Shoud I get Stanley a girlfriend?

[chickndoglover]

I just got a Tom Standard Bronze who is approx.2 years old, he came from other turkeys and chickens, and I have 16 hens and 2 roosters he free runs with. The first 2 days he was (I think) going around calling for some other turkeys, but now he seems to have settled but I was still thinking about getting him a girlfriend, so the question is will a girl make him more aggressive toward the other birds (he doesnt seem to have a problem with anyone now and he is friendly with people also). I always feel kind of bad when I just have one of a animal and think they need there own "kind" for companionship. Maybe someone else has had this experience. Thanks Lisa

 

[ScoobyRoo]

IMO, you may get lucky and he will buddy up with a chicken. That should be okay, I would think. If you do get him a girlfriend, chances are that he will get aggresive during mating season. Just my thought.
But we could always use more turkeys!

 

[crtrlovr]

I know EXACTLY what you're feeling. I have a blue slate turkey hen I got from someone who got her as a tiny poult and later realized it wasn't going to work out b/c the turkey bullied the bantam frizzles she had as her original flock. When I brought her here, since she was the "new kid on the block" she didn't bully anybody, and just thinks she's a big chicken. I asked a friend of mine who's raised all kinds of poultry for years if I should get her a companion of her own kind, and she advised me NOT to, because if she was paired up with a tom it could very well make her aggressive toward the chickens. I'm not sure if it would be the same with your Stanley, but I have decided to just let Honey be happy with her chicken family. BOL with your big boy!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Turkeys are flock animals or sometimes pack animals (like wolves) or gang animals depending on what they are doing at the moment.

In all the years of raising turkeys we have had 1 agressive tom. I have never noticed any change in them during mating season.

The biggest thing to remember with turkeys not to show fear. If they can push you around they will.

Steve in NC

 

[pdpatch]

Personally I would get the Tom at least two females. As far as them getting aggressive that depends on the personalities of the individual poultry. We have a few red sex links for some of our layers, a couple of them are really aggressive when it comes to the turkeys, and the turkeys usually get out of the way. Once in a great while A couple of the turkeys will have enough of the Red Sex Links and go after them and run them off.

What aggression that is show is not real serious, just chasing the others a bit and doesn't last very long.

But Red Sex links are aggressive by nature, The Buff's and Rock's usually get out of the way of turkeys and there is no problems between them.

Tom

 

[lleighmay]

I got my Narragansett tom Arthur two teenage "girls" (at least I'm 99.9% positive they're girls at about 6 mos old) about 6 weeks ago so he can have his own harem and hopefully I'll hatch some poults next year. Right now they all live with the chickens; before they came he just stood around looking clueless most of the time in a befuddled professor kind of way (it should be noted he was raised with chickens so he was not shell-shocked by suddenly finding himself among festively colored midgets). Now that they're here he spends a lot of time displaying and trying to impress them (without any success) and he gobbles more but he's not been remotely aggressive to the chickens unless they pick on him first (which is the way he was before) and he's never been aggressive to me. Of course we'll see what happens come breeding season next spring...... I'm in the process of setting up an old building with high ceilings as a roost and it's got a 24 x 32 old tall dog run attached which I will cover to keep predators out overnight, but I still plan on letting everybody out to range together during the day unless there are problems. Aside from the potential breeding aspects I do feel better that he's got friends of his own kind who speak his language, whether they currently ignore him or not.

 

[TexasVet]

By all means, get him a girlfriend! If you don't, he may try mating with one of your hens. Mine tried with with a hen and a duck and nearly killed both of them.

Turk was also tame as a puppy until breeding season; that's when they'll turn nasty if they're going to. I ended up selling him because we got so tired of being attacked.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.ChickenTrackin.com

 

[paulinaydern]

Our Tom has a girlfriend, but she isn't interested in the mating scene SO he since has moved his love making attention to his new girlfriend...the blue Makita toolbox.

They make a lovely pair.

P.