want to add chicks,Guinea ,turkey n peafowl in '14 pls any advice??

[alibraun]

hi. I just started with 16 chicks for eggs april'13, down to 12. 4 went to family. we wish to add 5 Guinea for pest n warnings, 2 turkeys, 2 peafowl n 6 more chickens. coop is 12'x8' figure all new hatchlings will need to b in own brooder by fowl type but how long??

 

[bobbi-j]

You want to put all of those birds in a 12x8 coop when they're adults? I think you will have some serious overcrowding problems there.

 

[alibraun]

I have already hinted on larger coop, just finished this one. also some of the birds listed will go in freezer, run we building going to be 100'x 80' (estimate)isn't 4 ft per bird??n with run that is bonus??

 

[bobbi-j]

Honestly, my chickens all free range, so I don't even try to do the math on "how much space per bird". I do believe in giving them much more than the recommended space. Chickens are happiest when they have plenty of room to roam.

 

[alibraun]

what I mostly am asking is when they first arrive, do brood them together or apart?? when to join them? I am limited on free ranging too many raptors

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

No.
Just no.


Guineas will fight. Peafowl need, what, 10 ft per bird? Turkeys, I'd say the same. Guineas I'd say 6ft. Chickens need 6ft - 4ft is pretty crowded, it is the BARE minimum and you DONT want to go that low if possible. If you want to add more chickens, fine. Even want to add a few guineas, ok, but you CANNOT have peafowl, guineas, chickens, & turkeys all living together. Disease could spread, like blackhead, peafowl die easily when they're young, chickens bully, guineas bully the bullies.
You would need 4 separate, large coops, large runs. And if you have black head, you CAN'T have turkeys. If you have a disease that the peafowl will die from that's spread from the chickens, you CAN'T have peafowl. You could get away with Guineas & chickens, sure, but that'd be it.
And no, you didn't hint at a larger coop. Please, I understand being in a phone or something but your wording is atrocious and its really hard to understand you.

If you get them and get proper coops & runs setup, then the everyone should be housed separate, & when the guineas get a bit bigger, put them with the chickens. If you don't have blackhead, then you could keep the turkeys with the chickens once they both get a bit bigger. Peafowl HAVE to be completely separate until full grown, even then I'm pretty sure they should be separate, ESP males. But maybe that's me.

I urge you not to get anything besides maybe Guinneas OR turkeys. Otherwise you will have serious plucking issues and diseases. Unless you build a ridiculously large coop and run. No, not 4sq ft per bird, 4sq ft per bantam chicken, IMO.

 

[aart]

Agrees....you should wait and not rush it.
Get used to doing the chickens and see how your facility functions before even building another one... let alone adding all those other breeds.

You are suffering from acute poultry math, be careful

I can't remember, do you have a run built?

 

[alibraun]

this I why I asked!! I don't know if I could have them n how to set it up.I talked to hubby bout 2nd coop.

 

[donrae]

If you can't free range, the guineas won't be much help on either pest control or as an early alert system.

I have very limited experience housing turkeys and chickens--it's possible, but the turkeys need a LOT more space, they're much bigger birds. Plus, tom turkeys can get pretty aggressive with chicken hens, and that's not a pretty picture.

I don't have experience with any of the other species you're looking for, sorry. I know it's a pretty mental picture to see all these different species living together, they're all so pretty in their own way. But, you need to be able to free range or have a LARGE run, more like a small pasture, and at that point you're again looking at keeping them safe from predators.

 

[alibraun]

I am building run estimated smallest 100'x80, I had family who had those birds plus 4 times over together in collapsed barn. I only plan to raise two turkeys to 18, Guinea will free range once large enough. some ppl, geez