# Can you raise turkeys (3 or 4) with a chicken flock.



## DonnaBelle

I've got about 35 chickens, I'd like to add 3 or 4 turkeys to my flock.  I can keep the turkeys in a small coop inside the chicken house till they get as large as the chickens, and the chickens can see them all the time while they grow.  Then will they live together without fighting?

DonnaBelle


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## WorldTreeRabbitry

I have chickens and turkeys together.  Once in awhile my big tom and my big rooster will have "words" but I have 3 separate pens plus some free range so I rotate them until I find a combination where everyone pretty much gets along.  Other than the occasional "words" between the dominant ones...they all do fine together.


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## Southern by choice

I had someone asking about turkeys this morning... they were asking about free-ranging... but I gave a little more info... maybe this will be helpful. I know others have different experiences though.

Turkeys, at least all of ours, do not want in a coop or building. We have heritage turkeys so they like to fly up in the trees or on the buildings to roost at night. 
As far as disease it is chickens that give diseases to the turkeys. Turkeys are highly susceptible to poultry diseases. We are a clean flock with no respiratory issues. One reason we keep turkeys is they are your first warning that you have MG in your chickens. Chickens can live with all kinds of stuff and be carriers and never show any signs... having a turkey around lets you know cuz turkeys will get sick. Healthy turkeys are a good sign of healthy chickens.
The commercial bronze will grow very fast but needs slaughtered by a certain weight or they will grow to big and their legs will break. We do heritage because they breed naturally, sit, raise their poults and get to be a nice table size.
Young poults can be hard. They simply find dumb ways to die. 
Turkeys are highly territorial. Hens are very nice to have around, Toms can get very aggressive especially if you have more than one and there are females around. The hens are always wonderful.
Turkeys will have a territory and whatever is in that territory is theirs and they will allow and even protect... chickens that come into that territory or they don't recognize can get attacked... chicks too.
Our Turkeys run all over.... they are not out in the chicken fields. They are fine with the chickens that run all over like they do.. they think those are _their_ chickens.
My son LOVES turkeys... LOVES them. I sold a pair as pets back in the summer.. M/F they follow their owners everywhere hang out in their workshop and sleep on their house. They LOVE them.
Most all of our turkeys are sold to those who are raising them for meat.

Our hen just had another clutch... she is raising them well but a rooster got two of them, something fell on one. They are 3 weeks now. This is the best "mom" we've had. The others were great sitters but not great moms. This one is great all the way around but the poults are bad! They don't like to listen to mommy. Our poults act like puppies... they follow us everywhere!


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## WorldTreeRabbitry

Southern By Choice, I absolutely love my turkeys too! I have a couple different breeds that I raise so have a couple Toms, hence separate pens. It is totally true that the hens do not like to be cooped up, they are always escaping.  I am worried about predators and the road though (and people honestly, I have had several people stop by and ask to buy them and when I say they aren't for sale they get really upset and argue with me...it is the oddest thing).  Anyway, I have had big issues with the raising of poults too because they find the weirdest ways to die.  I would love to free range at least some of my flock but sadly my baby, Big Tom (I know not very original name ) liked to chase the UPS guy and he was refusing to deliver...


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## Southern by choice

WorldTreeRabbitry said:


> Southern By Choice, I absolutely love my turkeys too! I have a couple different breeds that I raise so have a couple Toms, hence separate pens. It is totally true that the hens do not like to be cooped up, they are always escaping.  I am worried about predators and the road though (and people honestly, I have had several people stop by and ask to buy them and when I say they aren't for sale they get really upset and argue with me...it is the oddest thing).  Anyway, I have had big issues with the raising of poults too because they find the weirdest ways to die.  I would love to free range at least some of my flock but sadly my baby, Big Tom (I know not very original name ) liked to chase the UPS guy and he was refusing to deliver...



Oh Boy! Ours do the same thing.  Sometimes they will not let people out of their car... our geese do the same thing! 
One of ours is named Tom, the other male is named Tom. 
We are getting Narragansett turkeys in the spring. We have found breeding our chocolate over our black or vice versa produces sex-linked poults!!!!!!!! Woo hoo! It's really nice. We are up front and tell people how they were bred so they wouldn't be straight chocolates or straight blacks but crossed, so not for breeding stock. I like it because most of the time the males will go for meat and the hens for pets. Many people love the look of the Toms though and want them... we tell them the risk of them getting mean.


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## DonnaBelle

Thanks guys for all your replies, Southern, what did you mean by "heritage" breeds.  What is a "heritage" breed?  IS that the name of the breed or does it encompass several breeds??  Thanks for all your help.


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## Southern by choice

This explains it best... No it is not a breed (short answer  )
Use to be called the American Livestock Breed Conservancy, now it is the Livestock Conservancy

http://www.livestockconservancy.org/


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## BrownSheep

I also raise turkeys and chickens and I actually prefer my turkeys.
I second what has been said about being cooped. Mine are very social bird and will actually go to where ever the people are. My toms are not agressive but my hens will go after the rooster once in a while.


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## Southern by choice

I love the poults sounds and the grown turkeys well they are just cool! 
Mine love to forage throughout the woods but for some reason insist on hanging out on my covered porch, looking in the door and well.... pooping everywhere! 

Our poults (the breed) grow rather slow for a long time than suddenly they are so big! The babies love when a new person comes to visit... they have to go say "hi" even when Momma is hollering at them to come back here! It is quite comical. They are very curious creatures.


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## chicken pickin

I raise turkeys also. I have Bourbon Reds they are a heritage variety. In the turkey world they are called varieties not breeds. My turkeys LOVE the chickens, on days I let them free range they fly into the chicken yard and that is where they will stay the majority of the day. If not herded back to their coop they choose to sleep on the railing of my front deck(I don't let them sleep there they always get penned up at night). On days they are penned for the day, come night fall they put themselves to bed on the roost inside their coop and I will go up after dark and shut the door to keep them safe from predators. I don't find Toms to be mean or aggressive. They will spar with the other Toms during mating season but that is normal behavior. I have yet to have a Tom attack another person or pet. I did last year have a Tom that would give me a look and he would lower his head at me towards my feet as he walked near me, he was challenging me. He ended up on the dinner table for Easter dinner.

Blackhead is the only concern most people have keeping chickens and turkeys together. It is something the chickens can carry and not be affected by it. But if a turkey gets it he could die within days if not treated properly. I believe you can call your states agricultural offices and ask if you have blackhead in your area and they should be able to give you an idea on what has been reported.

Turkeys are very friendly and sociable. As stated above they have to say "Hi" to everyone that comes to visit. They need to check out everything you are doing. And are always under foot or on your heels lol.

We raise our turkey for the enjoyment of them and also the meat. But Chickens will always be my favorite.


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## Southern by choice

I have friends that had Toms only and they were very friendly. None of ours have been real friendly after a certain age.  Not one, They hit that puberty age and that's it. 
This year a friend of mine _had _a Bourban Red hen_..._ it was killing her chickens... her Palms are fine. 
I wonder sometimes... we handle ours a great deal... beginning to wonder if that is a mistake. 
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The_* Mycoplasmas*_ will also affect turkeys. These are all respiratory illnesses- 
To include MG, MS and MM. Mycoplasma's are bacterial yet often appear "viral" because of the transmission appearance.
TRT (Turkey Rhinotracheitis) and Fowl Pox are also  diseases turkeys can get.

*_Mycoplasma gallisepticum_ is believed to be in the majority of backyard flocks. The estimates vary from 50-80%.
*_MS_ (_Mycoplasma_ _synoviae) _is most common in turkeys
It has an appearance of the "chicken cold". The best prevention is MG free stock or tylan dipping/shock hatching eggs to eradicate it from the egg.

These diseases rarely cause death but can make them very ill and sometimes death.


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## BrownSheep

I don't know if handling makes much of a difference. I "pet" mine. They don't really like it and walk away. I also pick them up every so often. 

I also think chicken/turkey relations vary. My old BBB hen used to be harassed by roosters thus she became very agressive towards them. 

I also have one group of roosters that think they are turkeys and live with them.
It helps when they are raised togeather since day one.


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## chicken pickin

I agree with southern by choice. Blackhead is a big concern for turkeys and make it unable for some people to own them. But these diseases listed above are horrible and both chickens and turkeys can be infected and get sick/die. They both can also be carriers of these diseases. The best way to prevent these diseases from entering your flock is good bio-security. Always quarantine any new animal for at least 30days to look for signs of illness before introducing to your flock. Limit what you bring in from outside sources. Don't let other poultry owners in your chicken yard since they can carry the diseases that their flocks may have on their shoes and clothing and infect your yard.

My specific bio-security is
-I do my best not to bring in outside birds but If I find something I "need" I quarantine as far from my flocks as possible for 5-6weeks.
-I do not allow poultry owners in my chicken yard, I have a fence surrounding all my coops and that is the company free area, only my family is allowed to enter.
-When selling eggs chicks or poults the customer is to park at the end of my driveway and wait for me to bring them what them are buying.
-If myself or my family go to another Farm, a Fair, or a chicken swap etc. all of our shoes get disinfected in the car before we get out when we get home.
-My next plan is to buy specific shoes meant for wearing to other poultry populated areas and also specific shoes to be worn on my farm only.

I know some of this may seem silly but last year my state had a state wide outbreak and many flocks got sick and died while other flocks were purposefully culled so they could start over with new uninfected stock. Swaps were cancelled and for some farms there was mandatory testing and farms that tested positive were forced to close their flock until they were able to test neg. I had my flock tested and thankfully my flock is negative for all diseases. I will continue to do a yearly testing to make sure they all stay healthy.


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## Southern by choice

You are right on Chicken Pickin!  Bio-security is critical.
We have a parking lot. No chicken people in the areas etc.
Spraying your tires is also a great idea! We don't go near swaps or shows or TSC parking lot when they do their swaps. LOL

I do want to add with the Mycoplasmas you can have carriers that will never show a symptom. With the Mycoplasmas you can quarantine for months and nothing yet a sudden change of weather... tornado, hurricane , weather like we are all having now and it can trigger in a second. 

Mycoplasmas can live on human hair ( or goat or dog) for up to 3 days, in still water for 9 days. In the ground it can be short lived... but can survive the most severe freezing temps.

Chicken Pickin... are you familiar with the treatment for eggs? It is also highly effective of eradicating ILT too! It is a great way to keep a clean flock with adding what you'd like. 

I poultry!


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## chicken pickin

No I have not really heard to much about egg treatments. I have seen people make comments on dipping them to clean off bacteria etc but haven't looked into it further. Will a treatment for eggs also kill whatever disease may be carried by the chick in the egg? I do hatch a lot, Im addicted lol. I do my best to buy eggs from flocks that have been tested, though occasionally I will get eggs from an untested flock. Like for instance I just hatched a batch of Silkies for my daughters last week. They came from an untested flock so I hatched those eggs with some eggs from my own flock. Those chicks are my "tester/sacrifice" chicks meaning they are in the brooder with the untested silkie chicks to see if my clean chicks get sick. I will also keep these silkies separate from my flock until it is time to to get tested again and renew my NPIP certification.

I would love to hear about the egg treatments.


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## Southern by choice

NPIP only test frp Pullorum / typhoid. Most states are doing the AI (Avian Influenza) voluntary still. We do the AI every 3 months.
NPIP tests for mothing else unlesss you are in a voluntary program. We tested Neg for MG and was asked if we would like to be the only flock in NC and 2nd in the country to maintain MG free status.
Our state vet approved us for vaccine (in our state it must be authorized by the state vet) Our programs are not through private testers but by NC dept of Ag.... ultimately we opted NOT to do the MG testing program... huge risk and we do free range and we would have to do the testing every 30 days ( each state has leway with this... usually it is 90 days) 
So the whole point of that is to say nothing else is tested for so MG,MS, ILT none of that is tested for. 
A big pet peeve of mine is that many in the NPIP progran say "we're NPIP- we're tested for everything"... NOT TRUE!

Anyway the dipping is an easy procedure I think I posted the recipe for someone about a year ago....  It requires Tylan (100 gram tylosin base) mixed with water, heating eggs submersing in the "dip" (the Dip is kept at a precise temp-very cold) for a set time etc..... the key is you must have more than one incubator or use heat lamps to heat the eggs... you can't heat "unclean" eggs in your bator take them out treat them and then stick them in your possibly contaminated bator.

Yes the processs illiminates the Mycoplasmas and ILT and one other that I cannot recall off the top of my head. This is the process that was developed (i want to say the 40' ??? maybe 70's??? LOL)  to eradicate MG from commercial poultry industry. 
Your nations commercial meat and layer flocks are MG free, and monitored continually.


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## chicken pickin

Thanks for the info on the egg treatment. I will look it up further to get all the details.

I am aware that NPIP doesn't cover everything and I wish it would. They should include everything in the test to make sure all the poultry aren't infecting each other with multiple diseases. I also know that even after you are tested your flock can still be infected days or months after the test and you wouldn't even know it. But testing more often than once a year is costly. When I did my initial NPIP test this past summer I asked for my flock to be tested for the other diseases not included in the test and paid extra for it. I will only be doing the testing once a year and I will include the extras each time. The best I can do is be over cautious and follow good bio-security and hope others are doing the same so diseases wont be spread.


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## Southern by choice

I have often though the same however if you were to eradicate all birds with and of the Mycoplasmas alone then there would be no exhibition poultry at all. Mycoplasmas are all over the world and everywhere and wild birds can carry it in... we'd all be left with having to house... no free range... and have just the leghorn and cornish cross.
I still don't want it in my flock either! 

I think the dipping is the way to go!


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## DonnaBelle

Is it possible to have your turkeys inoculated for Blackhead??  

Thanks,Donna


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## chicken pickin

I don't know if they make vaccines for it. I do know that Blue Seal used to sell a medicated feed for turkeys that helped protect them from getting the blackhead disease. My Blue Seal stopped selling it because not enough people were interested in buying that medicated feed.


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