My Life As A Turkey (new documentary)

[Mike Winters]

male turkeys will become aggressive to anything with two legs during the breeding season when there testosterone levels increase. a male turkey high on testosterone is as mean and ill tempered as a bull elephant in mast and act like they are rabid. Usually its the dominate male that gets like this and he will see anything with two legs as a challenge to impress the ladies and to show off is bravery and strength to the other males. check you tube there are plenty of "run from the mad turkey videos" . Always carry a big stick with you if you are near a male turkey that seems to be stalking you so you can beat him with it to show whose boss. and bluffing to them is a sign of cowardice you ether fight or you run. Hens don't get like this or at least i have never seen them get mean.

 

[jasonm11]

Quote:
I had 6 toms this season and not one of them was aggresive in the slightest to anyone including small shildren in my yard in amongst teh hens and chickens. I have had flightly toms that are nervous around people but never aggresive.

 

[Mike Winters]

ya some are nice . i don't know why but some males do get mean while others will want to be held all the time

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
That was precious

 

[backdoorchicken]

link to full episode

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/full-episode/7378/

 

[ColbyNTX]

Quote:
Some will and some won't. I have some toms that are several years old with no aggression ever. If they ever show aggression then they are guests for dinner!

 

[chicmom]

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I can watch the whole thing with this link? I missed it and I am so bummed.....

 

[backdoorchicken]

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I can watch the whole thing with this link? I missed it and I am so bummed.....

yes. just over 50 minutes.

when it starts to play there will be options in the bottom right corner for making it full screen as well

 

[fiberdrunk]

link to full episode

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes … sode/7378/

Fantastic! Thanks for the heads up!​

 

[SonnyGirl]

I have found demestic Turkey Toms to just about never be aggressive. I've never had one of mine even try to peck me. Wild Turkeys, however, are typically more aggressive. They're WILD lol. It is very unfortunate what happened with Joe Hutto and "turkeyboy" in his story. I raised a wild turkey Tom, much like Joe, but he never did anything quite like that to me. However, I can testify that he was generally more aggressive as he grew up, than any domestic toms I've known. Even as a young jake, he would bite at my family's legs and ankles if he felt threatened. He would even try to bite at me sometimes but, unlike Joe Hutto, if I groomed/rubbed his chest and "soothed" him, he always calmed down and stopped being all red-faced lol. If I tried to reprimand him or get "tough" back though - lol, forget about it!! He would get even MORE fluffed up and red-faced and aggressive. I believe he allowed me to calm him down because I was a FEMALE parent to him.

Anyhow, I think most of the time, with domestic turkey toms, people have nothing to fear as far as aggression. Also, the more time you spend with your turkeys, the more inclined they are to human company, especially if you get them from a young age. And always know your birds - if you see a Tom is getting territorial over a hen, don't take the chance of having the children near him at those times