Turkey behaviors

[Mrichard0930]

hello my fiancé has three eastern turkeys he bought in June as poults and it’s pretty evident all three are males. We are starting to worry about the dynamics. The one seems left out a lot last on limb and such. Tonight I went out right after it turned dark and the two were on the roosting limb and the one was all the way on other side of pen in a corner lying down. It broke my heart -what is happening ? As they grew up over past few months he always was more skittish and always stays in back when getting treats. Because he’s so skittish my fiancé started letting them free range for an hour or so and stays with them well he tried to get away and he was holding him trying to get him and some of his tail feathers came out - will they grow back? Does that have anything to do with him getting left out even more ? Thanks for any input anyone has

 

[R2elk]

hello my fiancé has three eastern turkeys he bought in June as poults and it’s pretty evident all three are males. We are starting to worry about the dynamics. The one seems left out a lot last on limb and such. Tonight I went out right after it turned dark and the two were on the roosting limb and the one was all the way on other side of pen in a corner lying down. It broke my heart -what is happening ? As they grew up over past few months he always was more skittish and always stays in back when getting treats. Because he’s so skittish my fiancé started letting them free range for an hour or so and stays with them well he tried to get away and he was holding him trying to get him and some of his tail feathers came out - will they grow back? Does that have anything to do with him getting left out even more ? Thanks for any input anyone has

The tail feathers will grow back. They have a defense mechanism that when someone or thing grabs them, they can relax so that the "attacker" ends up with a mouthful or a handful of feathers. They feel no pain when the feathers release like that.

 

[Mrichard0930]

The tail feathers will grow back. They have a defense mechanism that when someone or thing grabs them, they can relax so that the "attacker" ends up with a mouthful or a handful of feathers. They feel no pain when the feathers release like that.

Ohhhh wow thank you for that insight - we were worried about it hurting or something such a relief