starting guineas and turkeys together

[fowlin]

would it be a bad idea to add a couple turkeys in with a brood of guinea keets? or should i keep them separated? if so when can I get them together im hoping that a couple turkeys will ground the flock a little. or will i just end up with a bunch of confused birds?

 

[PeepsCA]

Hi Fowlin, I just now saw this post, figured I'd reply since no one else has.

I have just one experience so far raising Turkey poults with keets... All went well until the Guineas reached maturity, then I had to sell most of the males from that little flock because they were hanging from the Turkeys' tail feathers most of the time, lol (it's ok tho, I had too many male anyway!). Never any bloodshed, or death, just chasing and feather pulling, and a lot of tension at feeding time, even with 3 feeders. I finally found the happy medium and achieved peace with only 2 male Guineas, 10 Hens and the 3 Turkeys being housed together. I recently relocated the Turkeys up hill to my goat pasture to free range full time tho, and they get along fine with my breeding flock of Guineas up there. I knew the Turkeys would steer clear of the Guineas if they got cranky, but when I let everybody up there out to free range, nobody even looked sideways at each other and just started browsing for seeds weeds and bugs

I was warned by a friend of mine that Turkeys are really susceptible to the disease Black Head, they can catch it from Guineas, other poultry, and even wild birds. And that is why (in some peoples' opinion) Turkeys should be housed alone. You may want to do some research on it.

Good luck if you decide to raise keets and poults together! Hope it works out fine for you, like it did for me!

 

[fowlin]

ive read a little on black head. was hoping plenty of room and management could help. but i know at this point i know nothing. I have considered two houses with one run, but that probably would not really be separation? especially since the coop is a converted out building and both coops would be under the same roof. we plan to let them free range in the afternoons so I think this year we just get a few turkeys see what happens and then maybe next year we can afford to go bird brained and get a real flock and build a second run and coop.