turkey poult behaviors

[pipit]

As a newbie to poultry, I don't know if this behavior is normal or not. I have 13 chickens of varying ages and 2 turkey poults of 3 weeks of age. Yesterday, one of the turkeys kept pecking the head of the other, turning it around and seemingly square dancing with it. It also tried to jump on top of it a couple of times. I wish I had videoed it. Is this normal? They were st. runs, so I have no idea what sex they are. They are broadbreasted bronze and almost as big as a full grown bantam chicken.

 

[wolfpack62001]

You have 2 Toms, this is normal.
Watch them close during bad weather they will pile real quick and start handling them to make them pets now or just let them go.
At 3 weeks they start there dominance thing.

 

[pipit]

Can you tell they're both toms just by that behavior? Interesting. Are there any physical differences that are apparent by this age? I handle them all the time and they like to sit on my shoulders. They seem to get along well with the chickens.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Wolf]

It's a Pecking Order thing... like chickens.

 

[Novaleigh]

I have a 6 day old turkey poult, named Agave, (the white one pictured here among the 1 day old chicks) who displayed the oddest behavior! It would try and "herd" the chicks around using one wing spread out and over the chicks. Then it would do its best to "fly" at one of the chicks and attempt to land on top of the chick with its breast, like it was trying to do a chest squish or something. The other poult I have, Maple, (you can see the top of his/her brown back at the bottom of the picture) would also do the "flying breast squish" to the chicks as well, but didn't do the "wing herding". No idea if they should sport that sort of behavior at that age, but it was so weird! No idea what it means either. My first turkey poults, so I have lots to learn still.