Aggressive Tom

[PoppasGrill]

We have 3 Toms, raised from chicks with some bantam chickens.
Recently one of them has started sneak attacks from behind on me, they’ve always puffed up and thumped circling us, but have never been aggressive. If we walk over to them and pet them , they will put the feathers down until they get out of reach, then puff up again.
They are very protective of the bantam chickens they were raised with and the Rooster will smack at our shoes then run to the turkeys.

Also, it’s not all the time, maybe 2 times last weekend, and always the same Tom. All 3 chase my Nephew when he comes into the yard, but he tried to defend himself from the Rooster a few times and the Tom’s took it to heart.

This is them with a bantam hen flock mate.

 

[R2elk]

You have human and chicken imprinted turkeys. Eventually your toms are going to kill your chickens trying to breed them.

They do not understand that there is a difference between them and people and will continue to treat people the same as they would treat other turkeys as they try to find a mate to breed and also to move up the pecking order.

Your turkeys are not safe to be around children and are not going to improve.

There is only one cure.

 

[PoppasGrill]

We have 3 turkey chicks, 3 weeks old, that are with our chicken chicks right now. Should we separate them ?
Don’t know the sex of the 3 yet.
Do you think we can coop up the Tom’s and the new Turks when they get bigger away from the chickens ?
SO is not a fan of culling, to be honest, I’m not great with it either.

 

[R2elk]

We have 3 turkey chicks, 3 weeks old, that are with our chicken chicks right now. Should we separate them ?
Don’t know the sex of the 3 yet.
Do you think we can coop up the Tom’s and the new Turks when they get bigger away from the chickens ?
SO is not a fan of culling, to be honest, I’m not great with it either.

I would not brood turkey poults with chicks. Turkeys imprinted by chickens can be very harmful to the chickens once the turkeys are mature. There is also the feed requirements of the poults needing a high protein turkey or game bird starter for proper development.

You can try cooping your turkeys away from the chickens but your human aggressive toms will never be safe around people.

I understand that many people have a problem with culling but sometimes it is the only solution. You can try rehoming them to people that already have turkeys. Don't ask them what they are going to do with them.

 

[Molpet]

I have the same thoughts as R2elk .
I tried dominating aggressive jakes and for a week or 2 they would behave. I ended up harvesting them and starting over the next year with poults that weren't imprinted on people. Unfortunately, I had chickens hatch out eggs the following year and had issues with chickens getting squashed the next year. Hens that either raised or were raised by the other species have had pecking order issues resulting in chickens death occasionally.