Turkey Question

[turkeybreeder]

first year raising turkeys do only male turkeys fight
or do turkey hens also fight, i saw yesterday three
of my six turkeys fighting, they are six weeks old
and started fighting could all three be toms
thanks have a great day appreciate your help

 

[ivan3]

All of them (male/female) can, and do, get nippy, but only the males persist -far longer than the females- until `proper' order is achieved. The male sparring can go on for several days, two will gang up on one, the loser will mope around with head hung low, drool running from beak, wings down looking for all the world like he will die within the hour. Don't be fooled, he is already plotting a subsequent usurpation. If your sparrers are intent and continue the neck wrapping/snood pulling/beak locking for more the a half-an-hour, they're jakes/toms in training.

This is a bit of interplay between the sexes. Our Slate hen is molting and short tempered, our Slate tom was getting too familiar for her liking:

Her poult saw/heard what mama was doing and decided to practice (is female):

Ususally it is just the toms abrading one another's heads and causing snoods to bleed:

We keep our guy's spur tips scratched flat with a file (bruises from kicks but no lacerations), pine tar if they seem to be getting out of hand (they hate biting into that stuff on one another's heads). Once things are settled they'll get along fine for a wihile. As they get older the sparring seems to take on a more formal and less wild quality (shorter duration/fewer superficial injuries).

 

[Lotsapaints]

Maybe they need more space...I had a few scuffles when I needed to move mine to bigger digs now they seem fine. I might just be lucky mine seem very mild mannered for 4 month old turkeys plus I have more girls than boys but I think they scuffle because they need more room...

 

[ivan3]

Ours seek each other out regardless of space. Our neighbor's toms would cross 10 acres of woods to `measure' snoods with ours (our guys ganging up on the Black Spanish intruder):

Crowding can result in all sorts of unusual behavior. However, if there are several acres available; sparring, taking breaks, sparring again, putative loser slinking off around the house to attack the alpha and his sidekick from behind, is normal.

Have watched the Wild Easterns out back gather in their spring leks to do the same thing.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Ivan your turkeys are eye candy. I can only hope my toms when grown don't try and kill each other then they would lose all their space because I would pen them separate my neighbors would have fits they love watching my turkeys already and they bring them treats....they were afraid of them at first but mine are still babies so time will tell.

 

[toto65]

Ivan, beautiful birds!

 

[turkeybreeder]

Quote:
about space, they are free range turkeys so they have plenty of room
to go anywhere they like, their only go to a cage at night
thanks

 

[OmaBird]

My teen boys fight. They don't fight as much when they get older. Young boys never make good breeders because the spend to much time fighting than getting down to business. It's the age not the space.

My hens only fight with roosters. They hate rooster. They don't fight each other.

 

[EggHunter_66]

In your 3rd picture (which by the way your birds are beautiful) what kind is the one that is by itself on the other side of fence? I have one turkey ( 2.5 months old) that I dont know what it is and it Kinda looks like that one.

Thanks

i
van3 :

All of them (male/female) can, and do, get nippy, but only the males persist -far longer than the females- until `proper' order is achieved. The male sparring can go on for several days, two will gang up on one, the loser will mope around with head hung low, drool running from beak, wings down looking for all the world like he will die within the hour. Don't be fooled, he is already plotting a subsequent usurpation. If your sparrers are intent and continue the neck wrapping/snood pulling/beak locking for more the a half-an-hour, they're jakes/toms in training.

This is a bit of interplay between the sexes. Our Slate hen is molting and short tempered, our Slate tom was getting too familiar for her liking:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c331/IvanIvanovich/SpottedHead081910.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c331/IvanIvanovich/SpotttedHeadB081910.jpg

Her poult saw/heard what mama was doing and decided to practice (is female):
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c331/IvanIvanovich/WhiteFoot081910.jpg

Ususally it is just the toms abrading one another's heads and causing snoods to bleed:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c331/IvanIvanovich/sparty0609B.jpg

We keep our guy's spur tips scratched flat with a file (bruises from kicks but no lacerations), pine tar if they seem to be getting out of hand (they hate biting into that stuff on one another's heads). Once things are settled they'll get along fine for a wihile. As they get older the sparring seems to take on a more formal and less wild quality (shorter duration/fewer superficial injuries).​

 

[ivan3]

EggHunter_66 wrote: In your 3rd picture (which by the way your birds are beautiful) what kind is the one that is by itself on the other side of fence? I have one turkey ( 2.5 months old) that I dont know what it is and it Kinda looks like that one.

I'm going to guess yours has little, or no, Slate or Royal in its recent `history'. I'll leave it to the `colorists' here who can trace the most `mottled' individual back to `el puro'.

Ours is `white foot/black foot' by our Royal Tom out of our Slate hen. The shot above was taken 8/19, the ones below on 9/3-4 (only one possible outcome of many):