Turkey questions

[Ducksandchickens]

My family has been thinking about getting turkeys because of pets, and what we have read is that they will protect the flock against predators. We have a lot of hawks around here. We also have many children between ages 3-12. I’ve heard that turkeys can be a bit mean.

So my questions are: are turkeys good protectors against presdtors(especially hawks)? And are they nice to and not aggressive to humans and the rest of the flock?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Turkeys won't protect against hawks. Turkeys can chase and harass other poultry. Some birds, especially the toms can be human aggressive. I personally would plan to keep them penned, or contained in some manner as turkeys can wander off too, especially if there are wild turkeys around.

In my experiences turkeys can be great personable birds who are best kept penned with supervised free ranging for their own good and everyone else's.

 

[Sara Ranch]

I have three turkey flocks.

1) The one tom with the girls can be aggressive and he is definitely aware of me entering into the pasture. He usually escorts me as I do the chore of giving a treat or more food or closing up for the night. The tom very seldom does a love peck. He has never "attacked" me. And his cute mating dance he does to me is well, pretty darn interesting.

This tom actually live in my house while he recovered from a severe beat down by his turkey mates, when all were together.

He has healed and now living with the girls and a few guineas.

2) The all boy flock of turkeys are great. None attack me or threaten me. They are in the pasture adjacent to the boy/girl flock. There is a pair of guineas that live with them.

3) The third flock are poults. They are so friendly and full of energy! They will either be joined with the existing flocks are be their own flock outside.

The turkeys do sound an alarm, usually in response to the guineas OR to an overhead predator that they see. As funny as this sounds, I do try to train all of the animals to be able to identify the predator birds and to sound an alarm.

I have (past tense) raised chickens and turkeys and ducks in the same space when they were young. No problems. As soon as the turkeys are old enough (completely feathered) they moved to the outdoor space. Occasionally, a not so nice rooster will join the boy turkey flock in their pasture. He's fine. The boy turkeys are more interested in trying to get the girl turkeys attention in the next flock to care whose in with them. The boy turkeys will sometimes follow me around and talk to me, but don't hurt me at all.

My suggestions would include -

-- spend time with the turkeys every day.

-- keep one gender of turkeys, but not both where kids would be in their space.

-- remember that the turkeys have an incredible strength.

-- teach the kids good manners around the turkeys AND how to identify the behaviors so they can "read" what the turkey is saying.