Are turkeys aggresive?

[Andkingquail]

Im considering getting turkeys and wondering if their aggressive and if they are, how aggressive are they based on your experience.

 

[R2elk]

I'm considering getting turkeys and wondering if their aggressive and if they are, how aggressive are they based on your experience.

Turkeys can be human aggressive if human imprinted when very young. If the imprinted poults turn out to be males, they can be dangerously human aggressive.

I go out of my way to make sure my poults do not get human imprinted. As adults they are not human aggressive.

 

[Andkingquail]

Turkeys can be human aggressive if human imprinted when very young. If the imprinted poults turn out to be males, they can be dangerously human aggressive.

I go out of my way to make sure my poults do not get human imprinted. As adults they are not human aggressive.

What does imprinted mean? Never heard that before.

 

[Andkingquail]

Turkeys can be human aggressive if human imprinted when very young. If the imprinted poults turn out to be males, they can be dangerously human aggressive.

I go out of my way to make sure my poults do not get human imprinted. As adults they are not human aggressive.

What does imprinted mean? Never heard that before.

 

[R2elk]

What does imprinted mean? Never heard that before.

Birds are very easily imprinted. When they get imprinted they lose the ability to understand that the person or animal that imprinted them is not the same species as themselves and treat that person or species the same as if it was they were same species as they are.

Human Imprinting in Birds

When they were trying to save the Whooping Crane, they were not careful about handling the chicks. They did not have any adult Whooping Cranes to serve as role examples for the chicks. When the chicks became young adults and entered their first breeding season, they would not mate with each other but instead were trying to mate with their handlers that had raised them. After those first failed attempts the breeders would wear crane suits when handling the chicks to prevent them from becoming human imprinted.

You really don't want a large bird trying to mate with you or attacking you as it tries to move up in the pecking order.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

for all the groups of turkeys over 24 years there have been (2) males that where actively follow me around to (attack) easy fix "feed well, eat them).. My male groups will act like farm guard dogs to tresspassers and be very calm accepting interested in you as their family. I don't raise to butcher anymore. Will always have a few males to enjoy them.

 

[Berd Man]

I’m a little late to the conversation and “new” to turkey’s, but I’ll say that imprinted toms are questionable with some people, some of the time. But if you can get turkeys I would be inclined to say try them out. Worst case scenario you can “re-home” them or have a few good meals. Long winded opinion below:

I hatched a small flock of ten Narragansett’s in spring. Only three were females so I got to see a majority of the toms “grow up”. Every one of them was human imprinted due to the way I have to range/ brood/ care for turkeys in my current setup.

The aggression amongst themselves started to pick up around 16 weeks old or so. Around that age they also started to see my wife and kids as possible competitors. Kids have to carry sticks when accompanying me to do chores near turkeys. The turkeys don’t want to get close to kids anymore whenever they’re carrying walking sticks.

You can tell when jakes/toms have fighting on their mind. They posture differently and have distinct vocalizations for when they are about to fight or “attack”. They also change color of their head, I see the pale head generally when they’re thinking about a fight or to breed a hen.

I eventually culled the toms down to the two tamest and most uninterested in my kids. The two I have kept are really not much different than their hen siblings. They like to sit in my lap if I rest somewhere outside, come up for pets. They have never attacked me or tried to mate with my leg or head. That being said they mount hens regularly or if I knock a bucket over they mount it and attempt to mate it. Sometimes they even mate the ground when they get overexcited.

I think you just have to be observant to what the toms are doing, more so than hens. They’re large and do have big claws… will easily scratch you and open you up through clothing. The other thing to consider is turkey’s preen themselves and even sometimes peck or nibble one another. They may nibble or preen you when they sit with you, the bill is razor sharp and you are soft and squishy. Many times have I gotten “friendly” preening nibbles that actually hurt pretty bad.

I raised monitor lizards and other scaly scratchy things in my youth and I have always considered myself a bit more accepting/tolerant of these types of things than most people I know. I am glad they no longer fly onto my shoulder or jump onto my back when I’m doing things out in their yard, but I really enjoy their company and sitting with them in the shade of a tree. I still wouldn’t take a nap in there or anything… they have a curious peck and if they’re curious about your eyeball, even if they’re tame, it’s gonna be real bad.

Photo of my big golden Narragansett Tom coming in for a hug. Notice his little head tucked in out of wind in my hoodie lol they can be very gentle and sweet natured. But you gotta be observant and cautious with birds this size.