Turkey Growers HELP! Young Turkeys With Lots Of Large Bumps On Heads

[ThePamperedPullet]

I am not a turkey person so I am looking for some assistance from those that are.
Our friends have 8 turkeys about 12 weeks old. They are white if that matters. They called me to come over and look at the turkeys to see if I might know what is going on with them. 2 of their turkeys have lots of very large, 1/4 inch high X 1/4 inch in diameter, raised nodules on their heads. This doesn't seem to be on their combs or wattles this is actually all over their heads.
They were together with chickens so I had them move the chickens out. It has taken place withing the last couple of days. The infected birds seem to be eating and drinking normally.
At first look it looks like Pox and I have read that there is a turkey pox but can't find much info on it. I have had chickens with pox and this looks nothing like what they had. The bumps kind of remind you of a Lepper.
Unfortunately it was dark when I was over there so I have no pics to upload.
Anybody got any ideas?
I will try to get over there tomorrow and get a few pics
Thanks
Eric

 

[ivan3]

What color are these `nodules/eruptions/boils/etc/??? Are they weeping are they scabbed? Did you notice if the turks were acting at all `puny'?

 

[threehorses]

Turkey pox is avian pox, can be the same as that for chickens. Ours was this year. The spots look nasty - will be on the non-feathered parts of the body (even including the legs).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-diseases-AvianPox.html is a great article about dry and wet pox. Your form is dry most likely - check the article to make sure.

I will warn you that having carbuncles and a great deal of unfeathered head, turkeys can get this terribly. It's very useful to treat the sores with iodine as the article suggests. I dilute mine to a tea-color. The disease spreads via scabs and mosquito - so keeping them apart from chickens might not help, but it's about the same (less gross I think) in chickens should they get it.

Make sure they keep eating and drinking. It helps to give them a tiny bit of extra protein such as cooked eggs. I didn't do that this year and mine were fine. And they DO look like lepers. Having never before seen it in turkeys, I was horrified when mine contracted it (having seen it for years in chickens) and for a short while wondered if I didn't have some weird necrotic bacterial disease in my flock. Sound familiar?

Mine took a full 2 weeks for the birds to recover. One day they were hideous with it, 2 weeks later the scabs looked a bit more brown than black/grey, and then the next day ALL scabs were completely sloughed off! Usually it takes longer for the scabs (if you don't pick them ) to disappear. I never had such a bad problem with it, but this year I did. It's going to be a big pox year.

If you remove scabs, be sure to throw them away in a bag. However, it's inevitable that some scabs will still fall in the bedding and they can infect other birds. However, the birds that survive pox (I've never lost a one knock on wood) are vaccinated by their own immune system for life. Since dry pox is a pretty easy illness to deal with (just boosting their immune system to prevent secondary problems) then it's not as scary a thing as other diseases.

I hope this helps!

And yes - please do post pictures. I wish I had taken a picture of my turkeys' pox this year to share. Your pictures might help another person later on down the road.

Added: This link has turkey pictures that were exactly like mine this year:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/204801.htm

 

[ivan3]

This document is handy to have: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/t0756e/T0756E00.HTM

Chapter 7. Diseases Specific to Poultry has good shots of gross effects of various illnesses (dry pox in a turkey is one).

Direct link to Chapter 7. : http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/t0756e/T0756E08.htm#ch7