Living with turkeys

[Chickenman]

Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone has ever kept turkeys with their chickens? We’re considering getting one or maybe two in the summer, fattening them up and then eating them at Christmas. Don’t worry though, are chickens are great egg layers and here to stay! Not sure what the general feeling on here is about raising animals for food so I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone. Not actually sure if that is relevant though, my main query is about turkeys and chickens living together happily

 

[Chickenman]

“Also just realised that there’s a typo in the subject online and I don’t know how to change it 10”

Sorted! Cheers, Chickenman! xx Marigold,

 

[Icemaiden]

Hi Chicken man.
A short message, sorry, but this is the 3rd time I've typed it as it keeps disapparing, which is rather annoying.

There's a disease that affects chickens badly & which turkeys carry (or it might be the other way around). It's called black something; I can't remember but a more knowledgeable person will doubtless be along shortly to tell you. I'm going to post this before it vanishes again...

 

[Marigold]

Icemaiden is right. See the Poultrykeeper site, about keeping turkeys https://poultrykeeper.com/keeping-turkeys/

Sorry Chickenman, I thought I’d fixed your typo problem. I’ll ask Tim, our administrator, about it.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I fixed the heading

BTW the disease is Blackhead and it's easy for Turkeys to catch from the endoparasites (worms) that chickens can carry called Caecal worms. In moderation, the worms aren't harmful to the chickens but become a problem causing Blackhead for Turkeys.

There is more information on Blackhead in Turkeys here: https://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/histomoniasis-blackhead-in-turkeys/

If you do decide to keep them, it's best to give them separate grazing areas or keep up with regular worm count testing and worming the chickens if there is evidence of Caecal worms.

Good luck!
Tim

 

[Chickenman]

Ok brilliant, thank you for all the advice. Seems like it’s probably not the best idea to be mixing them. Might have to rethink my ambitions (or maybe just build a separate turkey enclosure). Thanks everyone

 

[Marigold]

Good choice, Chickenman. Do keep posting, we all like to chat on here!