BantieMama
In the Brooder
- Aug 18, 2015
- 6
- 1
- 42
This morning when we went to feed our feathered flocks (we have full-sized chickens, banties, ducks and turkeys) we found our two turkey hens had been attacked by the tom. This was no "peck a few times, full a few feathers" kind of attack. The tom had viciously attacked both hens to the point that the hens were very beat up, muddy, had large patches of feathers missing (one had half her back feathers missing and her skin was bloody as was her head and the other hen had all the feathers on her underside missing.) One hen couldn't stand and the other one was upside down on her back and couldn't get up. We uprighted the one hen and she could stand but didn't want to walk. The other hen just laid there, with very labored breathing and eyes closed. They both appeared quite traumatized. While we where still in the pen the tom went and stood atop the poor hen who couldn't stand. We shooed him off of her and took both the hens to warm and dry shelter. (It's cold and wet here.) We're not sure the hen that appears the worse off will survive.
The three turkeys were raised together and about are eight months old. There was another tom in the group but once the toms started fighting we separated him from the others but they are next door to each other and can see each other. The two toms were posturing with each other yesterday but we didn't think anything of it because they can't get to each other.
Anyway my question is why in the world would a tom attack the only available hens around him to the point of almost killing them? We've not had this problem with our chicken flocks that each have a rooster in with hens. Is there anything we can do to keep the tom from attacking the hens? Or will we have to keep our tom separated from the hens forever? We were hoping to have them mate and hatch eggs but if the tom is going to continue attacking the girls all we'll have is dead hens. Do we just have a super aggressive tom who needs to end up in the freezer? He's never been aggressive to either of us. These are the first turkeys we've had so we have no history to help us out.
Have any of you dealt with this problem and what did you do about it?
The three turkeys were raised together and about are eight months old. There was another tom in the group but once the toms started fighting we separated him from the others but they are next door to each other and can see each other. The two toms were posturing with each other yesterday but we didn't think anything of it because they can't get to each other.
Anyway my question is why in the world would a tom attack the only available hens around him to the point of almost killing them? We've not had this problem with our chicken flocks that each have a rooster in with hens. Is there anything we can do to keep the tom from attacking the hens? Or will we have to keep our tom separated from the hens forever? We were hoping to have them mate and hatch eggs but if the tom is going to continue attacking the girls all we'll have is dead hens. Do we just have a super aggressive tom who needs to end up in the freezer? He's never been aggressive to either of us. These are the first turkeys we've had so we have no history to help us out.
Have any of you dealt with this problem and what did you do about it?