A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[R2elk]

The Royal Palm poults are about 4 weeks old. They were adopted by a hen (whose poults I stole) at about 2 weeks old. It took her about 3 days to convince them they she was okay. After that I turned their heat off and they immediately finished bonding.

They were out in the run this morning without her supervision and had a major snood pulling fight. Their snoods are still tiny making it hard but they were fighting just like adult toms. After it was all over and the hen came back out, one of the little ______ was strutting big time.

 

[stephcraig78]

Hey gang! Wow have things changed on here!! New site is great. Well I am still reading through all the posts I missed but in the mean time I have a quick question for you. Still only have my two turkey hens plus the mixed chicken hens. Sold my rooster finally. He just wouldn't play nice. So "Elvis has left the coop"
Anyways my question is about the turkeys. They were out in the yard a couple days ago and I saw them jumping at each other and thought they were playing their typical game of tag as I call it. They chase each other around in circles in what looks like tag. But then I realized they weren't playing. They were grabbing each others snoods and the big skin flap under beak. They became very serious very fast. I had to grab them and physically separate them. They didn't wanna let go. Neither seemed injured really just red pinch marks. No blood. Any idea why they were fighting? Pecking order type thing? Thanks for any help, sure it was nothing but wondered if it's common as they mature.

 

[R2elk]

Hey gang! Wow have things changed on here!! New site is great. Well I am still reading through all the posts I missed but in the mean time I have a quick question for you. Still only have my two turkey hens plus the mixed chicken hens. Sold my rooster finally. He just wouldn't play nice. So "Elvis has left the coop"
Anyways my question is about the turkeys. They were out in the yard a couple days ago and I saw them jumping at each other and thought they were playing their typical game of tag as I call it. They chase each other around in circles in what looks like tag. But then I realized they weren't playing. They were grabbing each others snoods and the big skin flap under beak. They became very serious very fast. I had to grab them and physically separate them. They didn't wanna let go. Neither seemed injured really just red pinch marks. No blood. Any idea why they were fighting? Pecking order type thing? Thanks for any help, sure it was nothing but wondered if it's common as they mature.

It is a pecking order thing and the more you interfere the longer it will take for them to settle it. Once the pecking order is settled it can go smoothly for a long time until something causes a change. The change can simply be due to the lower status turkey getting braver or reuniting after having been separated. Even a separation of a few hours can set it off.

 

[Hillaire]

lol no I didn't put a chick in with them which I could have at the time. Lesson learned I guess

 

[stephcraig78]

I figured that's what it was. So if they do it again I should let them handle it on their own? I haven't noticed them doing any more wrestling. I'm working on building their pen/coop bigger and have already built a smaller quarantine pen for new birds. I am very happy to report the dark hen has re grown all her feathers finally. She looked horrible for quite awhile but is now beautiful. I'm only looking to add a couple of turkeys-a Tom and possibly another hen. I also want to get maybe 6 more chickens. Probably silkie and Orpington. Found some pretty lavender orpingtons I really like. Not positive though.

 

[R2elk]

So if they do it again I should let them handle it on their own?

Just let them work it out on their own.

 

[rjohns39]

Great minds think alike, I put the same age chicks in with mine...BTW I thought it faster than you did..

Definitely quicker on the mouse... That said, the reason I stumbled on using a week old chick, is I set my turkey and hen eggs on the same day, so I had week old chicks when the turkey's hatched. And it worked better. Had I not set the eggs on the same day, I would not have discovered it.

 

[memphis]

Stephcraig, I went through that this spring with my two hens. My first reaction was to break it up, but everyone's advise rang in my ears & I let them settle it. They settled it themselves with a few hard feelings, but now all is fine between them. The funny thing, I was in the house when they started fighting. I didn't hear them, they weren't making any noise. However, two of my aussies started whining, making that " something ain't right" noise. Funny how they realized the girls were fighting, or that "something" unusual was happening in the yard. The dogs are really tuned in.

 

[memphis]

Still no power at my house in Memphis. Got home from Ste. Genevieve last night. Sure is hot & stuffy. Hopefully today it will come on. Meanwhile, Daisy perched on my lawn chair arm just trilling most of the evening. Apparently she took a dust bath in her pen & had little pieces of bedding stuck all over her. I spent a few hours picking junk out of her feathers. Funny how she'll let me do that. She's so easy to deal with. Also dawned on me there aren't any feather combs. I may use some dog grooming tools! One of us needs to invent a comb for feathers.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

ok so Ralphie keeps bugging me to come over here, as a rule of thumb i dont join threads unless i have read all the posts
but i am skipping for this one, sorry

I hatched these 2 a week or so ago, and was wondering if anyone could guess at color

thanks!!!