BR dropped off in friend's yard. I want to take her but have questions

[rachel]

A bourbon red was just dropped off in someone's front yard and needs a new home. I'd like to be that new home, but I've never had turkeys and I have a few questions.

1. She would be with chickens and muscovies. I know about blackhead and also that people in my general area have been keeping chickens and turkeys together without incident. Realistically how concerned should I be about this?

2. I have a 4' X 8' quarantine pen, will this be large enough for her and how long should I keep her there?

3. I am in a residential neighborhood. There is a chain link fence between me and my neighbor, how loud will she be compared to my cackling hens?

4. Are there other things that could be problematic that I haven't listed? i.e. will she require a separate coop, or will she roost with the hens. Will she be happy with being the only turkey...?

 

[farmerlor]

First off, are you sure that's a girl??
Turkeys can be rather noisy when they're excited or startled and they tend to get excited about grass growing.
The size of your pen should be okay for a temporary place until you're satisfied (she?) is safe.
Keeping a turkey with other poultry is up to you. My turks stay with my other birds and a lot of people I know who keep birds keep them all together but there is the disease factor so you need to be on the lookout for that.

 

[rachel]

I suppose I'm not sure that's a girl. I thought it looked like a hen, but like I said, I'm brand new to turkeys. So you think she'd (?) be more noisy than the loud hens? Is this one of those things where when I walk out the back door (or my neighbor walks out his back door) I'm going to be greeted with loud turkey noises? I think the kind of purring noise they make is beautiful, but I don't really know much about the loud ones...

 

[Struttn1]

It looks like a hen to me. I don't see spurs or a beard and it's head looks identical to my BR hens head. I wish someone would drop an extra BR hen off in my yard. Are you sure she was dropped or perhaps she is nesting near you and was just taking a break from her nest.

 

[farmerlor]

Oh, you're right! It's a hen, I looked at her and misjudged her age and didn't even look at her legs. The purring noise is really wonderful but they also have a loud "wheat, wheat, chirp" sound that they make when they're looking for something or alarmed or think they're lost or need you for something. It's a little more shrill but I don't know that it's necessarily louder than the chickens when they really get going.

 

[rachel]

She was dropped off, there aren't many BR's nesting in Phoenix.

The house she was dropped off at is sort of desert-y, my guess is that someone got chicks, thinking she was a chicken and then realized it was a turkey and just unloaded her "in the country" (which is not in any way out in the country...) She's been at this lady's house for a week, no one has come looking for her.

It just seems like such a great opportunity. I love turkeys, a free awesome and friendly hen gets plopped into someone's yard. If I take it I'm just worried about my neighbor really because our pen is about 40 feet from the next door neighbor's house. They don't seem to mind the hens though, I just don't know if that's a fair noise-level comparison.

Also, when introducing a turkey to 9 hens and 2 ducks, is that going to be as brutal as it would be if she were a chicken, or will she pick on the others etc...

 

[rachel]

So, I may have convinced my husband that we need a turkey... how long should I quarantine her? If I clip her wings will she still be able to fly over the fence (the lowest one is about 5 feet)?

 

[Chickfever]

I usually quarantine for about a month but if I'm pressed for space, it's been 2 weeks. As far as the noise level, I don't think my turkey hens are any louder than my chickens. Can't help about the wing clipping, I didn't clip mine and wouldn't know how far they could fly.

My one hen is a pushover. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's a chicken too.....she lays her eggs in the chicken nest boxes, she roosts with the chickens, and she stays with the chickens instead of coming out to play with the other 3 turkeys

. The other 2 hens we just got a couple of weeks ago, now they pick on my chickens and on the other turkey hen. They are about 2-3 times her size.

As far as the diseases, it's a chance I took. I knew it was a possibility but since the chickens roam everywhere here, there's really nowhere I could have put my turkeys that chickens had never been on.

Good luck if you decide to get her! We have 3 really friendly turkeys that knock the kids down when they go out because they want to be petted

.

 

[rachel]

Well, some sad news, I found out today that a bobcat got into the coop last night and killed all of this ladies chickens and the turkey I was going to pick up this weekend. Now I'm really sad and I have no turkey.

I'm thinking about finding some eggs and incubating my own.

 

[Chickfever]

So sorry to hear this

. Good luck if you decide to hatch your own.