How much play time should tom's be allowed outside the coop?

[short feather]

Altho our tom takes his job inside the coop very serious, he will spend hours standing at the fence calling for me to let him out to play and hang with our 140 lb lab, they ruff house, play soccor ball, and will even lay down and sleep together, I now have three hens sitting on lots of eggs, Ive seen him breeding with the turkey hens, he also has 3 ducks and two chicken hens he protects as if they were his babies, but if I sit down he is in my lap for a nap and cuddles, often runs up to me to get his head rubbed, are the things normal for turkeys? How much time should I allow him to interact this way outside the coop?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

As much as you want. If he's having fun than it's all good.

 

[short feather]

QUOTE="oldhenlikesdogs, post: 19774307, member: 368006"]As much as you want. If he's having fun than it's all good.[/QUOTE]

This is our first time raising turkeys, are they always this loving and social, He loves to watch tv, play ball, hang out with me and the dog, friendly with anyone who stops by and would be with us all day if allowed. Or friends got a pair at the same time a year ago and their's are really mean at best, Our 3 hens will also climb up in our laps for hugs and cuddles but with about 25 to 30 + eggs between them that they are sitting on I just wondered if they will all have their parents temperament or is it something we are doing? I really don't want mean birds.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Turkeys hatch ready to learn. They will also bond with their keepers. Many people have friendly turkeys. There's a thread in the turkey forums where members discuss their friendly turkeys. You may want to pop in over there and introduce yourself if you want to talk to others who like hugging their turkeys. Turkeys are definitely different than other poultry. You're isn't too unusual. I personally thing aggressive turkeys are unusual.