Turkeys fighting

[Goose08]

I have a bbw ton and a bbb hen who keep fighting. We have been separating them, but they fight through the fence. Our Tom is really big compared to the hen, and he’s really strong. He could easily kill our hen, and that’s what I’m worried about. Our hen has been getting at him through the fence too though, and she has already messed up his snood and I went to go put them away last night and found our Tom bloodied oh his side. It may have been one of our goats, or just a pulled feather, but I don’t want to take my chances with either. We’re building a new pen today, and they’ll have to be together since we don’t have the space for two pens anymore. They just randomly began fighting last week, and haven’t stopped. But is there anything I could do to stop them or at least keep them from killing each other? Thank you!

 

[R2elk]

I have a bbw ton and a bbb hen who keep fighting. We have been separating them, but they fight through the fence. Our Tom is really big compared to the hen, and he’s really strong. He could easily kill our hen, and that’s what I’m worried about. Our hen has been getting at him through the fence too though, and she has already messed up his snood and I went to go put them away last night and found our Tom bloodied oh his side. It may have been one of our goats, or just a pulled feather, but I don’t want to take my chances with either. We’re building a new pen today, and they’ll have to be together since we don’t have the space for two pens anymore. They just randomly began fighting last week, and haven’t stopped. But is there anything I could do to stop them or at least keep them from killing each other? Thank you!

It's a pecking order issue. The more you interfere, the longer it will take them to settle their differences.

I had a BBB hen that was the dominant one as a youngster. Once the tom got big enough to challenge her, they began fighting. They fought all day long for 3 days in a row before she finally gave up.

It is not normal for turkeys to fight to the death. It is normal for them to fight until they get it settled who is the top of the pecking order.

If the turkeys fighting are equally matched the fight can go on for a long time.

On a separate note, I would not keep a pair of BBWs. Once breeding season starts, a big tom can seriously injure a hen.

 

[Molpet]

BB are harvested starting 16 weeks. They are Heartbreakers when I tried to keep her long enough to breed. Diet and exercise can help, if you don't have a snowy winter like I did.
The hatcheries use artificial insemination to breed and most don't feed every day.