please help, my turkeys are fighting!

[jaydoes]

it seems odd to me that the one being dominated is the one that insists on starting the fights. The one who always wins doesnt really have that much interest in fighting, but the other one insists on displaying and challenging him and so he will reapproach the fight and eventually pin the other one down. Once he's satisfied, he walks away, but the loser will take a little breather and then go charging after him again. Currently, I'm looking for someone to take the aggressive one or to swap him for a female in hopes that I can have happy well adjusted birds.
I'm just not the type of guy who can watch two birds fight until the loser is shaking with pain/fear but refuses to give it up I guess. If I had known that turkeys fight till they are both bleeding rather than just have the lil squabbles that chickens have, I never would have gotten them.
However, they are very friendlly, loving birds who love to hang out with you and be petted.

 

[callieisspooky]

Very late to this thread, but I Googled "turkeys fighting" and found this thread. My male and female are exhibiting the same behavior. First she was the instigator, now he is instigating, but I think both are giving as good as they receive. The male is just now sexually mature and I think she is a bit afraid of him because he's more aggressive now (trying to climb on her and such)

 

[tbc6374]

My new hen is attacking my Tom. I separated them but i wonder if that's just there way of getting to know each other. He doesn't seem to care that's she's beating the fool out of him. Lol

 

[CrxyChickLdy]

Hi, I too have a hen and a tom - at least pretty darned sure of the sex on the hen, has only exhibited hen characteristics until now. They are both Bronze turkeys - bought & raised together and just over 3 months old. Just started occasionally fighting two days ago. Scarlett will get close to Henry & "say" what must be some pretty nagging wife stuff to him (that's my daughter's explanation), as the more she talks (trills that we've not heard from her before), the more puffed up & ticked off he gets. Then they jump at each other then he slaps her around. I've been able to separate them each time so far but didn't realize that the hens would do this.

Any thoughts on why?

In the first picture Scarlet is on the right and she's on the left in the second picture. Like I said - I'm pretty sure she's a hen as she's never strutted or gobbled - only Henry has and she exhibits breeding postures when he's strutting.

 

[CaseyHarris]

I have two Bourban Jakes and two Jenny's. 8 have two Royal Palm Jenny's and four Bronze Jakes, one Jenny. All born July 4, 2016 except the Bronze but they aren't much younger. All raised together, with chickens and even believed a chicken was their momma.

Noticed the two Royal palm hens picking fights with certain chickens and then my mom-agreesive Roos. To the point, all would join in and **** near kill em until I'd break it up. So, I keep them separated from my chickens except one Bourban Jenny, who refuses to stay with the other turkeys and wants to stay with the chickens. She helps protect them and doesn't start fights, so I let her stay.

However, today they all chose a Bronze Jake to gang up on-- well, two. They killed one. Pecked him and attacked until he was bloody and dead. Not sure what will happen to the other. And not sure how to stop this behavior.

I keep them in the garden area-- pretty big area and they have a huge dog pen they stay in and closed off area and perches. In the cage, they don't seem to fight but once we let them in the garden that's fenced, it happens.

 

[feedman77]

as breeding season approaches it will get worse.

so you have 5 toms now to 5 hens. it would be good to seperate the tom you want to breed with then and keep them seperate. but will still be fence fighting. with that many toms your hens stand a good chance of injury or death during breeding season. if on tom gets on the rest will play king of the mountain.
might be time to rehome or send some to freezer camp.

possibly keep 2 toms to 5 hens. 1 would be better.

my Bourbon hen will always pick fights with my roosters. then she gets the toms excited and I've had to break them up a few times. but my roos figured her out now start with her. then run like the wind.

 

[CaseyHarris]

I

as breeding season approaches it will get worse.

so you have 5 toms now to 5 hens. it would be good to seperate the tom you want to breed with then and keep them seperate. but will still be fence fighting. with that many toms your hens stand a good chance of injury or death during breeding season. if on tom gets on the rest will play king of the mountain.
might be time to rehome or send some to freezer camp.

possibly keep 2 toms to 5 hens. 1 would be better.

my Bourbon hen will always pick fights with my roosters. then she gets the toms excited and I've had to break them up a few times. but my roos figured her out now start with her. then run like the wind.

Had actually planned on putting all but one Tom and all Hens in the freezer especially where the Bronze were concerned but they just don't have a good enough size yet. So, I think I'm gonna have to try separating them all for now-- only option is to stick the Bourbans in with the chickens and pray they don't kill any. Those hens love to start fights and then it's like watching a bunch of raptors. They all get in on it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have had turkeys kill chickens. My very first mistake was raising poults with chickens. The turkeys believe they are chickens and will fight with the chickens and kill them. I no longer do that.

My current flock of turkeys were all raised by me. They still will harass and chase my chickens at times, especially the hens. I don't recommend keeping them together. Turkeys need their own shed and run.

Turkeys will start becoming hormonal with the increasing daylight and will start fighting. A couple of my toms have gotten into it already. Your birds will get worse.

Turkeys are troublemakers, it's part of their appeal, but it does call for a different form of management than chickens, at least it has for me.

 

[CaseyHarris]

I have had turkeys kill chickens. My very first mistake was raising poults with chickens. The turkeys believe they are chickens and will fight with the chickens and kill them. I no longer do that.

My current flock of turkeys were all raised by me. They still will harass and chase my chickens at times, especially the hens. I don't recommend keeping them together. Turkeys need their own shed and run.

Turkeys will start becoming hormonal with the increasing daylight and will start fighting. A couple of my toms have gotten into it already. Your birds will get worse.

Turkeys are troublemakers, it's part of their appeal, but it does call for a different form of management than chickens, at least it has for me.

Thanks for that bit of advice. I had initially kept all mine together because, well, for one, I had a broody hen decide that the turkeys were her own chics. All except my Bronze, which we're going to be strictly meat birds. So, I kept them separate and once the Bourbans started attacking the chickens, I put the Bronze and Bourbans together. I figured I'd have to separate them closer to Spring but thought I'd at least have till then. The Bronze aren't big enough to butcher yet but doesn't seem to matter since the Bourbons are attacking and killing them. They have all been together since Summer, and as I said, I was expecting them to fight but closer to Spring. Bad thing is, the Bronze are not aggressive at all. So it's a bullying thing going on. I have certainly learned my lesson. I don't plan on not doing turkeys again but I'll be keeping them separated and in their own pens and such come next time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how many Hens to keep with one Tom? Can I place 5 in with him when I lock them up?

 

[feedman77]

5 to 1 is a good ratio.

you shouldn't have problems with fertility and hens won't be over bred.