Thinking of adding a couple turkey's

[Driley62]

Hello all,

Next year I'm thinking of adding a couple heritage breed turkeys to my all chicken(mixed breed) flock. 3 to start with as two will be breeding pair and the third will end up being a holiday meal as I love the idea of knowing exactly what my food was fed and how it was raised.

My first thought that came to mind was can they roost in the same house and what size door opening do they need? I believe my current door is 12x12. I've heard of turkeys and chicken living together just fine in many occasions but my neighbor suggested to keep them separate. Anyone give me any input on all this?
Also what's everyone's favorite heritage breed. I like so many of the heritage breeds. So far I think the bourbon red(?) I'd my favorite between the patterning and coloring.

 

[R2elk]

Hello all,

Next year I'm thinking of adding a couple heritage breed turkeys to my all chicken(mixed breed) flock. 3 to start with as two will be breeding pair and the third will end up being a holiday meal as I love the idea of knowing exactly what my food was fed and how it was raised.

My first thought that came to mind was can they roost in the same house and what size door opening do they need? I believe my current door is 12x12. I've heard of turkeys and chicken living together just fine in many occasions but my neighbor suggested to keep them separate. Anyone give me any input on all this?
Also what's everyone's favorite heritage breed. I like so many of the heritage breeds. So far I think the bourbon red(?) I'd my favorite between the patterning and coloring.

I do not recommend keeping a breeding pair. I try to keep at least 4 to 5 hens for one tom. It makes life much easier on the hens to not be the tom's only target.

Turkeys need much more personal space than chickens need.

If Blackhead is a problem in your area, adding turkeys to a chicken flock can be a death sentence to the turkeys. If Blackhead is not a problem, chickens and turkeys can be kept in the same area but there are other reasons to not keep turkeys and chickens together. Turkeys are bigger and can be harmful to chickens if trying to keep them in a small area like you can get away with for chickens.

The breed is Turkey. You can check out many of the different heritage varieties at Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys.

 

[Driley62]

I know a few people in my area in the area that have a mixed flock and they're legitimate free range without fences. I however am not comfortable with that as I lost birds to predators in the past. But I have a protected run space of over 500 square feet figuring that would be optimal space needed for the entire flock. I thought at first about broad breastfed whites...the meat birds of the turkey world. But I'd rather have a breed that could breed and sustain on its own to reduce obvious costs.

I suppose I could turn it into a side biz and butcher and sell off say 2 of the 6(keep 2 butchered myself and let the other pair raise the poults. But as far as space I don't want to overpack their run. We currently have 20 chickens with a 6x8 main coop, a 4x6 quarantine house with over 500 sqft. The original section is 10x10 then I added 82' worth of electrified netting to one side(not square so square footage is hard to estimate) but to take it and make it properly square adds 420sqft.

For me more or less I just like turkeys and don't want a huge flock of them so I'm more looking into the idea if I can get away with even say 3 to 4(state minimum sale is 6 but I know ways around that especially Iif they're gifted which I was offered gifted turkey poults but reluctantly declined.)

 

[R2elk]

I know a few people in my area in the area that have a mixed flock and they're legitimate free range without fences. I however am not comfortable with that as I lost birds to predators in the past. But I have a protected run space of over 500 square feet figuring that would be optimal space needed for the entire flock. I thought at first about broad breastfed whites...the meat birds of the turkey world. But I'd rather have a breed that could breed and sustain on its own to reduce obvious costs.

I suppose I could turn it into a side biz and butcher and sell off say 2 of the 6(keep 2 butchered myself and let the other pair raise the poults. But as far as space I don't want to overpack their run. We currently have 20 chickens with a 6x8 main coop, a 4x6 quarantine house with over 500 sqft. The original section is 10x10 then I added 82' worth of electrified netting to one side(not square so square footage is hard to estimate) but to take it and make it properly square adds 420sqft.

For me more or less I just like turkeys and don't want a huge flock of them so I'm more looking into the idea if I can get away with even say 3 to 4(state minimum sale is 6 but I know ways around that especially Iif they're gifted which I was offered gifted turkey poults but reluctantly declined.)

Twenty chickens in a 6' x 8' coop does not leave any extra space for turkeys. My adult turkeys roost outside. The run that has around 20 chickens and 6 adult turkeys is 50' x 100' (5,000 sq. ft.) and is currently a little on the crowded side since there are also 15 poults in with them.

I also have a 2 acre fenced area that the turkeys get to free range in.

 

[Driley62]

Twenty chickens in a 6' x 8' coop does not leave any extra space for turkeys. My adult turkeys roost outside. The run that has around 20 chickens and 6 adult turkeys is 50' x 100' (5,000 sq. ft.) and is currently a little on the crowded side since there are also 15 poults in with them.

I also have a 2 acre fenced area that the turkeys get to free range in.

We have similar climate in winter your more arid than we are but our winters can be heavy, wealthy and frigid. I have no issue opening my first coop that a call a quarantine house as it hasn't been used for that at all since I built the new one. I'm not looking for a large operation I'm complete honesty I'm looking at strictly 3 to 6(absolute max) per year. 3 of my own year round and butcher 3. I'm hoping I can work a barter with a guy that raises meat chickens for us. A turkey for a certain amount of chickens in return(which I'm loving the idea).

 

[Driley62]

As far as blackhead goes I asked a few in my area they've never heard of it and kept them both at the same time. I will however dive deeper into it.

 

[Mandrogora]

My two heritage turkeys (male and female) shared a yard with chickens for close to a year before the female decided she had enough of the chickens shenanigans. Now they are separated at all times. The chickens are troublemakers always getting in the turkeys faces/space and trying to start problems. I have no doubt my hen turkey would kill or seriously injure one given the chance. I also agree with keeping more than two. We started with six and ended up butchering four due to them all being males. They seem happier in a larger group, the hen especially seems to get bored/want more interaction while the Tom is busy showing off. Now we have five more poults we hatched a few months ago, looks like two of them are females. I think in most poultry the larger female to male ratio the better.

 

[Driley62]

My two heritage turkeys (male and female) shared a yard with chickens for close to a year before the female decided she had enough of the chickens shenanigans. Now they are separated at all times. The chickens are troublemakers always getting in the turkeys faces/space and trying to start problems. I have no doubt my hen turkey would kill or seriously injure one given the chance. I also agree with keeping more than two. We started with six and ended up butchering four due to them all being males. They seem happier in a larger group, the hen especially seems to get bored/want more interaction while the Tom is busy showing off. Now we have five more poults we hatched a few months ago, looks like two of them are females. I think in most poultry the larger female to male ratio the better.

I honestly think my threshold would be 4: 3 female and one male. I don't want a large operation of turkeys. I just like turkeys lol. If I can fina a smaller scale way to do.it without overcrowding and making problems I will. But I already live on a small property with 3 dogs and soon to be two children. I can't dedicate my entire property to poultry.

 

[katelwil]

I agree, they need plenty of space. I currently have my Tom in a very large open run with my flock of 7 chickens. They have plenty of room to avoid eachother if they want to. They do fine together but I can't say they would do okay in a smaller space.

I'd also recommend having at least 2 feeders and 2 waters. My chickens are intimidated by the turkey and if they turkey wants to eat, they will move away.

 

[R2elk]

I agree, they need plenty of space. I currently have my Tom in a very large open run with my flock of 7 chickens. They have plenty of room to avoid each other if they want to. They do fine together but I can't say they would do okay in a smaller space.

I'd also recommend having at least 2 feeders and 2 waters. My chickens are intimidated by the turkey and if they turkey wants to eat, they will move away.

I strongly recommend that you separate your tom from your chickens. Eventually he will start killing them when he tries to breed them.