wild turkeys and free range chickens

[animal nut]

I would like to know if I can allow my hens to free range if I have a flock of wild turkeys graising on my property. I am afraid the chickens will follow the turkeys. Will they stay home or follow the turkeys?

 

[bluey]

My chickens didn't really bother with a family of 12 wild turkeys that we had visiting our property. They basically co-existed and when the turkeys eventually would leave, the chickens remained.

oh, and

 

[Heather J]

If you have trained your flock to return home to the coop at night, I doubt you'll have any trouble. My chickens couldn't care less what the ducks and geese are up to and vice-versa. I can't imagine it is any different with turkeys.

 

[animal nut]

Thank you very much for the info. I am new at this and maybe a little over concerned about my chickens.

 

[laughingllama75]

I have the good (mis) fortune to have a flock of 25+ turkeys visit each day, almost every day of the year. They leave my hens alone, and vise versa. If the chickens see them coming, the rooster heads them to the barn until the turks are gone. I don't think you'll have any problems.

 

[Marcy54]

Good question, and it helped me too. We just got a coop the other day, no chicks yet. We have a flock of wild turkeys that wander through our property every now and then. I was wondering what effect they would have on my birds too.

 

[MT Nest No Mo]

I would really like to let the chickens wander the front yard, but I'm concerned about diseases that might be carried by wild birds and the wild turkeys that wander our neighborhood. I've not found any evidence of sick or dead birds, so am I being an overly cautious chicken mom? Would really like for the girls to go clean up the yard and get a break from their pen. Thanks for any advice...