Fighting toms?

[Frosty]

Does this look like damage from fighting? I have a few wild turkeys that seem to want to live with me. There is a tom who came here as a baby with his mom in 2017 and stayed. Last winter 2 more young toms showed up and wouldn't leave. The 2 stuck together all summer, then about a week ago the 2 of them got into a fight. It looked pretty vicious and they were at it for about half an hour. Later I went out to check on them and they were sitting on a fence rail about 2 feet away from each other. All seemed calm after that, I wondered if it was set off by a flock that moved in and appears to be a hen with a late hatch brood that looks like mostly females. Yesterday I was outside and the 2 younger toms look awful. Does it look like they've been fighting again? The older tom looks fine. My concern is that AI has showed up at 2 farms in my county recently and apparently some of the symptoms can be darkened skin and swelling. I am really hoping this is just from fighting and that the new flock didn't bring anything with them!

 

[Molpet]

Looks like mine when they have been fighting

 

[Frosty]

Looks like mine when they have been fighting

Thank you, that makes me feel better!

 

[R2elk]

Does this look like damage from fighting? I have a few wild turkeys that seem to want to live with me. There is a tom who came here as a baby with his mom in 2017 and stayed. Last winter 2 more young toms showed up and wouldn't leave. The 2 stuck together all summer, then about a week ago the 2 of them got into a fight. It looked pretty vicious and they were at it for about half an hour. Later I went out to check on them and they were sitting on a fence rail about 2 feet away from each other. All seemed calm after that, I wondered if it was set off by a flock that moved in and appears to be a hen with a late hatch brood that looks like mostly females. Yesterday I was outside and the 2 younger toms look awful. Does it look like they've been fighting again? The older tom looks fine. My concern is that AI has showed up at 2 farms in my county recently and apparently some of the symptoms can be darkened skin and swelling. I am really hoping this is just from fighting and that the new flock didn't bring anything with them!

Yep, equally matched toms can fight for a long time with neither winning. Around here the fighting usually starts in February and continues through the summer.

 

[Frosty]

Yep, equally matched toms can fight for a long time with neither winning. Around here the fighting usually starts in February and continues through the summer.

It's really early for them to be fighting here, I suspect the girls showing up set them off. I did have problems with them harassing the older tom last summer which is why I repeatedly tried to chase them off. He solved that by flying into my pen to escape them. There is a BB tom in the pen, he and the old guy fought through the fence but ignored each other when there wasn't a fence between them. Right now the old tom sits back and watches these 2 try to kill each other.

 

[R2elk]

he and the old guy fought through the fence but ignored each other when there wasn't a fence between them. Right now the old tom sits back and watches these 2 try to kill each other.

Putting a fence between two toms that get along almost always escalates to fighting through the fence.

Turkey fights can go on for long periods of time but it is very rare that they fight to the death.

 

[SarahGfa]

Not to alarm you but I had several toms with wet fowl pox that looked exactly like that.

 

[R2elk]

Not to alarm you but I had several toms with wet fowl pox that looked exactly like that.

That may be but the images posted certainly look like fighting injuries.

 

[Frosty]

That may be but the images posted certainly look like fighting injuries.

Hopefully it's from fighting... these are wild turkeys, not mine and I know of at least one fight between the two. I first noticed their faces on Dec 31st. Took pictures of the 1 on Jan 1st, the other wasn't coming down from the tree. He stayed up there in the same spot for 2 days, today he came down. He looks bad! But now that he's down he is eating and seems like he's feeling better. More alert and back to getting nervous if I get too close. Posting a picture of him...

 

[Frosty]

Putting a fence between two toms that get along almost always escalates to fighting through the fence.

Turkey fights can go on for long periods of time but it is very rare that they fight to the death.

Interesting about fences... one day the gate was open and the 2 were arguing through the fence. The paced back and forth while fighting, dtopped fighting to walk past the open gate, resumed fighting on the other side.

It's 14 below out there,if he didn't come down and start eating he probably would have died soon.