Can you raise a wild turkey chick with chicken chicks?

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meriruka

meriruka

Songster
12 Years
Oct 18, 2007
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A neighbor brought a wild turkey chick (only a day or two old). It had escaped being run over with farm equipment. I put it in a brooder and dipped it's beak in water a few times, and scattered turkey starter all around. It doesn't appear to be eating or drinking.

I have a friend who hatched three (chicken) chicks on Friday.
We thought it might help the turkey if we could put it with the other chicks.

Do wild turkeys carry anything that could harm the chickens?
 
I've heard turkeys, can acquire from chickens, a disease called "blackhead". They get it from pecking through the chicken poop if the chickens have been raised in an outside environment, free ranged. "Blackhead" itself is caused by a certain worm or parasite that does not affect chickens but does affect turkeys. Hopefully there is someone else who can explain it better. I would like to know too! I've got 3, 17 day old wild turkeys that raise in the same area as my cooped chicks, but not together.
 
I raise mine together, BUT like any other outside bird, if it has something it would be bringing that with it. So I personally would put at least one of those chicks in with it and take my chances(unless of course it is a rare spent $100 for 1/2 dozen eggs for No Neck Tailless Blue Tuffed Silkies).
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The chicks were hatched in an incubator, so they have had no exposure to outdoors or grown chickens, so I think the poult is safe. I just wouldn't want anything to happen to my friend's chicks because this wild turkey has "something" that could harm them.....
 
The turkey poult would probably do good with the chicks, learning to eat and drink. Plus, they are quite social, and would like the company.
You don't need to worry about blackhead unless it has been prevalant in your area/farm/backyard before.

Our Wild Turkeys run with the chickens without problems.
 
I managed to locate a lone Royal Palm chick locally. They are not best buddies yet, but Wild Thing is no longer peeping his head off. I still can't tell if he is eating or drinking yet, because he still freaks out whenever he sees me. Hopefully this will work and he'll make it.
 
A lot of people put turkey poults in with chicken chicks, the chicks will teach the poults how to eat and drink. I have a naragansett poult that is about 5 weeks old that has lived with chicks its whole life. There is nothing wrong with the turkey
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I would definitely put at least one of the chicken chicks in with the poults.
 

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