Is raising turkeys much different than raising chickens?

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Kuntrygirl -- I've been reading your posts for over a year now, about turks and other birds. You may not be a professional, but you always have great advice.

Don't sell yourself short, and thanks for always helping everyone out.

You are very welcome.

That is so nice of you to say. I really appreciate that. Thank you for the vote of confidence.

 

[SAHMof2]

I also keep my turkeys and chickens together but soon, very soon they won't be able to get in and out of the coop. Their first run is ultra secure so I was thinking they'd roost out/in there for the night since they don't fit. Does anyone have clever ideas on how to accomidate a turkeys girth getting in and out of the chicken house? I'd rather not cut a huge hole.

Thanks for the tip about the pallet. I love these turkeys!

 

[rfwombat]

You can house turkeys with chickens as long as you are not over-crowded and keep everything clean and the bedding turned over so it's always fresh. Turkeys just need more room for roosting and ranging than the chickens.

On our farm we have a separate turkey house from the chickens and free range everyone together during the days. We have several cat/dog crates and small dog houses that we use as turkey/duck nest boxes. To encourage the turkey hens to lay eggs where I want them to, we keep the turkeys confined until all the hens have laid an egg in the "turkey area" and then we leave at least 2 eggs in the nests so they don't forget where to lay.

If we want them to brood the eggs, we leave all eggs in the nest and once they reach about 20 eggs someone will go broody and set them. Once a turkey goes broody, she needs to be isolated from the other turkeys. We do this by moving her (dog house and all) to a separate 4'x5' brooder pen within our turkey house. Turkeys are social layers and if you don't isolate the broody hen, the other hens will continue to lay in the occupied nest. Those eggs won't get the proper brood time and the activity of the other hens will upset the broody and possibly break her eggs.

The only real difference between turkeys and chickens (other than the obvious size difference) is in temperament. Turkeys are lovable troublemakers! They want to follow you everywhere, will always get into everything you don't want them to, and will always end up where you don't think they can get to (like the roof of your house/barn). They are incredibly curious and have to investigate everything and will always be the ones to knock down your garden fences and trample your plants. Your fences have to be good and at least 5' high! And clip their wings to keep them (sort of) grounded. They can still fly, but not as well. But they are very sweet and clownish which makes up for the extra trouble (most of the time)

Keeping turkeys social/friendly is easy. Since they are so curious, they will want to socialize with you (Palms and Palm crosses do tend to be more stand-offish though and do not like to be handled as much as other breeds so they will need extra attention). We handle our birds from hatch to table every day. We pick them up as often as possible. We don't hold them or cuddle them, we just pick them for a few seconds to a minute at a time to get them used to being handled. We also hand feed them so they associate us with treats. Although this makes them want to peck at your clothes and your hands when you're not feeding them, so be prepared for that. But we feel like friendly birds makes up for the occasional pecked finger.

Once they are larger, around 16 weeks, the hugging starts. It sounds stupid, but this is very important, especially for the jakes (young toms). Hugging them keeps them from becoming aggressive towards you and other people. The act of bending over them and putting your arms around them and hugging them to hold them in place for a minute at a time lets them know that you are the alpha animal on the farm. They need to know that humans are bigger and stronger than they are and hugging is the best way I've found to get that message across in a non-threatening way. I've been raising turkeys now for several years and never had an aggressive tom.

Toms will get aggressive with each other. Most often when one Tom is mounting a hen, another Tom will come and knock him off or try to mount the hen at the same time. Because of this, it's better to keep your Toms separate if you can. Let one free range while the other is locked up and switch them out every other day. They will also fight to determine who is the dominate Tom. But these fights usually aren't too bad. It's more concerning when two Toms try to mount a hen at the same time, which is why we just keep one breeding Tom at a time.

Turkeys do have a shorter laying season than chickens, but it's broodiness that limits turkey eggs in my experience. I have one turkey who has brooded 3 clutches so far this year with her first in February. But we live in an area with mild winters and no snow so climate may be the determining factor for the laying season.

 

[SAHMof2]

I very much enjoyed reading that. Thank you so much!

 

[JayneMae]

great info!

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

Most turkeys are incredibly friendly. Just after daylight, 4 hens almost took my wifes head off as she walked across the yard leaving for work. They have been roosting 40 foot up a big pine and I figure they saw her as the morning feed thrower LOL! No sooner then she calmed down from the kamakazi turkeys, the ducks came flying in, with the lead mallard landing at knee level about taking her off her feet! That comotion got everyone else awake and the 40 some chickens all but trampled her! By the time I stopped laughing and got a feed bucket to rescue her...she was late for work and covered in grass, muck and very wet from the birds!

Hopefully some of your questions can be answered from that......becareful of what you wish for haha!

 

[JayneMae]

~computer error, double post~

 

[Cochin378]

I have thought about raising turkeys recently and everything I have read says don't have the turkeys with chickens because the chickens give the turkeys blackhead. How big is the blackhead problem and how can I tell if my chickens have it?
When turkeys get older do they become immune to most maladies?

Also if I took a turkey to a show would they pick up all sorts of things from the chickens right next to them? Furthermore, If I got turkeys what should I vaccinate them against?

 

[P-Funk]

These wild turkeys refuse to leave the ranch. Perhaps it's because they have an unlimited supply of 'meat bird' food. They sleep WAY up in the trees, so predators aren't an issue. They don't serve any purpose, it's just nice to have them around. However they can carry diseases that can be spread to chickens, so they stay apart.

 

[Delaney Birds]

This is great information. We have seven 5 mo old turkeys, that we bought as poults (mixed heritage breeds) in with our chickens now. We're going to build a hoop house coop/run for them this fall to give them more room and get them to nest.

Thanks for the info, I look forward to reading more!