Turkeys stupid?

[the simple life]

Good post thaiturkey!

 

[Yessur Ebob]

patnjess, i wouldn't worry about the turkeys drowning, you should be more concerned with them getting chilled. Young turkeys should never be left out in the rain.

by the way, i have heard that story before too, and i don't know if it is true or not. What i do know is that it doesn't mean that the poults will drown themselves in their waterers, but that the poults don't know enough to get in out of the rain and will get chilled. Supposedly this makes their neck muscles tighten, which pulls their head back, and if they open their mouth the rain water will run down into their lungs and drown them.

baby turkeys don't seem nearly as tough as baby chicks (not that chicks are all that tough), but as long as you take good care of them you shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[ozark hen]

not true and if I had known how gentle and friendly turkeys were before I started getting chickens I just might have ended up with just turkeys. LOL

 

[chocolate m'scovy]

Turkeys act really stupid. They act really smart too. That's why I like them.

 

[medan]

I know a few people that are not as smart as a turkey

 

[Plain_View_Farm]

chickensducks&agoose :

yes. turkeys stupid. Mine spent 3 days trying to eat their own toes. They'd look down, bend over, and YANK, flip themselves on their backs trying to eat their toes... they also had a funny habit of napping with their heads in the feeder. Standing up, bending forward with their heads stuffed in the hole in the feeder. kind of sad.

I've seen them do this too... It's Hilarious.....

David​

 

[ivan3]

thaiturkey wrote: Stupidity is relative. With what would you compare turkeys to determine whether or not they are stupid. Ours occupy themselves with simple, natural pleasures and then go home to their perch and more food when dusk falls. They don't drink alcohol or smoke and don't waste time watching tv.

Yeah, there is that, isn't there?

Yessur Ebob wrote: wild turkeys seem to be smarter than tame turkeys, especially the broad-breasted varieties

Most species, under domestication, exhibit decreased brain volume. In turks (BB's) the decrease: 30%-35%. Whether this impacts behavior is an open question (but it's probably not a beneficial `development').

chickensducks&agoose wrote: Mine spent 3 days trying to eat their own toes. They'd look down, bend over, and YANK, flip themselves on their backs trying to eat their toes... they also had a funny habit of napping with their heads in the feeder. Standing up, bending forward with their heads stuffed in the hole in the feeder

So, what happened on the 4th day? Were they brooded by a hen, or were they on their own? Like to see a video of that toe munching behavior. When I read that the first thing I thought of was trichotillomania in humans (compulsive `pulling'

).

I could see them snoozing off in a feeder. Our turks (particularly the males) sleep hard and deep and aren't particular about location (kind of like a bored `mall husband' drooling on his shirt, snoring away, as shoppers and gawkers stroll past his bench `roost').

The three poults destined to be toms always fell out on the floor of the brooder, the two that would be hens always slept on one of the roost bars:

During breeding season both sexes exhibit considerable erosion of a certain flexibility of `mind', fixity of procreative purpose holding sway over all (in the Oval Office with a cigar...).

Ours are certainly not socially `challenged'. They exhibit a wider range of intergradiation of vocal signaling than our chooks (distinct differences in `tones' of `wheets' trills, etc. when Cass is out with them, as compared to how they `address' me).

(more on `drowning'): https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=99573&p=1​

 

[houndit]

I think it differs between turkeys. Some seem nice, they go in at night, they do not cause trouble. Others act like all they have in their head is air. They can not find the door etc. I think the Broad Breasted Whites are the dumbest.

 

[feathers4fun]

If turkeys were really smart they would avoid the holidays!

 

[newchickmom]

I have 5 BBWs destined for the Holiday Table. This is the first time I have had turkeys. I have fallen in love with them!

I have decided I am going to get a couple for pets after these are gone.

I don't think turkeys are that stupid, they know when I am coming with food and will wait by their dish for me to pour the food in. When I let them out of their coop, they follow me around like puppy dogs and they love to be picked up and petted. The first time I let them out, they acted so excited! They were jumping and flapping their wings and running around in circles like little kids!