Turkey mating injuries.

[sirrobyn0]

So we have had a somewhat ongoing issue the last few years, and that is with the Toms injuring the hens during mating. Specifically tearing the hens skin, some of the injuries have been pretty bad. And we just had another injury a few days ago. This injury I would describe as above the thigh, in the past it'll been mostly skin, some requiring stitches. This one there is quite a bit of muscle injury. She's been cleaned up, stitched up and is in a separate area recovering. We are doing fine with her medical needs that's not my question here, the question is how to prevent injuries like this in the future. We have multiple breeds of turkey hens and toms, this problem seems to be only occurring with the royal palms, not sure that really matters, but thought I'd just mention that. Thanks.

 

[Molpet]

Turkey saddles... @OneMountainAcres makes them

 

[R2elk]

So we have had a somewhat ongoing issue the last few years, and that is with the Toms injuring the hens during mating. Specifically tearing the hens skin, some of the injuries have been pretty bad. And we just had another injury a few days ago. This injury I would describe as above the thigh, in the past it'll been mostly skin, some requiring stitches. This one there is quite a bit of muscle injury. She's been cleaned up, stitched up and is in a separate area recovering. We are doing fine with her medical needs that's not my question here, the question is how to prevent injuries like this in the future. We have multiple breeds of turkey hens and toms, this problem seems to be only occurring with the royal palms, not sure that really matters, but thought I'd just mention that. Thanks.

This happens whenever you have multiple toms in with the hens. The injuries occur because the tom on top of the hen is scrambling to keep his position on her back while another tom is trying to knock him off of her back.

Another time this happens is when a tom has access to a hen's nest. The tom with take the sitting hen as an invitation to breed. The hen will resist the breeding attempt and can get injured from the tom clawing to stay on her back. That can also lead to broken eggs in the nest.

1 - Do not keep multiple toms in the same pen with hens during breeding season.

2 - Make sure the tom's toenails are kept trimmed and dulled.

3 - Make sure you put saddles on your hen.

4 - Do not allow any toms to have access to the hens' nests.

If it is one particular tom causing the problems, cull him from your breeding group and replace him with a tom with better breeding habits. Poor breeding toms do not get better at it with age. If anything, they get worse.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I'm so sorry your girls are getting beat up! These injuries are the whole reason I started making hen saddles for turkeys a few years ago. Now my girls wear them year round. As long as a hen has a saddle, she hasn't been injured again. I think I have 13 turkeys total and 3 of them are toms, all in the same pen so things can get a little rough during breeding season but they're all well protected. If you're interested in a few saddles for your girls, here's a link to my etsy.

www.etsy.com/shop/onemountainacres

 

[sirrobyn0]

IDK if a saddle would help because of the area of the injuries, but I will take a picture and post tonight so ya'll have a better idea of where I'm talking. I've always had multiple toms, multiple hens, and they free range. This has started to become an issue in the last couple years. It's not constant more like a few times a year or so, and only the Royal Palms seem to have this happen to them. It could be an overly aggressive tom sure I could see that for sure. More in a few hours, but thank you guys very much.

 

[sirrobyn0]

Ok here are some pictures. You can see generally where it is at, and a secondary scab. We have a pattern and will make at least her a saddle. Honestly I'm sure it'll help, but I'm a little skeptical given the location. Let me know what you guys think.

Hard to tell where it's at in the first photo, but wanted to give an idea of size versus a thumb.

It's still hard to tell, but the hand you see on the top right of the photo is holding her wing. The bit of blue glove you can see on the left is holding her leg, and the bit of blue hand in the lower right is just holding feathers out of the way.

Further up under the wing is this scab.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Ok here are some pictures. You can see generally where it is at, and a secondary scab. We have a pattern and will make at least her a saddle. Honestly I'm sure it'll help, but I'm a little skeptical given the location. Let me know what you guys think.

Hard to tell where it's at in the first photo, but wanted to give an idea of size versus a thumb.
View attachment 3008040

It's still hard to tell, but the hand you see on the top right of the photo is holding her wing. The bit of blue glove you can see on the left is holding her leg, and the bit of blue hand in the lower right is just holding feathers out of the way.
View attachment 3008041

Further up under the wing is this scab.
View attachment 3008042

If you're going to make a saddle, I recommend using denim on the bottom. Here's are a couple custom ones I made for a customer once. It extends longer on the sides for lower injuries. You could do something like that.

 

[sirrobyn0]

If you're going to make a saddle, I recommend using denim on the bottom. Here's are a couple custom ones I made for a customer once. It extends longer on the sides for lower injuries. You could do something like that.

View attachment 3008193

Thanks for that info and the picture. We are considering adding a piece of elastic to go underneath behind the leg just help keep it place. Good idea or bad you think? Any chance you still have dimensions for it? Thanks!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Thanks for that info and the picture. We are considering adding a piece of elastic to go underneath behind the leg just help keep it place. Good idea or bad you think? Any chance you still have dimensions for it? Thanks!

I don't think that's a great idea. I think that if it slips to the side, it'll just stay in that position. That and there's the possibility of the elastic slipping back and the tom getting tangled in it when trying to breed. I don't have the dimensions on hand right now (I'm not home).

 

[sirrobyn0]

I don't think that's a great idea. I think that if it slips to the side, it'll just stay in that position. That and there's the possibility of the elastic slipping back and the tom getting tangled in it when trying to breed. I don't have the dimensions on hand right now (I'm not home).

Sorry about the delay in getting back to give an update or anything. We have been dealing with severe flooding, not actually on our property but in the valley which has made my commute times ridiculously long. I had not though of the tom getting into the strap I was thinking of. Thank you for thinking of that.