Is it possible to keep chickens and turkeys together: necessary conditions, problems

When planting several types of poultry in the backyard, the poultry breeder is tempted to collect it in one room. This saves a lot of money, since one common poultry house is being built, and the care of the livestock is facilitated. Further information on whether it is possible to keep chickens and turkeys together, and what conditions the feathered wards will have to create for a comfortable existence.

Can I keep chickens and turkeys together

Both bird species belong to the same family, Pheasantidae. Chickens and turkeys are terrestrial birds with common habits, a similar type of feeding and requirements for warmth and light. They may well get along in the courtyard in the same room.

Advantages and disadvantages

The main advantages of joint keeping of land birds include:

• saving on the construction of one common room, instead of two separate ones;
• saving space on the site, because one common aviary is being built for the bird;
• livestock is easier and faster to care for.

The main disadvantages of the joint settlement of chickens and turkeys, experienced poultry farmers call the susceptibility of turkeys to diseases that are common to all chickens.

Keeping turkeys requires careful observance of sanitary standards and regular intake of medicines for prevention.

The joint keeping of turkeys, especially modern meat crosses, together with chickens, is not allowed. Chickens can carry diseases without getting sick.

The lack of a common room for a bird also includes the difference in the size of the birds. And although turkeys are rarely pugnacious and do not offend chickens, large individuals require more food. If you do not correctly calculate the need for feed for the entire livestock, turkeys can "eat" chickens, taking food from them according to the "right of the strongest."

Combining chickens and turkeys

If the poultry farmer decides to settle the wards in one room, you need to think about how to do this with the least damage to the bird and maximum benefit for yourself.

Breed selection

Do not add heavy meat breeds to turkey chickens. This bird is extremely capricious and requires a special approach to keeping. They get along well with turkey chickens of egg and meat-egg (medium-heavy) breeds: Tikhoretsky, Moscow White, North Caucasian.

It is better to settle large chickens with turkeys - meat and meat-and-egg (Kuchinsky, Amroks, Orpingtons, Orlovsky chintz, Australorps).

Necessary conditions

Chickens and turkeys alike need warmth and dryness. The temperature comfortable for the bird is from +15 to +27 degrees. Drafts and dampness are avoided. Large wood shavings, straw cuttings, hay, and fallen leaves are used as bedding in the poultry house.

The area of the chicken coop is calculated based on the number of birds kept there. One adult chicken should have at least 50 square meters. cm, for a turkey at least 80 sq. see. It is desirable to make a street corral spacious (at least 2 sq. M. For one large individual) so that the bird can run.

Perches and nests are built taking into account the dimensions of turkeys. The thickness of the perch bar should be at least 5 cm, and the size of the nest should be 50 by 60 cm.

Feeders are selected so that the turkey is comfortable to eat food, but they are placed at a height that is comfortable for the hens.

Features of food

The diet of chickens and turkeys consists of grains, vegetables, herbs and animal supplements. Birds need to be given mineral feed and vitamins.

If we compare the indicators of ready-made complete feed for adult turkeys and laying hens, then the exchange energy in the feed for turkeys will be more than 260 kcal, crude protein 18%.

The composition of chicken feed is similar, from which we can conclude that an adult bird can be fed with the same composition of the grain mixture. However, during the juvenile growth stage, turkey poults need a more nutritious and fortified diet than chicks.

Chickens

Chickens can be fed with ready-made compound feed or you can prepare the grain mixture yourself. The basis of the mixture includes grains of corn, wheat and barley in equal proportions. To make it better absorbed, whole grains are crushed or flattened. The daily rate of grain consumption by an adult is 130-150 g.

Add to grain mash:

• sunflower cake, fuzu, meal;
• dairy products (reverse, whey, curdled milk);
• meat and bone and fish meal, boiled meat or fish;
• fresh vegetables (carrots, pumpkin, beets, cabbage);
• grass or hay cutting, grass meal;
• premix or BMW;

The total amount of additives should not exceed 25-30% of the volume of the entire mixer. Wet food is given to the bird 2-3 times a day so that the food is eaten within an hour. Chalk, limestone, crushed eggshells, charcoal, red clay are placed in a separate feeder.

Turkeys

Adult turkeys are suitable for the above menu.

The daily norm of grain for an adult bird depends on the mass of individuals and is 200-400 g.

Turkeys graze well and consume a lot of greens (up to 50% of the total mass of food consumed). Fresh grass legumes, tops of garden plants (carrots, beets), vegetables should be present in the diet daily. An adult turkey eats greens up to 600 g per day. In winter, fresh grass is replaced with grass meal, hay cutting.

Separately, it should be said about the feeding of turkeys from the first days of life. Babies up to a month old need a very nutritious food, with an energy content of 1200 kJ and a protein indicator of 28%, crude fiber should be about 5%.

It is difficult to prepare such food at home. To do this, you need to mix corn, wheat and sunflower cake in equal proportions, add milk powder, fodder yeast and grass meal, chalk and the BMVD complex. It is much more convenient to feed turkey poults with ready-made complete feed "Start".

Starting from 30-40 days, young animals can be gradually transferred to a grain mixture (corn and wheat), with the addition of vegetables, herbs and animal products.

Problems with co-housing birds

The joint keeping of turkeys and chickens can lead to obesity of the latter, as the feed will be given with the expectation of larger individuals. An obese chicken stops laying and may die from heart failure. To avoid such a development of events, it is necessary to accurately calculate the daily rate of grain feed for all bird stock and strictly adhere to the dosage. Food is given 2-3 times a day, in small portions.

It will not work to distinguish between the nesting of chickens and turkeys in the same room. And although turkeys have nest boxes on the floor, and chickens can hang nests higher, you can’t force hens to lay eggs in certain nests. Laying hens will inevitably throw eggs into turkey nests, and those with their weight can simply crush the chicken masonry. The way out may be the frequent collection of eggs or the construction of special nests, where the eggs, after being laid, will roll into the shelter.

The joint keeping of chickens and turkeys threatens the occurrence of diseases common to these species. Enterohepatitis, histomonosis, coccidiosis are especially dangerous. The poultry farmer will have to regularly solder the birds with medicines for prevention and maintain perfect cleanliness in the poultry house.

However, young chickens and turkeys should not be kept together until they are 3 months old.

Features of keeping in winter

Adult turkeys are quite unpretentious creatures and, along with chickens, willingly walk outside on fine winter days. In order for the bird to make up for the lack of movement in bad weather, heads of cabbage, brooms from grass and young shoots of trees are hung in the barn so that the bird jumps up, trying to peck at the delicacy.

In winter, the house should be warm, light and dry. It is necessary to comply with the bird planting rate, avoiding overpopulation.

With crowded content, fights, pecking occur more often, the immunity of the livestock decreases.

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