mixing turkeys with other animals

[dida4rn]

so I have been reading a lot of really interesting posts about turkeys etc... I am wondering if male turkeys and male ducks would fight? also right now my chickens, all female and my ducks, 1 male all live together with 3 male rabbits. would my turkeys have to be separated?

 

[chooks4life]

You can't guarantee that they will or won't fight without giving them the chance to do so, which needless to say is a risk. As a general rule of thumb, if the place you get them from kept them separate from other species, chances are they will not mingle well. Also, your own animals have never seen turkeys I take it; they too may not mingle well. Before getting turkeys, if I were you, I would make sure I had sufficient quarters ready to permanently separate them, if necessary. They would go into these quarters anyway to gradually acclimate to their new flockmates/habitat etc, and if they showed any signs of aggression from the other side of the fence, I wouldn't bother introducing them. I'd take their word for it, lol. Some turkeys mingle fine but others can be killers, and sometimes turkeys that originally mingled fine will turn without warning.

Best wishes.

 

[dida4rn]

thankyou for your advace! I will make a separate area for them

 

[Llamaguy]

I don't think my ducks and turkeys really care about each other. Every once and awhile I'll see a duck or goose chance someone, but the turkeys have only had any sort of aggression toward each other while deciding who's the biggest tom. A duck isn't really going to hurt a turkey with its bill and they certainly are going to kick them like a turkey or rooster could. The 20lb turkeys of course can always fly up on a roost if they were somehow getting picked on by a 5lb duck.

 

[dida4rn]

thankyou for your input...do you think my male rabbits would still be ok if I add turkeys to the group of chickens , ducks and rabbits????

 

[chooks4life]

I don't think my ducks and turkeys really care about each other. Every once and awhile I'll see a duck or goose chance someone, but the turkeys have only had any sort of aggression toward each other while deciding who's the biggest tom. A duck isn't really going to hurt a turkey with its bill and they certainly are going to kick them like a turkey or rooster could. The 20lb turkeys of course can always fly up on a roost if they were somehow getting picked on by a 5lb duck.

Sounds like you have some pretty stable turkeys.

In my experience with waterfowl and turkeys, and in my family's experience, ducks and geese can do sufficient damage through biting and tearing and wing-flogging to match a turkey or rooster, though the duck would be a likely loser.

I don't know if your turkeys flee from fights, but I've only rarely seen mine turn tail from a fight, certainly they would prefer to fight to the death than make a rational decision to escape. Surprise, surprise, I no longer have turkeys, nor waterfowl, lol. Too much trouble at the moment. But one day in future I hope to get more, when I have a better setup and can access lines not known for aggression.

thankyou for your input...do you think my male rabbits would still be ok if I add turkeys to the group of chickens , ducks and rabbits????

So, to try to understand your meaning... You already have rabbits, chooks, and ducks together, and now want to add turkeys, but are concerned about male rabbits being attacked or something?

Best wishes.

 

[dida4rn]

yes exactly. I have 1 male duck, 3 female ducks,15 hens and 3 male angora rabbits who all live pretty well together. I wondered if male turkeys or any turkeys for that matter would disrupt the harmony???...thanks

 

[chooks4life]

yes exactly. I have 1 male duck, 3 female ducks,15 hens and 3 male angora rabbits who all live pretty well together. I wondered if male turkeys or any turkeys for that matter would disrupt the harmony???...thanks

Ah, I see. Well, when you get good turkeys, they're nice and no trouble at all. Bad ones are trouble. As with any species, the bad apples spoil the bunch.

So whether or not they will disrupt the harmony depends mostly on their temperaments, which is largely inherited. So, you kinda play the lottery there.

I'd have a cage on hand to separate them into if necessary, personally. If they begin hounding an animal around the cage, almost as a rule, they will not stop. Turkeys seem very prone to turning without warning, and once they turn, they don't turn back; they are also prone to gang-bashing, and one angry turkey can get the rest of them to join in. Once they join in or become obsessed with attacking, they often just don't stop till the victim is dead.

It's also a danger with having any animal that picks fights with turkeys, it can trigger violence in once-nice turkeys. Turkeys that have been attacked by roosters often view all roosters as threats and remain on the warpath constantly thereafter.

If your rabbits are white, or if any of your ducks are white, and the turkeys you get are white, quite often they will see them as mates. The stupider turkeys will mount dead white chickens or other white non-breedable items, and persist with trying to mate hours after it should have become abundantly apparent that mating will not occur. The same is true for some black turkeys and black animals.

I've had both good whites and bad whites, and good blacks and bad blacks, and I don't care what color it is anymore, I will not keep a bad animal. I used to tolerate the whites for culinary purposes but found the blacks taste better anyway.

Best wishes.