Well, it's happened...my tom from this spring challenged his father. I don't know what started it, I was off in another part of the yard tending a burn pile, but I heard the other turkeys chattering, and heard some commotion, so I went to see what was up. GOOD GRIEF!!
They were bumping and biting, intertwining their necks and biting the poo out of each other. At one point, they had each other's snoods and were walking in circles. I broke them up and took the Inky the One-eyed Turkey to another part of the yard to cool down. Not even five minutes later, they were back at it again. This time they were locked in the kiss of death--they were clamped inside each other's mouth! Inky looked like he had Skittles' head halfway down his throat. I broke them up again after a few minutes of pushing and huffing. The whole time, a younger tom that has just discovered he's a male was puffed up and circling, along with all the other turkeys watching the proceedings, probaby cheering the fight on in turkey language.
Normally timid Skittles didn't want to leave it alone when it was obvious that he'd won, so I put Inky in a pen to catch his breath. A few minutes later, Skittles found him and was trying to challenge him through the wire, so Skittles ended up in a separate pen himself.
I know that Skittles has been breeding with one of the hens lately. I'm guessing that this is all a show of who's the top tom, but I don't want to have to worry about them hurting each other, especially since Inky only has one eye. Should I be concerned or just let them do their thing?
They were bumping and biting, intertwining their necks and biting the poo out of each other. At one point, they had each other's snoods and were walking in circles. I broke them up and took the Inky the One-eyed Turkey to another part of the yard to cool down. Not even five minutes later, they were back at it again. This time they were locked in the kiss of death--they were clamped inside each other's mouth! Inky looked like he had Skittles' head halfway down his throat. I broke them up again after a few minutes of pushing and huffing. The whole time, a younger tom that has just discovered he's a male was puffed up and circling, along with all the other turkeys watching the proceedings, probaby cheering the fight on in turkey language.
I know that Skittles has been breeding with one of the hens lately. I'm guessing that this is all a show of who's the top tom, but I don't want to have to worry about them hurting each other, especially since Inky only has one eye. Should I be concerned or just let them do their thing?
