BR female is ATTACKING me, does she need a mate??

[Fraunie]

She has always loved me, but the past 3 weeks she has been super mean. I have tried to just avoid her, I have tried to dominate her, I have tried to 'fight' back. Nothing works and I am getting tired of getting blood-welts everytime I go into the corral.

What could be causing the behaviour change? I don't know how old she is, but I'm suspecting about 15-20 months, she came with the house when we moved in May. She is the only turkey, they had another female but she was eaten by a coyote in April.

My friend thinks she might be needing a mate. This summer I posted a few times about how she was 'presenting' to me for mating. Is she mad bc I'm not fulfilling my end of the bargain?? This same friend has a tom that she is willing to give me (not a BR, something else) but the last thing I want is two turkeys pecking at me.

What do you think???

 

[kuntrygirl]

If it were me, I would get her a boyfriend (a TOM).

 

[KrisH]

When we got our first two they were 2 years old, not mean, but not happy for attention either. I sat in the pen and tossed small pieces of bread. slowly getting them closer and closer, after several weeks, they would take bread from my hand and became quite happy when we came to sit every day.

Basically I am asking if you have tried BRIBERY?

RobertH

 

[chickenzoo]

I personally would not give treats when she is acting aggressive. They are very intelligent and that would be training her to do the negative action. I would get her a tom to calm her crazy hormones....and try a spray bottle of water to carry with you as a deterrent. Most of my turkeys are very friendly and those who are not know better to come at me.

 

[KrisH]

I personally would not give treats when she is acting aggressive. They are very intelligent and that would be training her to do the negative action. I would get her a tom to calm her crazy hormones....and try a spray bottle of water to carry with you as a deterrent. Most of my turkeys are very friendly and those who are not know better to come at me.

sorry for the misunderstanding, you are correct. the goal is not to reinforce bad behavior, but reward good behavior, or at least neutral behavior. Kids run to the ice cream truck, walk to the bus, and run from a spanking.

RobertH

 

[Fraunie]

Thank you for your comments!

Yesterday I got a Mottled Black Tom from my friend. He has been kept with chickens of all sizes, an so far seems to be taking to our homestead just fine. They free range in our large corral during the day and go into a coop with an auto door at night. Last night I walked him into the coop before the door closed, once all of the other chickens were in. There was alittle muttering from the others, but he hopped up on the roost and sat in for the night. And he came right through the auto door this morning.

Red still got irritated with me this morning a bit, but as soon as she ruffled her feathers at me, Tom took notice and started displaying for her. Hopefully things will continue this smoothly!

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Fraunie]

OK,

Now the Tom is attacking me!!!! He has only pecked at me a few times, but has aggressively attacked my husband twice. Once he turned a spray hose on him to get out of the pen, then this morning, I had to divert tom while he made his way to the gate, but it was an effort!!

Any new advice?/ I've had the tom for 2 weeks now, and the hen, Red, has not attacked me once. however, the Tom??? I'm just not sure about his behaviour and what is normal, expected for a Tom. He pretty much displays constantly, puffed up feathers, long snood, tilting his tail etc. Then about once a day he does his little dance where he stomps his feet and scrapes his wings on the ground...it's quite an impressive thing to watch. I have no idea what these two behaviours signify.

My babysitter is house sitting over thanksgiving and I am really concerned suddenly with her being able to take care of the animals without getting attacked!!

 

[frank53061]

I have 7 Red Bourbon Toms and 10 Hens at around 7 months of age and I have seen the Toms go threw there pecking order fights.
From what I read they will not be fully grown till around 9 months and I am still seeing changes in them they at this point.
I have not showed any aggression towards me or my kids 17 and 18 years of age.
I think I have read blogs here from other people here that have similar problems.
It seems that most that have had this aggression problem is when there are a very small number of Turkeys say 1 to 3 and there maybe a age factor as well with the hormones.
It maybe the Individual Turkeys personality or the fact that they in some cases need more of there own kind for interactions.
Our Roosters use to give my Daughter problems till I had her show her dominance over them and the problem went away.
Just thought I would throw some thought your way best of luck to you.

 

[Mike Winters]

its hormones turkey can get a nasty temper first thing in the spring and late fall when the daylight is short, maybe lock her up for a while?