my toms are brutile to each other will they kill each other ?

[medan]

they grab the other ones head and hold it down bleeding and scars jump up and kick or claw at each other they are 8-9 months old and i have 3 hens all bourbon red they all free range and sleep in the trees or a 20 foot roost i made them they wont go in a hen house or a pen

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

Separate them

 

[Robo]

You can't separate them if they free range so try getting more hens so there is less competition or you could sell the other tom. If you can't sell it Christmas dinner aint far away.

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

Whoops

Didn't see that there!

 

[Robo]

You could also give the other tom some hens of his own with a little coop so they don't hurt him.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Unless one of them is really injured let them have at it. They are settling who is going to get the girls and the pecking order. It's no different with turkeys than it is with chickens.

 

[ShadyHoller]

I went through this same thing with 8 BRs this summer (4 toms, 4 hens). They gave each other such a hard time for a while, and one of them really took a beating. In the end, they figured out their natural order, with a little intervention on our part. It went like this: one of our toms was clearly dominant, and he didn't bother too much with the fighting and squabbling. He was too busy strutting for the girls. One of the other toms was clearly low-guy on the totem pole, and he learned to stay out of the others' way and mind his own business. (He learned that after getting the crud knocked out of him a few times.) The two other toms, who held middle status in the flock, were constantly sniping at each other, but they got the complimentary upgrade to Thanksgiving dinner. Our two surviving toms (the alpha male and the timid runt) are getting along just fine. The hens never cared much to begin with.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Eat 1 for Christmas dinner! Tomorrow would be the perfect processing day just in time for Christmas.