Give me the dirt on turkeys

[2468Chickensrgr8]

Thanks for the information....right now I am just dreaming...getting all the information I can.....

I guess I'll have to build another coop(well hubby will hee hee) I was hoping to section off the chicken coop because its insulated already...but it will be too small....

 

[okwari]

I got 3 "wild" turkeys and a heritage bronze as 4 week old poults this past summer. About 2 monts ago they started pecking at each others heads, doing some brain damage. I now have the surviving bronze. Any ideas why would they turn on each other like that all of a sudden? At first I thought it was male competition, but the female was killed as well. It seemed one of the wild ones was the aggressor, but the bronze was a little older and taller, so he was better able to defend himself. I would like to have more turkeys, but I don't want a repeat of the massacre!

 

[ivan3]

Okwari, welcome to BYC!

Could you describe the size of the 4 turk's run and coop (if any). That level of aggression is not unknown but is usually triggered by crowding. Both hens and toms will pick on the low tom in the pecking order, usually just nips to remind him of his place, but this rarely leads to death. Average sparring between toms might result in fatal infections owing to lacerations to snoods, abrasions/lacerations on head and chawed on caruncles (though our three never did develop infections from these sorts of wounds - cleaned and pine tarred).

Toms can kill one another while sparring (not common), but the only time we've observed anything like this the Wild Eastern wasn't banged up too badly at all (older tom, heart attack?). We had watched one of the wild flock's toms sparring, through binoculars, early in the morning. We found the dead tom at that location later in the day.

They need considerable `leg room'. A separate run for the hens (not in line of sight of the toms) can cut down on all but the normal realignment of the pecking order of the toms.

There is also the unlikely possibility that you got a hold of a tom gone `blood simple'.

ed: sp

 

[ntiveheart]

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

there is NOTHING more appealing than a turkey poult!
the sweet little voice and great big liquid-y eyes have been the
undoing of many a strong man/woman.

trust me when i tell you that teaching a juvenile turkey to step up (like a parrot) is very cute........but when they weigh 20 pounds and insist on riding along on your shoulder, people will point and whisper behind your back.

 

[freemotion]

People already point at me and laugh out loud, and I don't even have turkeys yet!

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
I would say it's probably a space issue. When mine are penned up they fight more, but when they free-range or are out on pasture they get a long a lot better. That said, the bigger ones always pick on the littler ones, and the one darker colored one I had always got picked on by everyone.

Also, I realized that ones brought up in the same family (hatched and raised together) don't do it aggressively toward each other, but if you introduce a new turkey from a different family they go nuts trying to get it -- they can tell each other apart that's for sure.

I had young males that did that to each other and I think they are "practicing" for when they are bigger. It was cute for awhile because they would take turns doing things like sitting on each others heads (!) and it was funny. Then when there hormones started kicking in they got pretty aggressive about it.

Usually they fight but eventually work it out without getting killed, but I'm surprised all yours died. Their beaks are very sharp, though, and I know they really try to go after each other's head sometimes. You might have to have separate pens.

Sometimes what I do is make sure the ones getting picked on have plenty of places to hide and that there are obstacles so the aggressive ones don't always have clear sight. For example, I'll put haybales in a large pen that the turkeys end up chasing each other around or having to duck between the bales. It doesn't stop the problem, but I think it might give the weaker ones a slight advantage. I also make sure to put more than one feeder out in several locations so the weaker ones get a chance to eat and drink away from the bullies.

 

[chickenannie]

i'm getting a new BR tom this week for my 3 BR hens, and was wondering if I live on a farm, if I have to pen up the tom to make him stay or if he will be so enamored by the (free-range) hens that he'll stay around, rather than run away.

My old tom NEVER went anywhere on his own -- he just followed the hens around. Normally when I get new chickens, I pen them up for a week or two to make sure they know were their new home is. (I'll be penning this tom up at night and letting him free-range during the day with the hens.)
Opinions?

 

[ivan3]

I'd keep him penned up unless one of us was here to see if he was so smitten by the hens that he just couldn't leave or, if he was a hen magnet/pied piper/off to the market sort.

 

[freemotion]

What about this one: I will be getting my first turkeys, a pair of Bourbon Reds hatched late last spring and from a different person a couple of 5-month-old Narragansett hens. Can I toss 'em in together, since it will be one Tom and 3 hens, or will that cause trouble? Do I need to divide my pen (big pain) for a period of time, and how long, if so?

My temporary pen will be about 4' x 12', in a barn, until they agree to stay around, then they will have a couple acres to roam on.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Can I toss 'em in together, since it will be one Tom and 3 hens, or will that cause trouble?

Yes you can put them all together. The hens will figure out there pecking order, you will get mixed turkeys at that point.​