Aggressive tom........

[babymakes6]

Has anybody ever tried to "retrain" a turkey to be nice? My tom is starting to become aggressive, and I want to stop it before it gets any worse. He acted like he was going to attack me last night, so I caught him and pinned him down, and petted him and talked to him until he stopped struggling and became submissive. Will this work?

 

[chickenlittle32]

My tom has been doin this for the past couple have months even after we have pinned him down...etc...it's because for here it's breeding season but we may have to do the deed soon because its getting annoying. He's never hurt anyone but I have 3 boys that I don't want to get hurt.

 

[babymakes6]

He is a Royal Palm, about 9-10 months old. I never had a problem with him until last week-my DH has been taking care of the birds because it has been so bitter cold. I don't want to take 3 little children (who already have nasty colds) outside. He is slightly intimidated by the tom, and I think that is what started it. I only have one tom and one hen, and RPs are almost impossible to find around here! My hen came from Miss_Jayne, and the tom came from Arkansas, from JenJScott, so I definitely want to keep him!

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

We are having the same problem, and after much discussion with the local feed store people, I found a local turkey 'expert' and talked with her, as I didnt want to get rid of my beautiful Blue Palm, Well, she solved the problem. Set up a routine, that you can stick to. when you feed every morning, and he sees you for the first time, have some food in your palm for him, something he really likes. I spread scratch every morning, and I save some in the scoop, just for him, and he comes and eats it out of the scoop, (cause he pecks to hard for my hand) and I chat with him and his girls. after a few minutes, i walk away, and we have a truce for the day.

Picking him up and carrying him around worked for a while, but not long, and the food thing has really made a difference. But I still need to watch him around strangers, he just doesnt deal well with them.

Good luck

The culprit

 

[babymakes6]

He is beautiful! Thanks for the advice, I will have to try that. I have never had turkeys before, so I am unsure what works and what doesn't work for turkeys.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I have to agree with sticking to a routine and feeding him. My old tom is very sweet and will eat out of my feed scoop when I let him. He is never agressive with me. I have never had to restrain him, etc. It's a good thing too, becuase he is huge! I have to add that little kids shouldn't be around large birds if an adult isn't present. A tukey could accidentaly hurt a child if it panicked and started flying around or beating it's wings, etc.

 

[Frosty]

I don't trust turkeys around children because they are attracted to and peck at shiney things, which can include childrens eyes.

With Tom turkeys, you could also watch what you are wearing or carrying around them. The color blue in particular seems to set them off, perhaps because of the way thier heads turn blue when they display? More than one turkey has been known to attack blue things...

chickenpiedpiper, your blue palm is gorgeous!!!