Turkeys Fighting

lintlicker

Chirping
May 13, 2024
101
93
88
Central New York
I have 5 turkeys, honestly I am not sure anymore who is male or female, we always thought we had 5 females, three of which are Narragansetts and 2 are bronze breasted and both are heritage housed in a 50'x20' penned area.

A few days ago, came home to see a Narragansett wrapped its leg in line I used to suspend over the top to keep the hawks and owls away, she (or he) tried to jump up, broke the line and ended up getting it wrapped around its leg, ultimately leading to the other turkeys pecking the heck out of its head (Very bloody,80% of head had flesh pecked or ripped off), waddle, snood and theres a cut deep on its leg as it would not retreat anywhere.

Flash forward to the last two days, turkey has been in the house since then, nursed it back to health so it is eating and drinking and able to walk around.

Tested the waters by bringing it outside to interact with the other turkeys while staying close, and one instantly fanned his tail feathers out and puffed his feathers out and tried to peck at it and the others joined in. Took it inside.

Tried again today, same thing except another turkey who is always VERY nice and cuddly, tried to peck it in the head and actually grabbed was able to grab ahold of the skin on the head and tried to twist and pull. Again, grabbed it up and brought it inside.

After all that, turkey is still in the house...not sure what to do at this point.

Is it simply a battle of potential males within the group? Thinking they're roughly 3-4 months old now (ish).

Problem is, I have NEVER heard a single gobble from any of them! I've seen 1-2 strutting a few times but I read that females CAN at times do that...Sure thing was probably a gobble but never heard it once out of any of them.
 
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So maybe once this one is fully healed just let them do their thing and sort it out? We also free range them on roughly 2 acres as well during the day so there should be plenty of room to go about their business if needed
 
I have 5 turkeys, honestly I am not sure anymore who is male or female, we always thought we had 5 females, three of which are Narragansetts and 2 are bronze breasted and both are heritage housed in a 50'x20' penned area.

A few days ago, came home to see a Narragansett wrapped its leg in line I used to suspend over the top to keep the hawks and owls away, she (or he) tried to jump up, broke the line and ended up getting it wrapped around its leg, ultimately leading to the other turkeys pecking the heck out of its head (Very bloody,80% of head had flesh pecked or ripped off), waddle, snood and there's a cut deep on its leg as it would not retreat anywhere.

Flash forward to the last two days, turkey has been in the house since then, nursed it back to health so it is eating and drinking and able to walk around.

Tested the waters by bringing it outside to interact with the other turkeys while staying close, and one instantly fanned his tail feathers out and puffed his feathers out and tried to peck at it and the others joined in. Took it inside.

Tried again today, same thing except another turkey who is always VERY nice and cuddly, tried to peck it in the head and actually grabbed was able to grab a hold of the skin on the head and tried to twist and pull. Again, grabbed it up and brought it inside.

After all that, turkey is still in the house...not sure what to do at this point.

Is it simply a battle of potential males within the group? Thinking they're roughly 3-4 months old now (ish).

Problem is, I have NEVER heard a single gobble from any of them! I've seen 1-2 strutting a few times but I read that females CAN at times do that...Sure thing was probably a gobble but never heard it once out of any of them.
Paint the injured area with BluKote or Pick-No-More. It helps deter the pecking at the injured area.

When it is time to reintroduce to the flock, place it on one side of a see through fence until the attacks at the fence slow down before putting it back into the general population.
 

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