Keeping a Mixed-Age or Mixed-Species Flock

Why a compound ends up with chickens, guinea fowl and a turkey

Ask a compound keeper why he has chickens, guinea fowl and a turkey hen in the same yard, and you will get a practical answer. The guinea fowl raise the alarm when a stranger or a hawk comes near. The ducks use the puddle that the rains leave behind. The turkey hen is there because the family wants one for the festive season. Nobody planned a system. The yard simply grew.

That history is useful, because it shows the appeal. A mixed flock spreads risk across more than one type of bird, uses space that a single species would leave empty, and gives a small farm a few different products to sell. It also creates problems that a single-species flock never meets, and most of them come from the feeding and the sleeping, not from the birds getting along.

This article is about the permanent arrangement: birds of different ages or species that live together every day, not a single group being added to an existing flock. For that, our guide to introducing new birds to an existing flock is the right read.

Mixed ages in one pen: what changes for the young ones

Mixed-age flocks are the most common and the most under-rated. A farmer who keeps pullets with older hens, or who lets a few chicks run with the adults, usually has no plan for it beyond hoping the adults will be gentle. Sometimes they are. Often they are not.

The young birds lose out on three things. The first is feed. Adults eat quickly and stand over the feeder, so the young ones get less. The second is water, because the drinker is the place where the pecking gathers. The third is sleep. Young birds perch low and get pushed off at night, and a bird that is chased off the roost is a bird that gets chilled and stressed.

If you must keep mixed ages on one site, the young birds need their own feeder, drinker and corner where the adults cannot follow. A lean-to, a raised box or a wire cage inside the house will do. It does not have to be fancy. It has to be reachable only by the young birds, and it has to be checked every morning.

Our advice is simple. Keep the chicks and growers in a separate room or pen, and let the adults have the rest. The only time we would mix them more closely is when the young birds are old enough to hold their own at the feeder and are of similar size to the adults. Even then, watch the first few weeks closely.

Species by species: what each one brings to the yard and what it takes

Each species adds something, and each one brings its own risk. This table is the one we would sketch on the back of a feed bag before a farmer added a second species.

The table is a starting point, not a verdict. A mixed yard can work well with chickens and guinea fowl, which share the same yard, the same insects and much of the same daily routine. Adding turkeys or ducks changes the job, because each one needs its own feed plan and its own water arrangement.

Our guide to guinea fowl farming and our turkey farming guide cover the detail of each species. The rest of this article is about how they fit together.

Disease: the risks that cross species lines

Disease is the reason mixing species needs more thought than mixing ages. Some diseases stay within one species. Others move across several, and a mixed yard gives them more routes in.

Blackhead is the one that matters most for turkeys. The parasite is spread through the eggs of a worm that lives in the caecum of chickens and other birds, and chickens can carry it without looking sick. Turkeys do not carry it as well and get very ill. A farmer who keeps turkeys beside chickens is trusting that the chickens are clean, and that is not a safe bet to make. Our blackhead guide sets out the signs and the controls in more detail.

Newcastle disease can move between chickens, guinea fowl, turkeys and ducks, so the vaccination plan has to cover every species on the site. Coccidiosis hits young birds hardest, which is why age matters for the disease side as well as the feed side. Our common chick diseases guide covers what the young birds are most likely to catch.

The practical rule is to vaccinate every species you keep, on the schedule your vet sets, and to keep the youngest birds in the cleanest space. Follow your vet's advice on any specific product and timing, and never assume one species' vaccine covers another. Records for each group should be kept separately, even when the birds share a yard.

Feed: one bin is not enough when the species differ

Feed is where most mixed flocks go wrong, usually because a farmer buys one bag of chick starter and throws it to everything. The birds may eat it, but they will not all get what they need from it.

Ducklings are the clearest example. They need more niacin than many standard chick starters supply, and a duckling fed only on starter can develop leg and growth problems that look like something else. The fix is a feed made for ducks, or a niacin supplement given as your vet or feed supplier recommends. Our feeding ducks guide covers the details.

Guinea fowl keets and turkey poults both need a high-protein start, and a chicken ration with a lower protein level will leave them behind. Keets and poults should be on their own starter feed until they are old enough to move to a grower mash. Our guinea fowl keets and turkey poults pages set out which starting stage suits each bird.

The easiest fix on a mixed yard is a set of separate feeders, each sized and placed for its species. A tube feeder with a lid keeps chicks and keets away from the adult feed. A feeder fixed off the ground and well away from the water keeps the ducks from dabbling their feed into the drinker. Label the bins. A bag grabbed in a hurry is how the wrong feed ends up in the wrong pen.

Space and the roosting problem: each species sleeps somewhere different

The most common night-time problem on a mixed farm is that the birds want to sleep in different places. Chickens roost on a low perch in a shed. Guinea fowl and turkeys prefer high perches, often in trees or on the highest beams they can reach. Ducks sleep on the ground, close to the water. Put them all in one shed and you will be up at dusk chasing birds out of corners.

The solution is a layout that gives each species a sleeping place it likes. A chicken house with a low perch, a raised roost for the turkeys and guinea fowl, and a separate duck shelter with a dry floor and a clear space at night. It need not be elaborate. A few planks at two heights, a fenced duck pen with a covered corner, and a lockable gate to keep the ground-sleepers out of the house will do most of the work.

Keep a count at dusk. A mixed yard is only safe at night if you know every bird is inside. A missing guinea fowl is often roosting in a tree a few metres away, and a turkey that fails to come in may be in a hedge. Count each group by species, every evening, and note any birds that are missing before you lock up.

Space also matters for the daytime. A yard that is too crowded for the number of species will encourage pecking and fighting. Give the water and feed stations room, and keep the ducks' water away from the chicks' feed.

Ducks and water: the mess nobody budgets for

Ducks are a pleasure to keep, and the mess they make is the first thing that puts farmers off. They splash, they dabble and they tip water. A drinker that is safe for chickens will be emptied and flooded within minutes of a duck arriving. The result is a wet litter, and wet litter is the perfect place for ammonia, bacteria and the parasites that thrive in damp bedding.

Give the ducks a water source of their own, and keep it separate from the chicks' drinker. A shallow bath they can dip in, placed on a drained patch of ground, will do more than a drinker that they can wash in. Empty and refill it daily, and clear the spilled water and wet litter from around it every morning.

Check the litter under the ducks' sleeping area every week. If it is cold, sticky or smells sharp, dry it out with fresh bedding, and move the drinker. A duck pen that is always wet makes the whole yard harder to manage, because the damp spreads to the other birds on the same ground.

Our duck farming guide covers breeds, housing and the first months in more detail.

Guinea fowl and turkeys: the pair that needs watching

Guinea fowl and turkeys share some of the same habits. Both are ground foragers, both are loud when they feel threatened and both will fly up to a roost if they can. They are also very different birds with different needs, and the first few weeks of a mixed pen tell you quickly whether they will get on.

Keets are small and fragile, and they cannot yet defend themselves. Keep them apart from the adult birds until they are strong enough to hold their own at the feeder, and give them a high-protein starter as recommended. Turkey poults are similar. They need warmth, a high-protein start and close watching for the first weeks.

Turkey toms can become aggressive, especially at breeding time, and they will chase smaller birds from the feeder. A tom that is kept alone with a few hens is safer than one kept with a mixed group of guinea fowl and chickens. If you have a tom and a guinea fowl pen, separate them by a fence and watch the first week closely.

Our turkey farming guide covers the poult and tom management in detail, and the turkey poults page sets out what we supply and when.

A mixed layout that works on a Ghanaian compound

Here is the layout we would suggest for a compound with a few hundred square metres of yard, a set of mixed birds and one or two people looking after them. It is a working example, not a blueprint, because every compound is shaped differently.

1. A chick and grower room with its own feed, drinker and lockable door, separate from everything else.
2. A chicken shed with a low perch, a lockable door and an open run where the adult hens can scratch.
3. A raised roost for guinea fowl and turkeys, placed away from the chicken shed but inside the fence.
4. A duck pen with a shallow bath, a covered sleeping corner and a drained floor.
5. A single feed store with labelled bins for every species, kept off the floor and away from the water.
6. A dusk routine that counts each species before the gates are closed.

The layout looks like a lot of separate spaces, and it is. That is the point. Each species gets the space it needs, and the mistakes that cross between them are fewer. Most of the cost is in the separate feed bins and the duck pen, and both can be built in stages. Start with the chick room and the feed store, then add the rest as the flock grows.

If you are planning a mixed flock from the start, our broiler day-old chicks and breeds pages can help you pick the chicken side, and the order form is the place to start if you want to add birds once the layout is ready.

Mistakes we see on mixed farms, and the fix for each

These are the mistakes that come up most often on a farm that has grown a mixed flock without a plan.

• Feeding every bird the same starter. Fix: separate feed for the ducks, keets and poults, labelled and kept apart.
• Keeping turkeys in the same pen as chickens without a plan for blackhead. Fix: keep them apart where you can, and talk to your vet before you mix them at all.
• One drinker for the ducks and the chicks. Fix: separate water for the ducks, placed where the spill will not reach the feed.
• Locking the gate at dusk without counting. Fix: count each species before the gate is closed, every evening.
• Letting the youngest birds share a house with adults for months. Fix: separate rooms, or a full clean-out between groups.
• Treating a mixed flock as cheaper to run. Fix: cost each species separately, including feed, housing and vet bills, before you decide what to keep.

Checklist before you add a second species or age group

Work through this list before the new birds arrive. If you cannot tick a line, slow down until you can.

1. Vaccination records for every species, with your vet's schedule for each.
2. A separate feed for each species and age group, labelled and stored off the floor.
3. Separate drinkers, and a plan for keeping the ducks' water away from the chicks.
4. A sleeping place for each species, with a count before the gates close each evening.
5. A quarantine plan for any new birds, and a clear decision on whether they will mix at all.
6. A written note of the risks you have accepted, especially for turkeys and chickens sharing a yard.

Questions farmers ask