At what age do Tom turkeys become aggressive?

[AraucanaAnne]

So I've browsed through a lot of posts on how aggressive Tom turkeys can be, but I was wondering, at what age do they typically start to display aggressive behavior towards people?

I guess what I really want to know is "Am I Safe?" LOL. My heritage bronze tom is about 1 year old. We are in the thick of breeding season here (already have one hen who has gone broody on a clutch of eggs) and so far he's been fine. He displays around me a lot but otherwise seems very calm and has never tried to hurt me. I spend a lot of time in the pen and feel really comfortable around him, but perhaps I shouldn't get too comfortable? Getting attacked by a bird that size would really suck.

Another question, does aggression in Toms vary by breed? Are some breeds better or worse than others?

Thanks!

 

[chooks4life]

So I've browsed through a lot of posts on how aggressive Tom turkeys can be, but I was wondering, at what age do they typically start to display aggressive behavior towards people?

Depends... Some are aggressive because they're basically pathologically imbalanced, you could say psychotic, and display a completely abnormal amount of aggression for their species and age and the circumstances under which they respond with aggression.

These ones can start showing their aggression as chicks, a week old or under, or any time throughout their adolescence. I've had some chicks get stuck in 'kill-mode'. There's nothing infantile about it, they're 100% serious, and cannot seem to stop.

Others that turn aggressive seem to trigger at full maturity. I think you'll find anyone who's kept turkeys for long enough has some stories of the 'nice'/non-aggressive male that suddenly became aggressive at two years old. That seems to be a time when many previously good male animals become dangerous, and probably not coincidentally it's also the time when they enter their true prime, in those species for which this change is so often noted. It makes one of the problems in only breeding young adults obvious. If you don't keep toms beyond a year old, as many turkey breeders don't, you simply do not know what mature mindset you're breeding on. It remains a hidden and unknown factor.

You can't judge a future adult mindset by how the teenager behaves. Bad signs tend to show early (but not always) and if they show early you know they're going to get worse pretty much as a rule, but you can only be sure you have a non aggressive animal once it's hit full maturity and not turned on you or others or shown any other negative behaviors.

A one year old rooster or tom is not mature, he's the equivalent of a teenager. Fertile but not necessarily what anyone would consider a real adult. (Same is true for the females). Once he's two and over, he's fully mature, though some are only fully in their prime at five years old... Either way significant behavioral and psychological changes tend to kick in after true maturity has been achieved, and that's the true nature of the individual animal finally showing.

I guess what I really want to know is "Am I Safe?" LOL. My heritage bronze tom is about 1 year old. We are in the thick of breeding season here (already have one hen who has gone broody on a clutch of eggs) and so far he's been fine. He displays around me a lot but otherwise seems very calm and has never tried to hurt me.

Does he ever display 'at' you? I.e. with his tail facing you, skirting around you, looking at you? Those are all very serious warning signs if so. He should never consider you as a mate or competitor, and if he displays at you that's exactly what's going on in his head. It only leads to one thing unfortunately. When they do that it indicates that their fundamental mindset is skewed, they're seeing the situation incorrectly, and you can't fix it.

I spend a lot of time in the pen and feel really comfortable around him, but perhaps I shouldn't get too comfortable? Getting attacked by a bird that size would really suck.

It does suck. The females are arguably worse though. The males almost as a rule charge as soon as your back is turned, but the aggressive females I've had would flat out attack your face. The same is true for chooks as well.

No, you should never 100% trust any animal, nor human, brains control behavior of both and so many things in the environment (nutrients, toxins, pollutants, viruses, bacteria, etc) can (and regularly do) alter the brain or damage it, and two of the most common results of that are anxiety and aggression. Everything that is good about any animal or human can change without warning due to biological problems.

Another question, does aggression in Toms vary by breed? Are some breeds better or worse than others?

Family line matters far more than breed ever will for that, unless of course the entire breed has been reduced to one family line of small size kept by a very small amount of breeders lol.

There are no breeds of turkeys I'm aware of as being more aggressive than others as a rule, only family lines that are more aggressive, and pretty much all of that is traceable and attributable to how the people that have bred the last few generations kept them and selected their breeders.

Usually, lines that have had a strong reliance on artificial breeding (semen collection and insemination) are more likely to be aggressive in my experience due to cross-species imprinting, viewing humans as both mates and opponents, but that's not true for all and others with no AI in their history are still aggressive, though for other reasons mostly.

For example, I got one family line from some misinformed folk who had been told that white turkeys were meatier. (I'm guessing they were confusing all white turkeys with broiler types or specific meat breed turkeys, but these were just mixed breed turkeys that produced whites alongside blacks and had the same physical type despite the coloration).

Anyway, they kept extremely aggressive males that would attack as soon as your back was turned, and bred them, and inbred them, and inbred them some more, for generation after generation after generation, trying to get more and more whites but not understanding anything about genetics (they had been told 'inbreeding doesn't matter with birds') so they were still producing blacks with every clutch despite breeding whites... Due to the inbreeding of aggressive turkeys for so long, the aggression became a fixed trait in that family line.

The males I bred from their line became aggressive around a year old, the females a bit later, around two years old. Other turkey lines I've kept never became aggressive. That line was terrible for it.

If you want nonaggressive turkeys, best to get some from someone who's bred them into full maturity, and beyond, and has proven their lines have stable temperaments even in full maturity.

Best wishes.

 

[sonjap]

Wow, what an awesome explanation! This should be put in as an article on this web site!

 

[transitbird]

I just found this thread and I'm so glad I did. I want to start raising some turkeys to keep on the farm. Hoping to raise enough to eat but keep a tom and a couple hens for next years table. Your advice was great and gave me something to think about. Thank you for sharing.

 

[FiveTurkeysFarm]

I have been raising turkeys for several years and have rarely had any aggression problems toward me. I have 2 toms that are aggressive toward my son and girlfriend. I have had them since they were day olds and spent a lot of time with them, where as the others haven't. They definitely give warning before attacking. My son carries a net with him and hasn't had many problems since he started carrying it. I haven't run into an aggressive hen yet. I wouldn't let a tom's possible problems deter you from keeping turkeys. I enjoy mine more than the rest of the animals we keep, including the dog.

 

[Fern Valley 4H]

I have found that if you raise them from a young age they rarely become aggressive towards you, I even had a pet bourbon red tom that would follow me around my yard and garden with me

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome.

I've experimented with different methods of raising, interacting with and training turkeys, and experimented with having turkeys raised by their mothers and raised without mothers, some raised by chickens, some I made pets of, others I raised as livestock, and ones I bought in as adults, from a lot of different lines, and the only thing that made them safe was the selection for non-aggression in previous generations. It didn't matter how I raised the offspring and grand-offspring of birds bred along aggressive lines.

I used to think that in terms of behavior, environment and rearing methods must count for a lot more than inherited behavioral patterns (other than the most basic of instincts), but everything I've experienced since has shown me it doesn't matter anywhere near as much as genetic/heritable influences.

Doesn't mean all turkeys from non-aggressive parents will be 100% guaranteed to be non-aggressive, or all offspring from aggressive turkeys will be 100% guaranteed to be aggressive, just that the odds are strongly preferential to taking after the parents.

As with chooks and pretty much all livestock, they can be great pets too, when you get good ones they're just lovely.

Best wishes.

 

[Kathy Keeney]

Great article

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Our Blue Slate heritage Tom just turned 5. We've had him since he was about 10 months old. He adopted us. He has always followed us around the yard like a dog. Last week he attacked the farmhand. (Luckily no injuries). This morning he was fine with the farmhand but lunged at me and the sunflower stalk I was carrying. He used to get along with the chickens but as of 2 years ago he began to hate them and would like to kill them. (We keep them separately.)

He's been babied and well taken care of. Never been hit or abused. He's ending a bad molt which may explain part of it - but can they really change at 5 years old?

 

[Eric E Chicken whisperer]

I have had a Golden Narragansett Tom that i adopted at 1 year of age, he has always been friendly (other then he hated dogs, and cats), but he does play a trick where he would look like he would attack but never did, the only time he ever attacked a human was me (every attack was accidental) since he was trying to guard me from the roosters I tried to catch, he also hit me once when i tried to grab one of his hens to put a legband on her I never blamed him for the attack since he was just doing his job, I had learned he ran away from his last owner, but his previous owner said I could keep him since he was always trying to run away, ever since he ended up at my farm he bonded to me, and my flock, and was always protecting until a few months ago when he passed away on his 6th year