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

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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!

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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!

 

[DonnaBelle]

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

Thanks,Donna

 

[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.