Bourbon Red Tom

[dardar07]

Ok I need help. This is my first time raising Turkeys, I have two a male and a female. The Female is pretty gentle, she likes to follow me around, and pretty much does her own thing. Every now and then she will chase one of my goats, usually now though they stay outside the fenced in area. They have free roam of our property and I feed them and water them every morning, so they just have no desire to go back in the fenced area.

However the problem that I have is that my Tom has now taken to walking around all puffed up. He doesn't attack us, he will lay his feathers down when we walk up to him, but he has taken to attacking my dogs as soon as they walk by him, They are not even a year old and we got both of them has hatchlings.

Every now and then when they were in the fenced in area they would chase my dogs, but usually if they were not back there and my dogs walked by they would ignore them. Today however my Tom really went after my dog when my husband took him to the front. My dog didn't do anything just walked past him, my dogs are used to having chickens around, we have had chickens for over 4 years now.

Is this a mating thing? I don't know much about Turkey mating seasons, I know we have wild turkeys around our property, every now and then you can hear them gobble, we have also seen them on our property. Is this what he is upset about?

I am really concerned, because if he keeps acting like this I am afraid we won't be able to keep him, I am afraid that my dog will kill him in self defense, he has already torn out some of his back feathers when my Turkey wouldn't leave him alone before.

My husband and I both work from home, so we are here all the time, and we have all done adjusting on how we do things with our dogs and goats, and chickens, Its just the Turkeys we can't seem to get adjusted.

Any assistance or advice please...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's normal for Tom turkeys to always be displaying. They often will follow you everywhere displaying, it isn't necessarily aggressive. Attacking your dog is aggressive. You will have to decide what you are going to do from here. Turkeys can be aggressive with other species and are always best kept in their own pen and let out under supervision. If your Tom starts coming after you I would butcher him and try again, aggression shouldn't be tolerated. None of my toms have ever shown aggression towards me, but I've have had them harass and even kill chickens. Your dog might decide to defend himself one day too, so it's best to step in and confine your turkeys for their own safety as well.