New to this site and new wild turkey raising.

background: Had an Aracauna hen set and hatch eggs as I went to the feed store to get feed they had eastern wild turkeys which I've always wanted to raise since seeing some while hunting with my dad in the berkshires. Stuck the little buggers under the hen and she adopted them without a problem. In fact I think she prefered the turks to the chicks.

The turkeys have been a joy to be around. They are the most affectionate bird that I've raised, I confine them at night but during the day they are free to roam, which they do with the chickens and guineas. The now 6-7 week old turks love to fly up on my neck and do their peeping thing, they cuddle and coo along my ears. A real love affair....
Anyhow some questions is there really a reason not to comingle turkeys and chickens? Should Prophylactis for blackhead be provided? Worming?
What dimensions should a nest box be, and will they use it? (fallback plan is to put the turkey eggs beneath a hen). I'm probably over the top but every day I cook some rice or noodles for the birds and they love it, but are these nutritionally sound? They also get 30% protein turkey starter and what ever bugs they find as well as grass clippings and bird bread from the local bakery store (5$ a cartload). they also get a little cottage cheese and cheese. How high should a roost be? Our local predators are bobcats, coyotes, mountain lion and hawks. So far have only had problems with hawks. Appreciate comments.

They sound really sweet!

"Anyhow some questions is there really a reason not to comingle turkeys and chickens? "

The main reasons they say not to mix them is disease transfer. If your flock is healthy, then it shouldn't be a problem.

"Should Prophylactis for blackhead be provided? Worming?"

If you suspect they could have those things, then treat for them. I've only had a few turkeys and chickens and haven't treated for those things so I can't give you personal experiences on those things.

"What dimensions should a nest box be, and will they use it? (fallback plan is to put the turkey eggs beneath a hen)."

I think the dimensions for the box we made are on my turkey page at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turkey.htm
Our turkey hen did use the box but it's up to the individual birds. They lay where they want to lay!

"I'm probably over the top but every day I cook some rice or noodles for the birds and they love it, but are these nutritionally sound?"

They probably aren't going to hurt them as long as their main food is still the turkey feed. I don't think it's good to feed them cheese though.

"How high should a roost be? Our local predators are bobcats, coyotes, mountain lion and hawks. So far have only had problems with hawks. Appreciate comments."

With those predators, you should just close them into the coop with roost at night! I don't think you could make one high enough to keep the mountain lions at bay! Hawks hunt during the day and may take poults but probably won't go after adult wild turkeys. Bobcats and coyotes could try to take one off a roost. The roost height should be at least 5-6 feet for adult wild turkeys but since they can fly, it can be even higher. Poults will have to start at lower heights and work their way up. When the foxes got into our chicken coop last year, they got the chickens on the lower 1.5' roost but couldn't reach those on the 6' high roost. I don't know if your turkeys want to roost with their chicken mother and how high she can fly up. We have a pair of Aracauna chickens. I thought those hens don't normally go broody (ours never has).

Hi--

I just wanted to mention that the main reason that I have heard for keeping apart chickens and turkeys is the threat of blackhead. Blackhead is carried by chickens, though they are not susceptible to it, and is often transferred from the chickens to the turkeys.

BTW, we are going to raise turkeys this year, and we have chickens...we are just going to care for the turkeys first and then go to the chickens, not the other way around.

E. R.

I don't know much about bird diseases. I've heard of blackhead but don't know much about it. Is there a way to test to find out if a chicken is carrying it? I have a chicken disease book but it's many hundreds of pages long! There are so many things they can get. The poor little guys! I have met a number of farmers and bird owners who run their chickens and turkeys together.

I don't know if Blackhead can be tested for or not--it is a protozoa, and I don't know if those can be found by testing. Sorry I can't be of more help. :(

If applecider is interested, I have heard that turkeys can be raised on mesh a few inches of the ground--seperate from chickens--and do fine.

Robyn, we have some friends whose chickens run with their turkeys, too. It was seeing our friend's birds that made Dad think that we might do okay raising them together. Now we will just have to wait and see.

I think that if care is taken to keep the species seperate, Blackhead can probably be avoided. Just my humble opinion.

Just a bit more that I have learned about Blackhead... Being a protozoa, Blackhead can surrvive in dry litter for a long time--like several years. The Blackhead protozoa is excreted in the droppings of birds that carry it. Wild birds also carry Blackhead, so, as always, keeping the wild birds out of your pen would be a good idea.

My best suggestion for applecider is to do some research. I am only a teenage first-time turkey raiser--though my family has raised chickens for about three years and have already this year dispatched about 10 ducklings to the freezer--and don't know much about all this. Most of what I know I found on the internet.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

E. R.

My mom found a site with lots of info about Blakhead...here's the link. http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/poultry/5398.html I hope this helps!

E. R.

P. S. After my last post I was thinking that Blackhead could probably be found in a droppings test (not the official name, I'm sure, but you probably know what I mean).

Ok, thanks for the info.