mingling turkey poults with chicks

[rainbowhorse3]

i have been hatching out a ton of chicks of various breeds. now i have 16 turkey eggs in the bator. how bad is it to have the poults around the chicks once they hatch. i have heard that the poults will get sick and die if they're around the chicks. i have also heard that it won't bother them at all. any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

before i got the eggs i was all sorts of excited about hatching turkey eggs for my first time ever, but now i'm really nervous.

 

[Alas]

I've heard good and bad also. I got my turkeys at the same time as my chickens. I kept them penned together until they were old enough to free range and they still hang together a year later. I also have 4 dwarf goats that hang around them and even sleep in the coop. I havent had any problems with any of my animals. I guess it just depends on if any of them had any sicknesses to begin with.

 

[rainbowhorse3]

i feel so much better hearing that. i have a friend that raised her turkeys with her chickens and they were all fine, however hers are all completely free ranged. no real coop to speak of. they mostly roosted in with her goats at night. she unfortunately just lost all of her turkeys to a dog. she had the one for about 2 years and the rest of them for about a year. very sad.....i've heard that it's good to hatch some chicks out with the turkeys, so the chicks can teach the turkeys that they need to eat and drink after they hatch. is that a good idea? if so, i'm going to throw some chicken eggs in with them on day 7 of their incubation.
thank you so much for your input!

 

[Shad]

We ALWAYS and intentionally hatch chicks with turkeys and leave them together (though all of the eggs come from the our two farms so diseases are not a concern) the chicks save us the trouble of teaching the poults what to eat. There are a few diseased that can be carried over through an egg... but typically the disease will be picked up in the birds environment. The dreaded disease of concern is blackhead, familiarize yourself with it and talk to people in your area to find out their experience with it (these people won't have any turkeys but they had some once) We make sure that we accommodate the turkeys in every aspect of the incubating hatching brooding etc the chicks always flourish. If the eggs are coming from two different locations, and they are not certified, I would observe the flock from which the eggs came from and discuss the health history of the birds. Best situation is that all of your eggs come from the same repitable source that fancies the breeds and culls accordingly one who is actually a breeder and prides themselves in it, also identify the pourpose of the source of your eggs, if the pourpose is simply to make and sell eggs, you will simply get eggs (think hatchery style), if the source is a breeder, you will get a breed (of course if all you want is eggs...)... Once again, I cannot stress enough about knowing the source of your eggs.

 

[PotterWatch]

How do you feed when you have turkeys and chicks together? I am getting 30 meat chicks and 6 turkey poults in May and plan to brood and tractor them together (until the meaties are gone of course). I know turkey poults require more protein but I don't know how to get high enough protein for the poults and still have it be low enough for the chicks. Is there a happy medium I can feed to everyone?

 

[syble]

i didnt know you could over load chicks? when i asked assorted breeders earlier (as i have some beltsville whites due with some chickens, they said to have everyone eat turkey starter, that it wouldnt hurt the chicks? But now you've got me wondering..
Sib

 

[rainbowhorse3]

i am very curious to know how the feeding goes too, when you have poults and chicks together. i was thinking that i was going to give the turkeys the non medicated chick starter, just like the chicks.

 

[rainbowhorse3]

Quote:
thanks a bunch!!

i am going to try to get some chicken eggs in the bator on day 7 of my turkeys incubation period. i hope all goes well. most of my chicken eggs came from just people that raise chickens in their backyard. the rest of them came from i believe a breeder.......maybe. i am not 100% sure. the diseases scare me. once it hits one bird, its rather difficult to keep it from the rest of them.

 

[Renee']

Quote:
Last June I raised 8 poults and 10 chicks together. I would mix one bag of medicated chick starter with one bag of game bird starter (50# each). I think I did this twice then I stopped the medicated feed and everyone got the higher protein turkey feed. They are all healthy and doing well today.

 

[rainbowhorse3]

Renee' :

Quote:
Last June I raised 8 poults and 10 chicks together. I would mix one bag of medicated chick starter with one bag of game bird starter (50# each). I think I did this twice then I stopped the medicated feed and everyone got the higher protein turkey feed. They are all healthy and doing well today.

that is what i will do then. at least that way, they are all getting some of what they need. thanks for the input. i've hatched out tons of chickens, but never turkeys. this is my first time with the turkeys.​