Turkey incapacitated and ate my chicken

[HawaiiCoyote]

I believe that you have that backwards. Chickens tolerate and can be carriers of blackhead which can be deadly to turkeys.

Oops maybe I do thank you for informing me, I have never raised turkeys but I had read that recently

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Wanted to add, you mentioned this was a male turkey. It's likely he started viewing the hens as 'his' and was trying to mate them when you weren't looking. He probably tried it with the one hen, injured her, and then just thought she was dead so started eating her. Birds aren't the smartest bulbs. They go off instinct.

 

[Aklady318]

I can attest to this as my hand raised midgit whites have turned unto a Tag-team bloody roo makin Duo! Yikes! They are 1 year old now and are penned separate from the rest of the flock. I Mistakingly left a gate open and when I came outside for my afternoon hangout there was a full on bloody fight that I had to break up. My poor roos had bloody necks! I was Not expecting that but what a lesson. They are large leghorns too.
My older Tom is blind in one eye so he lives with the flock. Sometimes my roo picks on him but his Jenny will whoop so he mostly leaves my sweet tom alone.
So yeah...i had Nooooo Idea what I was getting myself into wirh turkeys and it Has been more challenging than raising chickens but Very very Worth it!! I got turkeys for the protein in their eggs. Supposed to help with pain from inflammation better? My friend in Alaska told me this as she is a cancer survivor/homesteader. Not sure if it's true or has been proven.
Here's some pics of Tommy Boy and Vivienne.

 

[Devils Flower]

This is very familiar to me. My Tom did the same thing. He killed a hen just out of the blue. To this day I have no idea why. He got along with all the hens and roosters. Even after he killed this one hen he never showed aggressive behavior and never killed again.

 

[Kriscam]

I'm just throwing this out here to increase the amount of information out there for folks considering keeping turkeys and chickens together.

Last spring (March 2020) we got 6 different chickens, all different breeds and 2 turkeys, one Narraganset and one local mutt. The local turkey got killed by an unknown predator when everyone was around 3 months old so Turkey (his proper name) ended up being a lone tom. We kept Turkey with the chickens with only an occasional issue of him aggressively pecking at their combs--small pieces of their combs would sometimes get ripped off but it always seemed like pretty typical bird behavior and didn't lead to much and they got along otherwise. They were free ranging (on an acre) until about 2 months ago when we started making a movable secondary enclosure attached to their run so they wouldn't roam the neighborhood (as they were want to do). About a week ago, Turkey began singling out our beloved black sex-link, Uma--chasing her and becoming more aggressive, even pulling out the feathers on the back of her head. We started keeping them apart if we weren't able to frequently check on them but last night, after a long day at work when I couldn't check on them as frequently as I normally do (and they were let out to free range considering the weather would keep them close), I went out to put them away and found Turkey intently eating the back of Uma's head. To my horror, Uma's skull was exposed and she was not moving much at all but she was still very much alive. We pulled Turkey away and chopped off Uma's head with an axe to end her torture.
Needless to say, this was very traumatic. I would prefer no one else ever find themselves in such a situation--especially if they are creating emotional bonds with their birds.

If you are considering putting turkeys and chickens together, consider this story and keep an eye out for ANY aggressive behavior. From what I've researched, it seems especially dangerous to have a lone Tom in with your hens, but I've read stories of hen turkeys killing chickens and turkeys in a group killing chickens as well so there doesn't seem to be a fail-safe.

So sorry for the loss of your beloved hen. :-(

 

[Sandfly45]

Glad I read this. I have a male and female turkey. The female turkey is hell bent on killing my younger silkies and i had to take wee Alphy to the vet last week to get her patched up. The male turkey is lovely and docile and I love him. So I was going to dispatch the female turkey but am worried about how the Tom will cope being single. Looks like it's not a good idea to have a single Tom with my beloved other birds.

 

[Sandfly45]

Glad I read this. I have a male and female turkey. The female turkey is hell bent on killing my younger silkies and i had to take wee Alphy to the vet last week to get her patched up. The male turkey is lovely and docile and I love him. So I was going to dispatch the female turkey but am worried about how the Tom will cope being single. Looks like it's not a good idea to have a single Tom with my beloved other birds.

Actually forget what I just wrote about my lovely Tom... he just cornered and attacked my pheasant so off they go to new homes today

 

[R2elk]

Actually forget what I just wrote about my lovely Tom... he just cornered and attacked my pheasant so off they go to new homes today

I don't know your full situation but you cannot keep turkeys in as small an area as you can keep chickens. Turkeys like guineas need lots of room.

 

[Turkey babies now]

I'm just throwing this out here to increase the amount of information out there for folks considering keeping turkeys and chickens together.

Last spring (March 2020) we got 6 different chickens, all different breeds and 2 turkeys, one Narraganset and one local mutt. The local turkey got killed by an unknown predator when everyone was around 3 months old so Turkey (his proper name) ended up being a lone tom. We kept Turkey with the chickens with only an occasional issue of him aggressively pecking at their combs--small pieces of their combs would sometimes get ripped off but it always seemed like pretty typical bird behavior and didn't lead to much and they got along otherwise. They were free ranging (on an acre) until about 2 months ago when we started making a movable secondary enclosure attached to their run so they wouldn't roam the neighborhood (as they were want to do). About a week ago, Turkey began singling out our beloved black sex-link, Uma--chasing her and becoming more aggressive, even pulling out the feathers on the back of her head. We started keeping them apart if we weren't able to frequently check on them but last night, after a long day at work when I couldn't check on them as frequently as I normally do (and they were let out to free range considering the weather would keep them close), I went out to put them away and found Turkey intently eating the back of Uma's head. To my horror, Uma's skull was exposed and she was not moving much at all but she was still very much alive. We pulled Turkey away and chopped off Uma's head with an axe to end her torture.
Needless to say, this was very traumatic. I would prefer no one else ever find themselves in such a situation--especially if they are creating emotional bonds with their birds.

If you are considering putting turkeys and chickens together, consider this story and keep an eye out for ANY aggressive behavior. From what I've researched, it seems especially dangerous to have a lone Tom in with your hens, but I've read stories of hen turkeys killing chickens and turkeys in a group killing chickens as well so there doesn't seem to be a fail-safe.

Turkey may have been trying to mate her and then saw a spot and pecked and pecked and then it turned into something more. Turkeys are not super aware of themselves. Turkeys get upset with change and stress. Maybe should leave turkey out of enclosure. They can do pretty well by self. Will fly to top of house or shed. Too small of an area can cause canibalism in animals.