Black Lesions on Toms

[TedEngel]

I have two Narragansett toms in a tractor with a few hens. Today when I came home from work, I saw that their waterer had come apart. I have no idea how long they were without water. I give them fresh water twice each day.

Both toms’ heads were bright red, and their snoods were very engorged. One was up on a roost being clearly very submissive to the other.

What concerns me, though, is that both had black lesions on their heads near their eyes. Heaving heard about blackhead disease, this has me worried. I’ve never noticed such lesions before, and the hens appear to be unaffected. This is my first year keeping turkeys.

Is it possible they became agitated from the lack of water and began fighting, pinching one another’s skin with their beaks?

Or do I need to be concerned about illness?

I have attached a photo.

Thank you for your help!

 

[R2elk]

I have two Narragansett toms in a tractor with a few hens. Today when I came home from work, I saw that their waterer had come apart. I have no idea how long they were without water. I give them fresh water twice each day.

Both toms’ heads were bright red, and their snoods were very engorged. One was up on a roost being clearly very submissive to the other.

What concerns me, though, is that both had black lesions on their heads near their eyes. Heaving heard about blackhead disease, this has me worried. I’ve never noticed such lesions before, and the hens appear to be unaffected. This is my first year keeping turkeys.

Is it possible they became agitated from the lack of water and began fighting, pinching one another’s skin with their beaks?

Or do I need to be concerned about illness?

I have attached a photo.

Thank you for your help!

Looks like they had a doozy of a fight. They should both heal fine without any intervention from you. You should do something about separating them before breeding season.

 

[TedEngel]

Looks like they had a doozy of a fight. They should both heal fine without any intervention from you. You should do something about separating them before breeding season.

Thank you very much for the reply!

That’s what I was thinking, but I was having a case of the newbie jitters and wanted to make sure.

I’ll definitely be splitting them up soon. Within the next week, actually. I have a third tom in another tractor. I’m planning to butcher one of the three toms and most of my hens this weekend to have for the holidays. Once that’s done, each of the remaining toms will have his own tractor while I get things set up to breed them in the spring.

Thanks again!

 

[R2elk]

Thank you very much for the reply!

That’s what I was thinking, but I was having a case of the newbie jitters and wanted to make sure.

I’ll definitely be splitting them up soon. Within the next week, actually. I have a third tom in another tractor. I’m planning to butcher one of the three toms and most of my hens this weekend to have for the holidays. Once that’s done, each of the remaining toms will have his own tractor while I get things set up to breed them in the spring.

Thanks again!

Don't butcher too many of the hens. I try to keep a minimum of four to five hens for one tom. Others have success with 10 hens per tom.