How many people keep turkeys and chickens together?

[DeannaOR]

I live in Oregon and have not been able to figure out how or if Blackhead is endemic in my area. I see turkeys and chickens together at many of the farms I pass everyday. So I am wondering how many people keep them together and how many people do not.
Will a de-worming schedule prevent it? Are there natural de-wormers out there for poultry?
We recently got a 2 year old turkey. He was living with chickens when I bought him. I'd like to get a couple chickens and I'm trying to decide on coop design..keeping them separate or together.

 

[ElizabethAz]

When I first got my Turkey I kept him in the coop with my chickens, and never noticed anything wrong (as far as illness goes)..however I have sinced moved him out. For a few reasons... 1) When his hen wasn't in the "mood" he would mount my chickens..that seems like all fun and games, but they were rather small hens..and he happened to crush two of them. 2) My New Hampshire roo wasn't about to give in, and accept being second to anyone. 3) The before mentioned Roo was loosing that battle 4) Where I live the temperatures can get quite toasty, and I like to run my birds 'lean' during the summer, it helps prevent heat stroke in my experience--keeping the birds seperate lets me monitor food intake 5) A LOT of people have advised against housing Turkeys and Chickens together for alot of good reasons..

Black Head being one of them--its a virus that is transmitted to the Turkeys through the chickens (chickens are often carriers, and carriers don't suffer from the illness its self). Also the Virus can remain in the soil for a very long time.. Black Head is to Turkeys like Parvo is to dogs.

You can house Turkeys and chickens together with ample amounts of space... the big guys need their space and will quickly assume their role at top of the pecking order. My grandparents, and many other people I know have let them free range together for years without any ill effects or disease..but just because someone has a good experience, and their Turkeys never got sick (as far as they could tell) doesn't mean everyon will have the same good fortune.

And from my personal experience with keeping these two types of birds together, I would say..keep them seperate if you can. Or seperate them when you can (if you have to make another seperate coop for the Trukeys) everyone will be alot happier in the long run.

 

[Jkioneil]

I keep mine together. We have a small backyard flock and only one turkey. When I first got my first turkey I kept them separate for the first few months. She was so lonely and so after much discussion on a forum here and at home we decided the benefits of her happiness out weighed the risk. Apparently black head is quite uncommon here.
She would have been devastated if she thought she was not part of the flock. We get one turkey each year for thanksgiving and integrate her to our girls. They must not have blackhead cuz we have never had an issue. They are such social creatures it just works for us. The turkey at our old house was not queen in the pecking order and followed the girls around wishing she could get into the fruit trees. We put a roost low near where the ladies roost outside and she loved it. I think she thought she was a chicken because she tried to lay her eggs in the nest boxes but she was too big and we had to make bigger nest boxes cuz she would kinda get stuck. It was pretty funny. At our new house our yard is even smaller so we just fenced off a section for the girls. Our new little lady (yet to be named) is already right at home. She has imprinted and screams at me when I leave the room. She is sleeping on my lap now. I always hope all my ladies are healthy and I keep the house clean and tidy for them. I think it is a personal decision that you have to make weighing the risks and benefits for yourself and doing research on blackhead in your area etc. For us it was the right decision For you? Only you will know.

 

[Jkioneil]

I live in oregon too

 

[DeannaOR]

Thank you both for your replies

The part about the tom trying to mate the chickens was one I hadn't thought of. We are looking for a hen for him, but haven't found one yet. He is so lonely. We don't have the chickens yet, so he is by himself.
We have a coop design that splits the coop, chickens on one side and turkeys on the other...with a run off each side..but I want to free range them at some point and would rather let them all together. All the lumber is sitting there and my guy is antsy to make a decision about the design of the coop. (I keep changing it!)

 

[Frosty]

Blackhead (histomoniasis) is a protozoan parasite, so yes a regular worming schedule will help. You want a wormer that will take care of cecal worms. It seems to be a bigger problem for folks in warmer climates like in the south.

I checked in another group that I belong to and a lady in OR wrote:

Poultry do not usually hatch with Blackhead; it is a complex life cycle organism
that is normally picked up from other birds via the droppings or from eating
earthworms. Last time I checked Blackhead had never been found in WA or OR, so
check with the Extension Service, the Ag school in Pullman or at the USDA web
site.

That being said, I over wintered my turkeys in with the chickens one winter because there wasn't electricity in the turkey building and the chickens have the heated fount for water. Everything was fine until the days were getting longer in the spring. I lost a few hens, when a turkeys tries to mount them it can end badly for the chicken. I don't think all turkeys do that, though. Last spring I threw some leghorn hens into the turkey coop. They were egg eaters and that was the only place I had to move them to. The turkeys either left them alone or the leghorns were quick to get out of the way.

 

[DeannaOR]

Blackhead (histomoniasis) is a protozoan parasite, so yes a regular worming schedule will help. You want a wormer that will take care of cecal worms. It seems to be a bigger problem for folks in warmer climates like in the south.

I checked in another group that I belong to and a lady in OR wrote:

Poultry do not usually hatch with Blackhead; it is a complex life cycle organism
that is normally picked up from other birds via the droppings or from eating
earthworms. Last time I checked Blackhead had never been found in WA or OR, so
check with the Extension Service, the Ag school in Pullman or at the USDA web
site.

That being said, I over wintered my turkeys in with the chickens one winter because there wasn't electricity in the turkey building and the chickens have the heated fount for water. Everything was fine until the days were getting longer in the spring. I lost a few hens, when a turkeys tries to mount them it can end badly for the chicken. I don't think all turkeys do that, though. Last spring I threw some leghorn hens into the turkey coop. They were egg eaters and that was the only place I had to move them to. The turkeys either left them alone or the leghorns were quick to get out of the way.

Thank you Frosty! Exactly the info I needed.

 

[DeannaOR]

Well, we decided to start the coop today =). We are keeping the overall size that we had decided on, but leaving it open for both chickens and turkeys. Later if we decide we want to separate, it will be super easy to divide it. We are putting an access door on both sides so we can move the run..or add one on the other side and alternate access for them. We leveled the ground, put down the floor and three sides....I have to find a door and a couple windows before he can frame out the front.
Looking for something vintage

I want it to be done before the Spring Poultry Swap so I can hopefully find a couple chickens to bring home.

Thank you all for your replies! I'm loving this site more every day.
DeAnna

 

[urban escapee]

I have my laying hens in a coop, and my turkeys are free ranging with the roo's that came with them. We have them out in our goat pasture with a "turkey tractor" for them to sleep in. So far so good, but this is my first go-round with turkeys.

 

[wolfie115]

We have them separate and together at our place. During the day all the birds are allowed to free range the yard they have a lot of space to roam so we usually don't have many problems then. Then at night the turkeys have a separate house from the chickens. =3 We used to have the turkeys in the coop at night but a lot of the chickens weren't roosting like they should have and we lost a few. Not sure if the turkeys killed them or what but since separating them we haven't had that problem.