Morning all, I need some ideas/help on a turkey, cockrel and rooster problem. The cockrel has been challenging the alpha rooster for a few weeks now ( to be expected ), the alpha rooster had kept the 8 month old cockrel in his place until the middle of this week. Now the tom turkey has joined in and has enlisted the help of one of the turkey hens to gang up on the alpha rooster. The poor alpha rooster has gotten beaten up, had his comb and back of his neck pecked and bloodied quiet a bit, he was found cowering/hiding in the laying shed, they have been keeping him off of the feed and water. So far the turkey tom and the cockrel have been caught and put in seperate pens with their own feed and water, the alpha rooster is out free ranging with all of the hens (25 of them, I know he can't cover all of the hens efficently) and the two turkey hens. What further steps do I need to take ? Was planning on leaving the cockrel and turkey tom penned up for about a week( wanted to change their standing in the flock) and go from there. Do I need to trim thethe cockrel and turkey toms beaks ? De spur the two Or do I need to let them all out togather and let them finish working it out? I realy do not want to loose the alpha rooster or let this type of behaviour continue, as I wonder if this kind of ganging up will continue with the other flock mates as time goes on. They have had some pretty nasty fights. I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions.
I have no experience with turkeys, but it s my nderstanding that they can become aggressive to other poultry during the breeding season - to the point of injuring or killing them. I would suggest keeping the turkeys separate from the chicken flock and allowing the dominant rooster to recover before releasing the cockerel.
