Turkeys and chickens together

[love2chicken]

Can you have Turkeys and Chickens housed in the same coop looking ant getting a hen for this thanksgiving. My wife dose not want a tom says they are to pretty and would not be able to eat him. so looking for the answer if i can have 1 hen with 6 Chicken hens the coop is 4x8 and a out side run is 8x8 and they get to free range at least 3-4 times a week.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I have only had turkeys for year so not answering with a lot of expertise, however mine run with the chickens with no issues.

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

A lot of people suggest not to because chickens can give turkeys Blackhead, which is pretty fatal to them. Everyone is different however, and I've had my turkeys with chickens for a short time at one point and all of them are still alive. It just depends on what you're comfortable with

 

[beerman]

Mine live together no problem.

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Blackhead is a disease carried by chickens but fatal to turkeys. If its not in your area it wont be a problem. My turkeys are alive and well with my chickens.

P.S. Heritage turkeys are not as big as the Broad Breasted turkeys, so if your going to get a hen i suggest a BBW or BBB.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
Yeah, blackhead prevalence depends on your location. We were fine in the PNW.

That said, 4x8 is probably going to be way too small for a turkey with your birds. I had one BBB bronze that insisted in sleeping in the 4x4 silkie hutch and he took up about half the floor space... the silkies roosted on top. Note, if you want to eat him/her for t day, get a bbb type, they are not as pretty and you'll want to butcher it in 3-4 months depending on how big you want it to be. Wait too long and it won't fit in the oven. My 5 month old brozne were 34lbs dressed... darn near 50 lbs alive...Just 5 months old...

 

[Jake Levi]

If, you give an anthelmentic to the chickens you can control the blackhead parasite in them that they arnt bothered by, a monthly treatment, use two kinds, ivormectin works, orally, squirt it down, others are available to add to the water, to dose all.

 

[love2chicken]

Ifi was going to make a different coop for my one turkey hen or maybe 2 how big should i make it thanks

 

[deerman]

I copy this from my post in the peafowl section/ i raise them about the same peafowl and turkey


Agree Steve, I worm 3 times a year , or guess 6 if you count two type of wormers. You can also try to kill the earth worms also.

I try my best to keep this disease, out of my peafowl flock. Reason I don't let chickens around them(some can be carriers). Would never think of feeding earth worms, Alway keep the birds wormed, because you can never keep them from eating earth worms. Never let other people in my pens. Copy the following from another site....just to show danger of keeping chicken withpeafowl and turkey. Something my father told me over 50 years ago, about turkey. Thanks to his info on turkey , i have raise poult many times without any lost. I carry that info over to peafowl also.



It is common that veterinarians and other investigators are unable to find Heterakis worms associated with outbreaks in turkeys. If the above discussion is considered, then it would be logical that the infection comes from outside the flock, probably tracked inside by a worker on the shoes. The source of such contamination is most likely chickens, which are often found not too distant from the turkey flock.

A review of the literature shows that chickens, among the domestic gallinaceous birds, are the best hosts for Heterakis worms, and that the eggs produced by these worms in chickens are the best for causing disease when inoculated into turkeys. Lund and Chute (1969) found that young chickens were 16 times as effective as mature chickens in hosting caecal worms, and that young turkeys were almost negligible in this respect. Lund and Chute (1973) tested eight species of gallinaceous birds and found that the Chinese ringneck pheasant was the best host for caecal worms, followed by chickens and guinea fowl.

In modern poultry production, it is not unusual for farms used for one type of poultry to be converted to rearing of another type. Probably the most disastrous example is the conversion of broiler breeder farms to the rearing of turkeys. It is commonly agreed that all broiler breeder farms are heavily contaminated with caecal worm (Heterakis gallinarum) eggs, which are the only known biological vector of the blackhead organism. (Earthworms can harbour caecal worms until they are eaten by chickens or turkeys, but this is only an 'extra' reservoir of infection and not a necessary part of the life cycle). Such farms reportedly remain infective to turkeys for many years.

Last edited by deerman (01/29/2011 4:32 pm)


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[love2chicken]

how big would a bb hen get any idea thanks