Cochin Thread!!!

[cabinchicky]

I did not know turkeys go crazy with chickens. Thank you for sharing.Will need ti break the news ti hubby, he wants turkeys. So he will need to decide if he wants ti enclose more coop and run for turkey or not. lolol

 

[CliffB]

That's why I always advise people not to keep turkeys with their chickens, I had a pair of toms kill a rooster and my present turkeys will chase and harass the chickens. Turkeys can be really deadly to chickens once they start focusing on them. Hope you chicken heals up, birds can heal from some pretty nasty wounds.

I raised 3 poults and 4 showgirls from chicks hoping that would help with the turkey socializing. I ended up with two toms and a hen so we had the toms for thanksgiving and were going to keep the hen so our basket would have duck, chicken and turkey eggs. I am thinking it's possible it could have just happened because she has been in distress the last week trying to figure out how to lay her first egg. Maybe I could send in my story for an episode of Snapped.

 

[CliffB]

I did not know turkeys go crazy with chickens. Thank you for sharing.Will need ti break the news ti hubby, he wants turkeys. So he will need to decide if he wants ti enclose more coop and run for turkey or not. lolol

That's my problem. I live in a neighborhood and was trying to enjoy a mixed flock. If we had more land I would just run grab supplied for a new coop and run for the turkey.

 

[Shadow920]

i had a young turkey. she didn't cause any problems. she just died all of a sudden. i'm don't know why. she wasn't even full grown. it was two years ago. this was her. i only had two roosters at the time nothing else. her name was Daisy.

she was a stray from our neighbor's flock who wandered into our yard. our neighbor didn't take very good care of his birds. i ended up with two red star hens. one was so skinny her breast bone was like a blade and her belly feathers were matted to the skin. the other one didn't look as bad. but the skinny one had just started gaining her weight back and probably would've started laying for me that Spring when my dogs got in the coop and killed them both.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's the thing with turkeys, some are fine, some are not, turkeys are fickled emotionally, and the size difference means the chicken will always lose. I don't have to worry about it, my goofy turkeys have their own shed and large run and can only cause trouble under supervised outings. When turkeys are raised with chickens they become confused, as far as what species they are.

Once again as I give this warning, everything is fine until it happens to you. Just sharing my experiences to help others understand that it can be a problem.

 

[WVduckchick]

Wow! I never had a problem with my turkey hen with my chickens, but I got rid of her when she was around 9 months old.

But I will definitely keep all that in mind!

 

[CliffB]

Well there's good news and bad news. Just went out to the coop and my largest bird a frizzled turken X broiler was laying there dead. A little blood on her head but clearly a victim of a fight. Strange thing is the turkey has been in quarantine and the coop was locked up. The only other birds are significantly smaller and all have been around a while without incident. I hate to keep losing birds but I have no idea who it is.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sometimes birds peck at dead or dying birds, is it possible that's what happened?

 

[Shadow920]

Well there's good news and bad news. Just went out to the coop and my largest bird a frizzled turken X broiler was laying there dead. A little blood on her head but clearly a victim of a fight. Strange thing is the turkey has been in quarantine and the coop was locked up. The only other birds are significantly smaller and all have been around a while without incident. I hate to keep losing birds but I have no idea who it is.

i usually sit and watch for awhile. the bully usually can't resist pecking if someone gets too close.

 

[CliffB]

i usually sit and watch for awhile. the bully usually can't resist pecking if someone gets too close.

Thus my confusion. All of our birds have great tempers and no one is a bully.