Blind turkey needs friends

[cflory]

I have a year and a half old single pet turkey hen who is blind and is terrified of my chickens. I have her in a separate pen right next to the chickens because she gets pecked a lot and won’t eat much, but I’d like to get another turkey hen for her to live with. I’m not sure if I should get one or two. I’m concerned that two would gang up on her, but one may have a tough time acclimating to a new home in its own. My turkey doesn’t roost with the chickens but just sleeps on the ground, and I’m not sure how well she would fit in with normal turkeys especially since she was taught by baby chickens as a poult. If anyone knows anything about turkey pecking order or has advice for my turkey, I’d love some help!

 

[R2elk]

I have a year and a half old single pet turkey hen who is blind and is terrified of my chickens. I have her in a separate pen right next to the chickens because she gets pecked a lot and won’t eat much, but I’d like to get another turkey hen for her to live with. I’m not sure if I should get one or two. I’m concerned that two would gang up on her, but one may have a tough time acclimating to a new home in its own. My turkey doesn’t roost with the chickens but just sleeps on the ground, and I’m not sure how well she would fit in with normal turkeys especially since she was taught by baby chickens as a poult. If anyone knows anything about turkey pecking order or has advice for my turkey, I’d love some help!

Turkey pecking orders can be vicious. If you add a hen, try to get one that is dominant in its current pecking order. It will have less to prove than one that has previously been low in the pecking order.

I would only add one additional hen. Make sure their pen is more than big enough with hiding places and obstacles that can be used by the blind hen to escape any aggression from the new hen.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

Definitely be careful with it. I have 2 half blind hens who both lived at the top of the pecking order for about 4 years, until about 2 years ago when I hatched some new poults and integrated them, and one of them decided to start beating up on the more timid blind hen and almost fully blinded her in her 1 good eye. I ended up having to bring the now almost fully blind hen indoors to treat the injury, but she can't be integrated with the other turkeys again. She gets bullied by all of them and they go for the eyes every time. So now I've had to bring her indoors where I am her company. I got lucky with the fact that she is very content and does well enough indoors (only cries and paces when she is laying an egg, otherwise she bathes herself in her little sawdust pool sometimes and eats more expensive food. she still behaves the exact same way she did when she lived outside w/ the other turkeys full time), and she gets outdoor time in the turkey pen in a closed off chain link so she can be around them with the ability to get away from them if she needs to.

Just definitely be there to watch them for awhile. I wish I could get her a friend, but her sister (who is also half blind, but has the rage of a thousand suns and is the top dominant hen because of it) is too attached to the other turkeys and cries when separated, and she's also the only one who doesn't try to bully her sister anymore besides the tom.

 

[WoDia]

I currently have a blind Bourbon turkey hen housed with (believe it or not) a very docile Silkie rooster. He was separated due to bullying after an injury that has given him a permanent limp. They have become great company for each other. Amazingly, that has worked very well for my situation. If you choose to add a friend, I think just one (hopefully a docile one) so that there will be less opportunity for two healthy hens to potentially bully her. Good wishes!

 

[cflory]

Thank you for all your advice! She will likely get more attention from me when I move with her. I’m leaving my chickens with my parents, but she will have a fenced in backyard at my new house where I can keep an eye on her and give her more individual care. At that point, I probably will have to find another bird to live with her just cause I know how social turkeys are. But she should have lots of space in the yard in case there is violence.