turkey lissue

[mcanders]

I found one of my Royal Palm toms mating with one of my chicken hens.
She looked a bit dazed but seems fine, will my hens be OK?
Not a lot of data on the internet regarding this subject.
I was given the two guys and am unable to find any adult turkey hens at this time for them to mate with.
All of my poultry free range but I do have an over sized dog kennel I could lock the toms up in .
I would appreciate some expert advice.

 

[ColbyNTX]

She should be fine, although toms can be pretty rough. They can really cut up a hen pretty bad. Did she have any cuts on her? Look under her wings and all over.

 

[ivan3]

Better a Royal than an oversized Bourbon tom (wt. alone could suffocate a standard hen). Best is not having to check your hens daily for `masked' (as ColbyNTX mentioned) injuries, i.e., discovering infected laceration on flank, etc. a week too late. The toms will be fine in a large enough kennel (range them when someone is around). If a tom is observed making a move on a chook dump a bucket of water on it (better yet, spray with a hose); shoving it away with your foot or hands can result in the tom identifying you as a rival and new `sparring' partner (they have been reported to hold a grudge).

Once summer sets in this behavior should diminish.