Guineas and turkeys

[CMYates]

Can I raise guineas and turkeys in the same coop and run? About twenty guineas and five turkeys.

 

[PeepsCA]

I have raised Guineas and Turkeys together without any issues (2 separate flocks: 3 poults with a flock of keets, and 4 poults with a flock of keets. All are grown now)... but they were hatched, brooded and raised together from the start. If your birds are all young they should all mix fine and grow up fine together, but if they are older and not used to each other already then I'd separate them by wire for a while (divide the coop in half maybe?) so they can see and be near each other but not get to each other or fight, and then I'd wait until you see no signs of aggression from any of them before integrating them all together. Might take a few days, might take a few weeks or more. Once they've been integrated, free ranging them as much as possible will let the Guineas burn off their extra energy and that should help keep the peace.

I recently integrated a new young Tom in with an established flock of Guineas and 1 Turkey Hen... and several of the Guinea Hens in that flock do not like the Tom at all, ol biddies!

. The male Guineas and the Turkey Hen are fine with him, but those few Guinea Hens just will not leave that poor guy alone unless he's up on the roosts. Luckily for him he's agile enough and smart enough to get up on the roosts and get away from their aggression any time they harass him. (They all sleep on the roosts next to him tho, lol). I leave the Tom in the pen/coop when I let rest of the flock out to free range during the day so he can have a break from constantly being harassed and being on the defensive (plus I worry the cranky Guinea Hens will force him to fly off still at this point).

I love having Turkeys integrated in with my Guineas tho, they are the skywatchers of the flocks.

 

[elsfieldchickens]

 

[CMYates]

Thank you. My guineas use a pop hole with an automatic door and are outside free ranging everyday. I'm thinking that opening won't be big enough for a full-grown turkey so I have to think about how the tom would come and go. I'm not able to open and close the door everyday.