My turkeys runneth over! Advice, please

[Shaun]

After 2 1/2 summers of no baby turkeys, we are now running out of room!

We have 7 adult turkeys, soon to be 6, as one Tom will be Thanksgiving dinner. We finally, nerve-rackingly,

successfully hatched some turkey eggs after a three year run of bad luck about a month ago. So we have 7 one month old turkeys. About a week after we hatched these, our oldest Blue Slate hen decided to sit herself a clutch of eggs (an even dozen) and we suppose at least some of them will hatch later this week as she's been tight on the nest. Sooo, I'm running out of room! How big do younger turkeys need to be before they can be added to an existing flock in a barn? Do I need to segregate the Toms when I add the little ones, will they try to kill the younger Toms?

Can the ones protected by a Mama go in earlier than ones from an incubator?
If any of you have experience with this, I sure would appreciate your advice.

 

[Dogfish]

I acclimated my youngsters to the flock in a separation pen for a week and released them with the rest about 2 weeks after they had feathered out. No issues, but YMMV.

 

[Denninmi]

I can't answer your questions, as I only have my six I hatched on Memorial Day, but I just wanted to say how glad I am for you. I read your various threads over the summer about your trouble with hatching turkeys, and then your hatching thread, and I'm glad to hear how well the turkey flock is doing now.

FWIW, I integrated my 6 new chickens with my 3 two year old hens. I put the new ones in a small pen inside the chicken run for a few days so they could see each other, then I finally opened the door. It was a little rough at first, with the old ones definitely showing the young ones who's the boss, but they all seem to be getting along pretty well now, as long as the teens give their elders respect when it comes to the feed and water. When I am passing out the treats/goodies, I make sure that there is so much of it that no one has to fight over anything. Maybe that would help with the turkeys, make sure there is extra food and water around and give them a lot of treats to occupy them for a few days so they don't fight.

When I integrated my 4 older ducks with 5 teens earlier this summer, it was pretty much the same, and for about a week or two the young ones and old wouldn't mix. Now, everyone gets along fine.