How to handle an aggressive Tom Turkey

[jopheso]

Sometimes our large males get a little aggressive. I thought it might be helpful to demonstrate how to properly handle these boys!

 

[R2elk]

Sometimes our large males get a little aggressive. I thought it might be helpful to demonstrate how to properly handle these boys!

That looks like a demonstration of what not to do.

Never back away from an aggressive tom. Never kick animals of any kind.

Carry a long stick but do not use it as a weapon and do not use it to hit the tom. The stick should be used as an extension of the arm to direct the turkey what direction to move in.

In the case of severely aggressive toms, they should be processed beginning with the removal of the head.

 

[R2elk]

Have you ever been nailed in the side of the knee by a big tom. Don't tell me never kick this type of animal.

Kicking can cause serious injuries to animals. They do not fear or respect kicking. It can cause them to be more furtive about their attacks meaning they will be more likely to attack from behind instead of a frontal attack. If you have a tom that is that aggressive, invite it to dinner.

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

The reasons why he is aggressive is because the teen boy is wearing blue and red, they do NOT like those colors, I have seen this first hand in my Tom he hates it when I wear those colors! he tries to do the same thing! what I do is I carry a stick when I wear those colors just to keep a safe distance. Try to avoid kicking the tom, I understand kicking the air or stomping to try and scare them away while you flee but never hit them, it just makes them fight harder. Also I agree never turn your back trust me, even if you think you can run they can run a lot faster! As for culling them, please don't! things like aggression can be remedied!

 

[jopheso]

I understand I have a toddler too, but I'm a firm believer in rehabilitating birds, I'm not too fond with culling anything. There's always someone out there willing to take in a problem bird and rehabilitate it. Just know that any turkey could appear bad especially during mating seasons and again they seem to despise certain colors.

Well maybe Im not explaining myself to well...these birds are being raised for meat and eggs. They are not pets. I give them a wonderful free range life, but their job is to feed my family. If he was a pet I would not look to culling as an answer for behavior at all. I would rehabilitate or rehome, but since his purpose was the table anyway, he just increased the speed at which he found that final place

 

[TheTwoRoos]

gotta eat

 

[jopheso]

It is a demonstration of a lot of things, mostly just comedy. The title is sarcastic. I just thought it was funny so I posted it

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

Ps. They hate those colors because they think it's another male Turkey.

 

[jopheso]

The reasons why he is aggressive is because the teen boy is wearing blue and red, they do NOT like those colors, I have seen this first hand in my Tom he hates it when I wear those colors! he tries to do the same thing! what I do is I carry a stick when I wear those colors just to keep a safe distance. Try to avoid kicking the tom, I understand kicking the air or stomping to try and scare them away while you flee but never hit them, it just makes them fight harder. Also I agree never turn your back trust me, even if you think you can run they can run a lot faster! As for culling them, please don't! things like aggression can be remedied!

Wait we could have fixed this behavior?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! You mean I could have saved him from the freezer???



Just kidding his fate was sealed long ago. I have 2 small children 7 and 5 and he went after them with bad intentions twice. If it was just my bigger boys or me then a little aggression is no problem, but with the little ones he could have done real damage so he had to go. Its ok it gave my midget white male a chance to be the king, but only until my batch of 13 Narris grows up and I find a new big male.

And FYI the title to that video is a joke, we weren't trying to handle him at all. I knew what would happen when my son was back there I just decided to film it, because messing with teenagers is a time honored tradition

 

[ILuvMyFlock]

Wait we could have fixed this behavior?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! You mean I could have saved him from the freezer???



Just kidding his fate was sealed long ago. I have 2 small children 7 and 5 and he went after them with bad intentions twice. If it was just my bigger boys or me then a little aggression is no problem, but with the little ones he could have done real damage so he had to go. Its ok it gave my midget white male a chance to be the king, but only until my batch of 13 Narris grows up and I find a new big male.

And FYI the title to that video is a joke, we weren't trying to handle him at all. I knew what would happen when my son was back there I just decided to film it, because messing with teenagers is a time honored tradition

I understand I have a toddler too, but I'm a firm believer in rehabilitating birds, I'm not too fond with culling anything. There's always someone out there willing to take in a problem bird and rehabilitate it. Just know that any turkey could appear bad especially during mating seasons and again they seem to despise certain colors.