Turkey/chicken situation

[birdielynn]

ok, I know that you are not supposed to put turkeys with chickens because of possible blackhead infection but here's my situation. About 4 weeks ago, I lost all of my turkeys but one. I will spare you the sad details. Suffice it to say that it was not disease related. Knowing that turkeys are social birds and the remaining one might just die of loneliness, I figured that at this point it wouldn't make much difference so I put her in with a pen of pullets. Well, she's still alive and growing. She seems to have adopted the chickens as family and they hang out/roost together. I think that she is still lonely though because she's "talking" less and less. Chickens and turkeys just don't speak the same language.

My questions are:

1) Do you think this means that my chickens aren't carrying the dreaded blackhead disease or is it just a fluke that this one is ok?
2) When the new turkeys that I got as replacements get large enough to be outside, do you think that it would be safe to put them in the pullet pen with the older turkey?
3) even if I opt for a new pen that is totally chicken free, can I put the older turkey in with the young ones or is she likely to harm them?

Thanks for your opinions. I always find everyone on this board to be very friendly and helpful and I value the advice.
Just FYI- The turkey that survived is a broad-breasted white and the new poults are black, blue slate, single-breasted bronze and bourbon red. Decided that since I had to start over, I'd try some different kinds. BBwhites are sweet and gentle but kind of a boring color. I like lots of color in the coop.

 

[Motherhenandflock]

Sorry about your loss of the other turks.
Let me say, I am for sure no expert on turkeys, or anything else for that matter. I can give you some info about what has happened here.
Lots of folks let their chickens and turkeys run together with nothing bad happening. The way I understand Blackhead, some areas have it, some don't. It comes from the turkeys eating the droppings of the chickens. So if your chickens are "clean" I'd say you are ok.

I had 2 Bourbon Reds in with my pullets. I later got 3 Broad Breasted whites and 2 Americana chicks. They lived together in another area. Everybody got along fine. About a month ago, I put the Americanas with the older pullets and the Bourbon Reds with the BBWs. I was a little concerned when I first put them together, but they are all buddies now. They are about the same size even though the BRs are 12 weeks now and the BBWs are 8 weeks.
Hope that helps!