the ceca. These eggs are normally shed into the soil from where they infect poults directly through the oral route and they can also pick them from droppings of carrier chicken.
The microorganisms will remain ineffective for up to three years in the soil; they can also be eaten by earthworms that can also transmit them to poults if such earthworms are eaten by turkeylings.
Signs of blackhead in poults
The disease is common in young turkeys below 12 weeks especially those under free range system, or those kept in a building initially occupied by chicken or mature turkeys. Baby turkeys will lose appetite and will appear dull, weak and depressed. Feathers will be ruffled; yellow diarrhea and a dark head. Mortalities are normally high and the whole batch of poults may be wiped out. At postmortem birds will have enlarged livers and swollen ceca.
Treatment is a bit difficult and there is no recommended drug regime but nitroimidazole class of drugs have been tried with some level of success. Seek veterinary assistance in the use of these drugs. The best strategy to manage blackhead is thus prevention and control