Can I use a chicken to raise turkey poults?

[Solanacae]

I’m wanting to get 2-3 turkey poults next year. I routinely get a couple of chicken hens that will go broody each spring. I still need to check my county extension office to find out if blackhead is an issue around here, but could I use a broody chicken to graft the poults onto and save myself the hassle/mess of managing a brooder? I’m not concerned about my broody, she’s a great mama and has accepted week old chicks before. If one of my two hens aren’t broody when I get the poults, then I’m prepared to use a brooder, but having a hen do the work is so nice.

 

[R2elk]

I’m wanting to get 2-3 turkey poults next year. I routinely get a couple of chicken hens that will go broody each spring. I still need to check my county extension office to find out if blackhead is an issue around here, but could I use a broody chicken to graft the poults onto and save myself the hassle/mess of managing a brooder? I’m not concerned about my broody, she’s a great mama and has accepted week old chicks before. If one of my two hens aren’t broody when I get the poults, then I’m prepared to use a brooder, but having a hen do the work is so nice.

I don't recommend it because of the problems that can be caused by imprinting. When I was first starting with turkeys I let a banty hen hatch and raise a Bourbon Red poult. It can be done. Provide the poults and the hen the same high protein feed that poults need.

 

[R2elk]

What sorts of problems with imprinting?

Poults imprint very easily. Once they are grown up they have lost the ability to understand that whatever they were imprinted by is not the same as them. Because of this they will treat in this case, chickens the same as they would other turkeys. Because of the size difference and their tenacity, this can end up badly for the chickens.

Once a turkey gets an idea in its mind, it will not stop until it completes what it is trying to do.

 

[R2elk]

I’ve done it-View attachment 2910461View attachment 2910463

So have I and I will never do it again.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

I’ve done it-View attachment 2910461View attachment 2910463

I hatched one egg under one of my broodies because we had a power outage. She was the only egg that survived the trip here, so she was the only one that got put under the hen. We also ordered 15 poults from a hatchery (because that was the minimum number) for her to live with. The poults came before she hatched, so once she was ready to leave her mom, she joined them. They are almost 6 months old now. (We had to get rid of the other 11) She is the one all the way to the right-

 

[R2elk]

I hatched one egg under one of my broodies because we had a power outage. She was the only egg that survived the trip here, so she was the only one that got put under the hen. We also ordered 15 poults from a hatchery (because that was the minimum number) for her to live with. The poults came before she hatched, so once she was ready to leave her mom, she joined them. They are almost 6 months old now. (We had to get rid of the other 11) She is the one all the way to the right-View attachment 2910468

There is nothing wrong with using a broody chicken to hatch turkey eggs. When I was doing it, as soon as the poults were dry, I would immediately move them to the brooder.

 

[R2elk]

Turkeys can attack humans, no matter who imprinted on them. They are a lot like roosters in that regard. I think you can avoid it by only breeding docile turkeys, but I don't know if any breeders select for nice turkeys.

Disposition is just one of the parameters that reputable breeders select for in their breeding stock.

I also do not imprint my chickens. None of my roosters have ever been human aggressive.

I have family on the east coast and their neighborhood is terrorized by wild turkeys who will attack people. The wild turkeys were not imprinted on humans as poults.

You do realize that this is learned behavior due to years if not decades of irresponsible interaction between the people and the turkeys. First a few turkeys show up. The people are thrilled and start feeding them and doing their best to make the turkeys comfortable with them. Once the turkey population starts exploding to lack of any predator control and have become accustomed to the free hand outs their leavings are not appreciated.

People start trying to chase them away while others keep feeding sending conflicting messages. Then the turkeys also get to deal with the people who are terrified of them and start running from them. Once the flock has learned the bad behavior it quickly teaches all the new poults the same behavior.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

I’m wanting to get 2-3 turkey poults next year. I routinely get a couple of chicken hens that will go broody each spring. I still need to check my county extension office to find out if blackhead is an issue around here, but could I use a broody chicken to graft the poults onto and save myself the hassle/mess of managing a brooder? I’m not concerned about my broody, she’s a great mama and has accepted week old chicks before. If one of my two hens aren’t broody when I get the poults, then I’m prepared to use a brooder, but having a hen do the work is so nice.

I've never done it but @JustBabyMargo did.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

I’ve done it-

 

[JustBabyMargo]

So have I and I will never do it again.

It was a sweet experience. Her mama was a very good one, so she didn’t mind that the poult looked different. The turkey adapted to the other turkeys fine also. She was raised in a cage underneath all the other poults, so she saw them a lot and liked to hang out with them. I’m not sure how the OP’s situation would go though because I didn’t raise all of the turkeys under hens...

Yeah, I did it to save her life. If the incubator would have worked and she would have hatched fine in there, she would have been raised with the others right of the bat. Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to.