On the subject of turkeys fighting...I had four young bronze stags which I'd run on from the previous year. I also had two breeding females and, because I'd lost the old gobbler, I wanted to choose a new stock male. All winter, they ran together without mishap.
Come the spring, however, there was growing tension from about the end of March. They had about 1/4 of an acre and so kept out of each other's way for a while but, despite that, they wanted to fight. To begin with it seemed as if all would be well, until a neighbouring farmer called at the house to say he'd been passing by and had seen one turkey with another's head right down its throat!
I thought he was exaggerating till I went and saw it for myself. It was as if one was determined to swallow the other whole. The head of one was, indeed, out of sight down the other's throat and they were kicking at each other like a pair of kangaroos.
The other thing about breeding turkeys is, the mothers are not all that attentive to the chicks. Unlike hens, which are always searching and scratching for the chicks, turkey hens just go about keeping an eye on the sky, and the chicks more or less look after themselves except when the mother is actually brooding them . There doesn't seem to be much going on between them except for the odd very quiet sound from the mother to which the chicks respond by freezing in their movement, whereas a similar warning from a chicken hen would send the chicks into cover immediately.
I don't know what it is about turkeys, but the chicks always seem to frail and vulnerable. It's a miracle that they even exist, I always think.
Topic: Keeping turkeys for breeding? (Read 3337 times)
