Spooktaculous
In the Brooder
- Apr 15, 2024
- 3
- 1
- 14
In, December of last year, we woke up one morning to what appeared to be a juvenile Tom Turkey. This was after a night of record tornadoes in our state for winter. We are in a rural area and the only people we found that raised this breed here is 5 miles away through a forest and gulf, but no one claimed a lost turkey.
He "jumped" into our winter chicken lot and immediately adopted them as his flock. He would stop our guineas from jumping in and attacking the chickens. He stopped the hens from fighting each other and was the only one willing to stand up to the ducks. He brought order to our chaos and we never had an issue until spring.
This is when he started showing discontent with my father and would not tolerate him around. He would make noises that other threads have called purring, with his feathers and head down, and followed him around. We had no idea what this meant until one day he flogged my dad. The next time this happened I quickly stood between them and dominated the turkey. Now, I can stand between them to which the turkey struts and drums, but nothing else.
As time went on this behaviour has resorted to every male figure around even my husband who he used to let pet him. He will not act this way with me or my daughters so I figure this was due to it being mating season.
We are now, however, seeing him react in the same manner (agitated noise, feathers down, but standing tall and motioning his head out) toward a rescue Tyson chicken that is somehow still alive and our rooster. He doesn't flog, but makes this noise following them. It looks like he is trying to direct them to the chicken coop, but they aren't great listeners. He has not flogged either (unless rooster attacks first), but will randomly peck them on the back.
We are clueless and cannot find any information on what this behavior is. I am afraid he will be Thanksgiving dinner. Is this him trying to weed out the weak and unwanted? Is this typical? Is he just a punk that is over staying his welcome? After his arrival we have thought about adding turkeys to our little farm, but he drives us away from that idea.
He "jumped" into our winter chicken lot and immediately adopted them as his flock. He would stop our guineas from jumping in and attacking the chickens. He stopped the hens from fighting each other and was the only one willing to stand up to the ducks. He brought order to our chaos and we never had an issue until spring.
This is when he started showing discontent with my father and would not tolerate him around. He would make noises that other threads have called purring, with his feathers and head down, and followed him around. We had no idea what this meant until one day he flogged my dad. The next time this happened I quickly stood between them and dominated the turkey. Now, I can stand between them to which the turkey struts and drums, but nothing else.
As time went on this behaviour has resorted to every male figure around even my husband who he used to let pet him. He will not act this way with me or my daughters so I figure this was due to it being mating season.
We are now, however, seeing him react in the same manner (agitated noise, feathers down, but standing tall and motioning his head out) toward a rescue Tyson chicken that is somehow still alive and our rooster. He doesn't flog, but makes this noise following them. It looks like he is trying to direct them to the chicken coop, but they aren't great listeners. He has not flogged either (unless rooster attacks first), but will randomly peck them on the back.
We are clueless and cannot find any information on what this behavior is. I am afraid he will be Thanksgiving dinner. Is this him trying to weed out the weak and unwanted? Is this typical? Is he just a punk that is over staying his welcome? After his arrival we have thought about adding turkeys to our little farm, but he drives us away from that idea.
