Turkeys and chickens

Good evening, I'm new to byc. I have 16 chicks about 8 weeks old. Im expecting 2 turkey babies thursday and I was told i need to buy 2 more chicks with them because they wont know how to eat without them. Is this the truth or is the store trying to get me to buy more chicks? Also i was planning on them being in same coop. Is this ok? or shall i make something for the seasonal turkeys?
Just a little curious as this is all so new to me. Thank you in advance. Tami

I don't know about the purchase ploy but Joel Salatin raises his turkeys with the chicks because, as he says, 'turkeys are dumb' and will starve themselves to death if they aren't shown where the food and water are; Hence the chickens teach the turkeys how to eat and drink.

To my knowledge, turkey are feed by their mother to start and taught to peck for food. Chickens naturally peck. I have always put tutor chicks in to hatch with my turkey. The chicks will naturally learn to find good, poults will learn from them

Thank you

funtobehome said:

Good evening, I'm new to byc. I have 16 chicks about 8 weeks old. Im expecting 2 turkey babies thursday and I was told i need to buy 2 more chicks with them because they wont know how to eat without them. Is this the truth or is the store trying to get me to buy more chicks? Also i was planning on them being in same coop. Is this ok? or shall i make something for the seasonal turkeys?
Just a little curious as this is all so new to me. Thank you in advance. Tami

Click to expand...

This is simply silly. Turkeys are exceptionally inquisitive, pecking at and tasting everything in their environment. You can make it easier for them to find the food in the food bowl (many chick feeders are red plastic, the red plastic is more attractive to them than the brownish crumble) by placing a tablespoon of crumble on a paper plate for the first few days. And for the water, put a couple of clean marbles in the water tray, they will go to peck at them and find the water.

I do often raise chicks with turkeys when I don't have many turkeys, as they are very social birds. But most of the time I will get the chicks after I find out how many turkeys hatch. I try to brood 4 or more at a time.

One true tale about baby turkeys is that they are more sensitive to the cold than chicks. I am not sure why, but if they get a chill they huddle and the smaller ones can be crushed.

You will not be able to put poults less than a week old together with 8 week old chickens. By the time they are 4 and 12 weeks old, and about the same size, you should be able to mix them.

For the ones who raise chicks and turkeys at the same time, can they live with each other until mature of only for the first few days until the chicks teach the turkeys how to peck?
Given that they hatch on the same day I mean.. not mixing different ages.

I have one adult tom turkey in a coop full of laying hens, one laying hen in a coop full of turkeys, 8 week old EE with 4 week old broilers, and chicks and poults from 0 - 4 weeks all together.

I never put freshly hatched babies of any kind with older birds, only with same age. But in a week or so, especially with turkeys, mixing is not usually an issue. The older chickens are smaller than the younger turkeys and don't assert themselves.

I have always read that it's a good idea to raise chickens with the turkeys to teach them but what WalnutHill said is true also, especially about the marbles - they will be attracted to the shiny objects. As long as your coop is big enough to house full grown turkeys and chickens you shouldn't have a problem if it is kept clean to avoid the chickens making the turkeys sick. We have some 2-3 month chickens house with our 2 broad breasted white turkeys in the turkey house (chicken coop is not built yet) and they live happily and sleep hundled up together in a big ball of birds, they are so cute!

Ah, thanks a lot for the answers

Good to know about shiny objects, I have 19 piercings lol. So they are like ostriches and emus, they are also attracted to shiny thing and often peck at my ears hehe.

Can'T wait to get them.. 10 days to go. I've never seen a little baby turkey.

goodb said:

I don't know about the purchase ploy but Joel Salatin raises his turkeys with the chicks because, as he says, 'turkeys are dumb' and will starve themselves to death if they aren't shown where the food and water are; Hence the chickens teach the turkeys how to eat and drink.

Click to expand...

Hey Joel-. turkeys arent dumb. They are very smart in my opinion.

-Turkenstein25

(sorry, i just had to. xD)