2 turkey broody hens fighting over small chicks?

[Lirybka]

Hi guys!

Does anyone have an experience with raising turkeys and having two turkey mamas with chicks at the same time in the same pen that do no like each other?

3 weeks ago the first clutch hatched, about a week later the 2nd one followed. I kept them separate until yesterday as the latter clutch wasn't going out from the coop yet but now they are out as well and it seems that the first mama thinks the 2nd one has no place next to her so she would chase her as soon as she thinks she should got too close.
Their chicks mix and do not stick just with their mamas as they seem to be adventurous enough to "trespass" through the fence gaps into the back garden where I grow vegetables.
Obviously, the turkey mama cannot get there so she would only stick around the fence and keep calling them back as soon as they signal they are lost.

What I am concerned about is that the latter turkey hen will be unable to tend her chicks of which some are still quite small (most of them will be 2 weeks in few days time though) whilst having to run away from the other chasing adult turkey hen.

Will they sort it out or do I have to intervene?

 

[fairie]

I am going to follow this thread. We have had 2 hens sitting on eggs in the same nest. We removed all the chicks as they hatched because it was bad enough that they fought over eggs and broke them. I am wondering when to re-introduce the babies too. We also have a fencing issue.

 

[R2elk]

Hi guys!

Does anyone have an experience with raising turkeys and having two turkey mamas with chicks at the same time in the same pen that do no like each other?

3 weeks ago the first clutch hatched, about a week later the 2nd one followed. I kept them separate until yesterday as the latter clutch wasn't going out from the coop yet but now they are out as well and it seems that the first mama thinks the 2nd one has no place next to her so she would chase her as soon as she thinks she should got too close.
Their chicks mix and do not stick just with their mamas as they seem to be adventurous enough to "trespass" through the fence gaps into the back garden where I grow vegetables.
Obviously, the turkey mama cannot get there so she would only stick around the fence and keep calling them back as soon as they signal they are lost.

What I am concerned about is that the latter turkey hen will be unable to tend her chicks of which some are still quite small (most of them will be 2 weeks in few days time though) whilst having to run away from the other chasing adult turkey hen.

Will they sort it out or do I have to intervene?

It is never a good idea to put 2 hens and their clutches in the same pen. Even if they were the best of friends before there is likely to be problems between the hens. The fighting and running can very easily get some poults killed. Not all hens are accepting of poults from other hens and some have been known to kill any poults that are not their own while others will adopt any poults.

My recommendation is to put the hens and their clutches in separate pens that enclosed with wire that has small enough openings that the poults cannot get throught the fence.

Because of the many things that can go wrong, I normally take the poults as they hatch and raise them in a brooder.

Good luck.

 

[R2elk]

I am going to follow this thread. We have had 2 hens sitting on eggs in the same nest. We removed all the chicks as they hatched because it was bad enough that they fought over eggs and broke them. I am wondering when to re-introduce the babies too. We also have a fencing issue.

I introduce brooded poults to the flock after they are off of supplemental heat and are mature enough to eat the same food as the rest of the flock. If I have a hen that has just hatched poults, I will give her the opportunity to adopt poults that are at least 2 weeks old. I do this by placing the hen in the same pen with the poults. If she is willing to adopt them she will coo and talk to them trying to get them to come to her. If she exhibits other behavior such as pecking them, I remove her from the pen and continue raising them alone. The older poults will normally be terrified of the "big monster" and it often takes days for the hen to convince the poults that she is the mother.

This only works if the hen is still in the lost poult mothering stage. If the hen has not had poults for a couple of weeks she is not very likely to adopt older poults.

Good luck.