chicken bullies?

[mamamage]

hello! i have my flock of chickens who are three months old, and i also have two baby turkeys who are one month old. the baby turkeys have been in a mini run and coop inside of my HUGE run with my chickens for the past week and a half. im wondering about when i can let the baby turkeys out and live with my flock! i know this may be a question for the turkey threads, but im asking you chicken veterans what you think about the big chicken attitudes towards the babies, do you think they will still bully them and try to hurt them? i do have roosters and i worry about the one month olds being able to defend themselves! the one month old turkeys are about half the size of my chickens..should i just wait until theyre about the same size? maybe even wait until theyre bigger than the chickens? thanks so much in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Like numbers and like sizes are the best technique.
With only 2 poults and being half the size, I would wait.

 

[aart]

Do you have other chickens too?
Would love to see pics of your set up, it sounds great.

Some tips to keep in mind:
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

 

[mamamage]

Do you have other chickens too?
Would love to see pics of your set up, it sounds great.

Some tips to keep in mind:
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

awesome!! thanks so much for this reply. all i have are my 11 three month old chickens and these 2 baby bronze turkeys. i don't have a good pic of my setup yet, we just got this thing finished and i want to get it looking good and tidy before i share haha! but if you can imagine, a 9foot wide by 22foot long by 8foot tall run...with a coop inside on stilts..then we have the turkey run inside there too, it's about 3 and a half foot wide by about 5 feet long by about 2 and a half feet tall! if you have instagram, you can see everything there! my instagram name is "life_withchickens"

 

[aart]

The video shows it well.
That's a great run!
And it look plenty tidy for pics.
Tho I think you're gonna need a bigger coop.

 

[mamamage]

The video shows it well.
That's a great run!
And it look plenty tidy for pics.
Tho I think you're gonna need a bigger coop.

oh my goodness i know that red coop will eventually become our "nesting coop" hopefully..just for laying or broody mama's. we're gonna either build or buy a coop and put it outside the whole run on the back side!

 

[aart]

we're gonna either build or buy a coop and put it outside the whole run on the back side!

That sounds great...I'm sure you'll do a splendid job of it.
Everything you've built there so far is excellent.

The little red coop could come in very handy in the future for all kinds of 'isolation' scenarios.

 

[mamamage]

That sounds great...I'm sure you'll do a splendid job of it.
Everything you've built there so far is excellent.

The little red coop could come in very handy in the future for all kinds of 'isolation' scenarios.

aww thanks so much for the feedback! that means so much to us, we worked so darn hard on this stuff