Time to Separate!

[ihatedarkroast]

My 9/10 week old BBW poults have decided that one of my chicken pullets must die ...because she is molting. Amazingly enough, the 10 week poults are already bigger than her! And far more aggressive. I saw one of them body slam her down and go after her like crazy. The back of her head and neck are red and rough looking where her new feathers are trying to grow in. She is my only black laced silver wyandotte, and quite gentle. I'm peeved by this situation. Poor thing was hiding in the corner of the coop in a hole she had dug. I did separate her out this afternoon in a crate with food and water. After about two hours, she recovered from the abuse enough to eat and drink. I think she'll survive. I locked her inside the hen house with a gentle bantam hen and food and water for the night until I have time to sort things out better.

Anyways, I went ahead and built another pen I can move my two turkey poults into tomorrow. They will share a fence with the chickens, and see them but not be able to attack. I was hoping they could all stay together until we invite the turkeys to Christmas dinner, but nooooooo.

My question is, can some folks post pictures of how their turkeys sleep? I don't have any hay bales. Should I get some? Or can I just put some tree branches in there and tarp off a corner of the coop for a windbreak/shelter from the rain? Do I need to build an actual second house for them to roost in? They were sleeping on TOP of the roof of the chicken coop before, so I don't think I can get them to sleep inside a building any more? Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

My 9/10 week old BBW poults have decided that one of my chicken pullets must die ...because she is molting. Amazingly enough, the 10 week poults are already bigger than her! And far more aggressive. I saw one of them body slam her down and go after her like crazy. The back of her head and neck are red and rough looking where her new feathers are trying to grow in. She is my only black laced silver wyandotte, and quite gentle. I'm peeved by this situation. Poor thing was hiding in the corner of the coop in a hole she had dug. I did separate her out this afternoon in a crate with food and water. After about two hours, she recovered from the abuse enough to eat and drink. I think she'll survive. I locked her inside the hen house with a gentle bantam hen and food and water for the night until I have time to sort things out better.

Anyways, I went ahead and built another pen I can move my two turkey poults into tomorrow. They will share a fence with the chickens, and see them but not be able to attack. I was hoping they could all stay together until we invite the turkeys to Christmas dinner, but nooooooo.

My question is, can some folks post pictures of how their turkeys sleep? I don't have any hay bales. Should I get some? Or can I just put some tree branches in there and tarp off a corner of the coop for a windbreak/shelter from the rain? Do I need to build an actual second house for them to roost in? They were sleeping on TOP of the roof of the chicken coop before, so I don't think I can get them to sleep inside a building any more? Thanks!

You can set up something like a 2"x4" or 2"x6" across a couple of concrete blocks or whatever you have available to get it up off of the ground. It won't be long until they should not be very high off of the ground to avoid leg or hip damage.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Thanks!

 

[MaeM]

Oh, dang. I'm thinking about getting a turkey but I'm afraid of what you describe.

 

[R2elk]

Oh, dang. I'm thinking about getting a turkey but I'm afraid of what you describe.

I don't recommend getting a turkey. Turkeys are very social and should be with other turkeys.

 

[NY Coturnix]

I just processed my BB turkey. The heritage bourbon red roost but my BB slept on the ground in the coop. I did what you said and put a 2x4 across 2 cinder blocks, the short way, but they only used them until about 12 weeks and then stayed on the ground. I always made sure to have wood chips available. As R2elk said don't go to high because they'll get big fast and hurt themselves.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Ok. I made the a perch...They have decided to ignore it and sleep on top of a dog house base instead. Whatevs. I'll have add more windbreak, I guess. They have options at least. They do seem a bit disgruntled that they are not with the chickens now. On the other hand, some of my chickens that normally hide more seem more relaxed with the turkeys at a slight distance.

@MaeM
I think most people here don't recommend keeping turkeys and chickens together. My husband's uncle Bo also keeps his separate due to the huge mess turkeys make. And my mom always told me my grandfather could never keep his turkeys alive as well as the chickens when he had both.

I only put mine together as a temporary situation as we just moved into this house a few months ago and are still building our coops. But it only worked well for a couple weeks. First, the chickens bullied poults whenever I put them together on warm days. A few weeks later, they were great together and the poults snuggled with the hens to get warm when acclimating to cold nights. Now they are taller and heavier, the poults are bullying the hens. I also can't free range my turkeys as they are dumb as dirt and almost died the one time I tried it. It's been a good learning experience, but if I get turkeys again next year, I don't plan on mixing them at all. I'll set up an outdoor heated brooder then transition poults to their own run.

 

[MaeM]

I don't recommend getting a turkey. Turkeys are very social and should be with other turkeys.

That's what I thought, but because she's a rescue turkey, I thought that maybe she could live here with my chickens at least for a while.

But I thought that turkeys were more like ducks (who can live with chickens peacefully).

Now that @ihatedarkroast says they're not, I've changed my mind. Thanks for the info