Grabbing a turkey by the leg(s)?

[Amos-Moses]

Yesterday when I picked up 2 hens to add to my rafter, the lady selling advised me not to grab the turkeys by their legs. She told me that I could grab them by their wings, but that grabbing them by their legs may injure them. I was in a hurry so I didnt ask her to elaborate, but can anyone here explain?

...I’ve had turkeys for about 4 months now, and pick them up on a nightly basis to put them in their coop. The technique I’ve developed is cradling them under my right arm like a football, while firmly gripping their legs above the spurs with my left hand. I’ve found that this way I can keep their wings and feet contained, which makes them less likely to fight. Should I not be grabbing their legs? When I bought my first hen, the lady selling her picked the bird up by her feet and held her upside down (which seemed to work pretty well).

How do yall catch and hold your turkeys?

 

[Kessel23]

I do not own turkeys, I assume that it is not to good for any animal to be grabbed by the legs. Holding a turkey by just the legs would, I assume, damage him due to his heavey weight. I know you can not hold ducks buy the legs either. Also, rabbits can not be grabbed by the legs. It is probably not great for any animal to be held by the legs just because the legs are not meant to hold the weight of the body upside down, they are made to have pressure put down on them not to be pulled on by their own weight. I'm not positive though.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hmm... I'm not sure. If we needed to get ahold of our turkeys, we'd snatch them by the legs. Not hung upside down for long, of course

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x Kessel23 I've been told NEVER carry a turkey by it's legs, also the weight of the body puts alot of stress on the legs. I used to carry mine like a football then they got pretty heavy so we had them for dinner

 

[pennyJo1960]

Yesterday when I picked up 2 hens to add to my rafter, the lady selling advised me not to grab the turkeys by their legs. She told me that I could grab them by their wings, but that grabbing them by their legs may injure them. I was in a hurry so I didnt ask her to elaborate, but can anyone here explain?

...I’ve had turkeys for about 4 months now, and pick them up on a nightly basis to put them in their coop. The technique I’ve developed is cradling them under my right arm like a football, while firmly gripping their legs above the spurs with my left hand. I’ve found that this way I can keep their wings and feet contained, which makes them less likely to fight. Should I not be grabbing their legs? When I bought my first hen, the lady selling her picked the bird up by her feet and held her upside down (which seemed to work pretty well).

How do yall catch and hold your turkeys?

alright first the way your describing is just fine your not hanging them bu the legs
so Welcome to Backyard Chickens same as most just worded different

 

[jvls1942]

by the legs, if they struggle and kick, they could hurt themselves.
I don't have a flock of turkeys anymore, but I used to carry them by holding them by goth wings, tight to the base , same with all fowl,
ducks, chickens, geese..

 

[Amos-Moses]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts! That makes sense about hanging them upside down. I feel much better about my technique now. The birds and I have sort of taught each other what works best over these last few months, and I'm glad that the 'football leg hold' is appropriate (since that's what they seem to respond to best).

 

[sfgwife]

Yesterday when I picked up 2 hens to add to my rafter, the lady selling advised me not to grab the turkeys by their legs. She told me that I could grab them by their wings, but that grabbing them by their legs may injure them. I was in a hurry so I didnt ask her to elaborate, but can anyone here explain?

...I’ve had turkeys for about 4 months now, and pick them up on a nightly basis to put them in their coop. The technique I’ve developed is cradling them under my right arm like a football, while firmly gripping their legs above the spurs with my left hand. I’ve found that this way I can keep their wings and feet contained, which makes them less likely to fight. Should I not be grabbing their legs? When I bought my first hen, the lady selling her picked the bird up by her feet and held her upside down (which seemed to work pretty well).

How do yall catch and hold your turkeys?

Why do you pick up each bird to put to bed? Shoo them in.... sticks as arm extensions help if it is only one person puttin them away and they dont wanna go. They do get big and heavy and unruly quickly....

 

[Amos-Moses]

I see your point! Right now I only have 2 birds to put up each night (the 2 new Eastern Wild hens I recently got are still confined to the coop so that they will learn where 'home' is). The tom has learned pretty well what I want each evening when I go to pick him up, and will often begin to put himself up as I approach him. Now I only pick him up if he refuses to move, or if I am in too much of a hurry to wait on him to mosey on back to the coop. The hen is pinioned, and has trouble getting up on the elevated platform that their coop is on (their coop is in a flood area, so I recently had to put it on stilts to keep it dry during heavy rains). She is able to hop up there, since I placed a series of logs that stair-step up to the platform, but seems to have more trouble getting up there under duress (e.g. when I am trying to herd her home). Sometimes she gets so frazzled that she just hides under the coop or runs back off into the thicket. Thus 90% of the time I end up just picking her up and placing her either on the platform or in the coop. I think that she understands what I want though, and that as she gets better at climbing up onto the coop platform she will begin to put herself up more often.

Hopefully my 2 new hens will follow my tom back into the coop each night once I start letting them roam, because they are much less comfortable with me and I would much rather have them put themselves up each night.

 

[R2elk]

I see your point! Right now I only have 2 birds to put up each night (the 2 new Eastern Wild hens I recently got are still confined to the coop so that they will learn where 'home' is). The tom has learned pretty well what I want each evening when I go to pick him up, and will often begin to put himself up as I approach him. Now I only pick him up if he refuses to move, or if I am in too much of a hurry to wait on him to mosey on back to the coop. The hen is pinioned, and has trouble getting up on the elevated platform that their coop is on (their coop is in a flood area, so I recently had to put it on stilts to keep it dry during heavy rains). She is able to hop up there, since I placed a series of logs that stair-step up to the platform, but seems to have more trouble getting up there under duress (e.g. when I am trying to herd her home). Sometimes she gets so frazzled that she just hides under the coop or runs back off into the thicket. Thus 90% of the time I end up just picking her up and placing her either on the platform or in the coop. I think that she understands what I want though, and that as she gets better at climbing up onto the coop platform she will begin to put herself up more often.

Hopefully my 2 new hens will follow my tom back into the coop each night once I start letting them roam, because they are much less comfortable with me and I would much rather have them put themselves up each night.

If you plan on free ranging your turkeys, I would never pinion any of them. It really does affect their ability to escape predators.

I never put my adult turkeys in the coop at night. They have roosts outside that are in an area protected from the prevailing winds. They spend the nights out in all sorts of weather from rain to snow to -30°F.

If I was going to put them in the coop for the night, I would not wait until after dark. Poultry do not like entering a dark place so if you are trying to coop them late in the day, the coop needs to have a light on to encourage them to go in.