I hate my turkey!

[aussieheelr]

I had a sweet, dumb tom a few years ago. And boy did he taste WONDERFUL! Best turkey ever, and my dad is horrible at cooking turkey so it wasn't the cook.

 

[Emzyyy]

Oh but today at the zoo they had this male turkey that was following me around because I was copying the noise he was making and he just didn't want me to leave and was freaking out when I walked into the building it was adorable

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I don't understand what his problem is. Although he gets very excited when I carry a bucket, so I tried feeding him in a container tonight and that helped. I was feeding in a chicken fdr, the long open type. He did still peck my boots and make the dinosaur noise.

 

[chickenannie]

I'm guessing his temperament is why he was sold at auction. Some of the meanness in a tom comes purely from temperament and some comes from treatment by the earlier owner. If he's already established very bad behavior, it probably will be hard to re-train him. However, I've noticed that young men tend to be aggressive toward my turkeys from the get-go which makes the turkey defensive too. You might want to make sure that your son (no offense) is not kicking at it or aggressing it or shouting at it in any way. This is how I act toward my turkey -- as if he doesn't exist. I just ignore him, and he, and my past turkeys have not had behavior issues.
If your son is not acting aggressively, and the turkey is just mean, then probably turkey burgers.

 

[kees]

Quote:
What kind of turkey is it? Don't give up on turkeys! I have Bourbon Reds and they're so sweet.

Suzy

 

[RockyToggRanch]

He can be kinda good when I'm ignoring him. He does peck my boots though. But as soon as I look at him or speak to him he does the dinosaur voice and flogs. When he sees a bucket he has a chirpy high pitch and acts hungry. When he hears my voice across the lawn he has a chirpy lower voice. It's the neck straight out, dinosaur voice that bothers me.

 

[chickenzoo]

Perhaps a water bottle on high squirt to the face/eye might snap him out of flogging??????? It would be kinder than a paint ball to the butt........

 

[MandyH]

Out of hundreds of turkeys I have raised, I have only had ONE that had a mean streak in him. I raise blue slates and they are THE most docile, sweet tempered animal I have ever seen. Well last Spring we went out to feed as we do everyday and this tom decided he wants a piece of ME. BIIIIIIIIG mistake. He got the business end of the shovel and we didn't have anymore trouble, for a bit. He still would still sneak up behind me and when I turned around he did too, kinda like "What are you looking at, I'm not following you" Well one day he decided to take on my 3 year old DD. That turkey stood taller than her, and he had never once gone after her. Well what did she do? She ran like the wind, and he took off right behind her. I had to break out in a full sprint( not easy, big woman, not FloJo) to get across the pasture and beat the mess out of him while my DD was trying to climb my legs. Needless to say, he couldn't be trusted and was rehomed IMMEDIATELY. Once you have a floggin rooster or aggressive Tom, they are hard to break from that nasty behaviour.

 

[gypsy2621]

this might sound dumb. but in what voice do you speak to him?
is it a low manly voice, hig piched baby type voice?
maybe he is associating the tone of voice as a threat?
I havent heard any of my toms do the prehistoric growl as yet.
Even the 10 month old Jersy Buff putt putts me when I talk to themm even while giving me the stink eye for touching one of his wards.
He is the babysitter to 5 other tom turkeys much younger than he.
I do however find it comical when he thinks heis going to eat my 60 lb malamute puppy though.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Well, I don't like to think I speak manly to anyone other than DH when he ticks me off. I speak in the same voice as for the others. Kind of like I would speak to a cute 5 yr old. When he starts his crap, I get louder and firmer and tell him to remeber the rake.

I fed him in a bucket this morning and he was fine. We'll see what happens this evening.