will turkeys attack chickens

[ruffeled feathers]

i need to know

 

[MandyH]

I can only speak from my experience. I have had gobblers kill hens when they were penned together. After we moved everybody, the turkeys now free range on 4 acres and there are chickens with them that they don't bother. THese birds were hatched at the dame time and raised together too. I DO NOT pen different breeds together any more.

 

[Break an Egg]

The only one I had was raised with two new hampshires from chicks. It was also a female. It was very submissive to all of my chickens, even my silkies and our alpha roo was also very protective of her. It was pretty funny.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

depends on the turk and his/her mood. we have a couple of turkey hens that will chase the barn cats - or chickens. but sometimes i'll see the hens in the turkey pen and they just dont care at all.

however,

you know about the risk of blackhead, right? its the reason that many people keep them separated (including us)

be that as it may -- due to extraordinary bad luck we ended up with one turkey poult (Mr Pipps) who is being raised with our chicks.

clear as mud?

 

[chickenchickenbulkbulk]

My one year old tom plays referee to the roosters..if they fight he'll go get in the middle of them..and if one of the roosters keep coming back to fight, he'll run them off. He has never shown any aggression toward them. He is the boss of the yard!!

 

[Eanniejay]

Our tom turkey nearly killed our rooster a few years ago. We had just the one turkey, and he was very possesive of the hens. We seperated the turkey from the chickens and eventually had to get rid of him, because he would come after me and the kids. He would peck the hens on their heads because they ignored him. Bad apple perhaps?

 

[chickenchickenbulkbulk]

Quote:
What type of turkey was it? We have a big double breasted one that in incapable of breeding? I wonder if that makes the difference. He has never bothered the hens.

 

[Homesteading_Bound]

Quote:

 

[Cetawin]

It is individual...they can, do some will and some will not...

 

[Picco]

I raise my turkeys with my chickens from day one and everyone gets along fine. My adult birds free range all day (real free range, no fence at all) so that really makes a difference as everyone has space. There are occasional squabbles but I haven't seen anything serious.

Turkeys require a lot more roost space and are a bit territorial when it comes to this so try to have several roosts and plenty of footage. Turkeys also take up a lot more space so a lot of that is needed too.

Black head really isn't much of a concern. Some areas have it but most do not. For backyarders with noncommercial flocks diseases like that rarely happen as we tend to have much fewer animals and they are kept clean and healthy.

It really depends on the personality of the bird, but more so on the amount of space they have. Breed I think has little to do with it. The heritage breeds are more aggressive towards other animals as they have the ability to move better. The broad breasted types are not as active and have been selectively bred in huge flocks so aggressiveness has been bred out of them more.