New to turkey raising - mating question

[SDRanchLDY1]

Hi Everyone! I'm new to raising meat birds and have two white broad breasted turkeys. One turned out to be a tom and the other a hen. We are planning to process them this fall (even though I would much rather keep them as pets) but that was the plan from the start. Anyway - the tom is starting to try to mate with the hen. He gets up on her back and fumbles around for awhile. It looks pretty painful for the hen. Any advice? I know he's too big to actually mate successfully, but I don't want her getting hurt in the meantime.

Next time we are getting a pet turkey, but will get a heritage so it can live a more normal life, breed and live longer. Thanks for the help!

 

[R2elk]

Hi Everyone! I'm new to raising meat birds and have two white broad breasted turkeys. One turned out to be a tom and the other a hen. We are planning to process them this fall (even though I would much rather keep them as pets) but that was the plan from the start. Anyway - the tom is starting to try to mate with the hen. He gets up on her back and fumbles around for awhile. It looks pretty painful for the hen. Any advice? I know he's too big to actually mate successfully, but I don't want her getting hurt in the meantime.

Next time we are getting a pet turkey, but will get a heritage so it can live a more normal life, breed and live longer. Thanks for the help!

BBWs can mate naturally and the best chance for successful natural breedings is by using yearlings.

If you are concerned about the hen getting injured, either separate her from the tom or put a turkey saddle on her for protection.

 

[SDRanchLDY1]

BBWs can mate naturally and the best chance for successful natural breedings is by using yearlings.

If you are concerned about the hen getting injured, either separate her from the tom or put a turkey saddle on her for protection.

Thank you R2elk! That is great to know! Our turkeys are only 4 months old, but the Tom is huge! Is the saddle something I should leave on longterm day and night? Or do they go through phases where they breed for awhile and then stop? He steps on her neck quite a bit in the process which scares the hell out of me, but she always wiggles out of it. I have to say I don't think my Tom is very graceful lol.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you R2elk! That is great to know! Our turkeys are only 4 months old, but the Tom is huge! Is the saddle something I should leave on longterm day and night? Or do they go through phases where they breed for awhile and then stop? He steps on her neck quite a bit in the process which scares the hell out of me, but she always wiggles out of it. I have to say I don't think my Tom is very graceful lol.

Definitely leave the saddle on any time that they feel that it is breeding season. BB turkeys have their breeding seasons really messed up because the hatcheries have been selectively breeding them to have fertile eggs available all year long.

I do not recommend allowing BB hens to go broody and hatch and raise their own poults. Without artificial insemination the fertility of the eggs may be poor. The BB hens do not have the ability to move their feet as delicately as can heritage hens. This can result in broken eggs and stepped on poults.

 

[PeacockNFlight]

I have a Tom and a hen and seen him mate with her the first time. Not what you expect to see when you have raised only chickens. Wait until you see him “dance” for her. Even funnier! I videotaped him because I thought their was a mental conditioned that needed to be addressed.

 

[Molpet]

a BYC member @Auroradream26 makes turkey saddles for BB too
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-turkey-saddles-aprons-bantam-and-lf.1218316/

 

[OneMountainAcres]

a BYC member @Auroradream26 makes turkey saddles for BB too
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-turkey-saddles-aprons-bantam-and-lf.1218316/

Thank you @Molpet! Yes, I make broad breasted AND heritage sized turkey saddles. I leave mine on my girls at all times unless they're having an excessively hard Molt, then I take it off for a while.

Heritage:

Broad breasted:

 

[joojy]

I was watching my birds this morning. I have royal palms. 2 are sitting on what looks like bad eggs. So the one goes in the coop right to her preferred male and lays down to mate. However the dominant male keeps coming over and she leaves, it's pretty funny that there is a preference.

 

[Chickenfoot55]

BBWs can mate naturally and the best chance for successful natural breedings is by using yearlings.

If you are concerned about the hen getting injured, either separate her from the tom or put a turkey saddle on her for protection.

I found my tom sitting on some chicken eggs in the coop. He would not move till I got all the eggs out from under him. He is a Bronze turkey and a guard turkey. Also a pet. His name is Mr Hornswaggle aka Joe Namath lol. Do males do stuff like this? He is a year old now. Time for a Missus?

 

[R2elk]

I found my tom sitting on some chicken eggs in the coop. He would not move till I got all the eggs out from under him. He is a Bronze turkey and a guard turkey. Also a pet. His name is Mr Hornswaggle aka Joe Namath lol. Do males do stuff like this? He is a year old now. Time for a Missus?

Some, not all toms can appear to go broody. They are not good at it and tend too break the eggs.

It is not a good idea to keep a lone tome with chickens. When they try to breed the chickens, it usually ends up with dead chickens.

Turkeys are very social and should have other turkeys for companions.