Tom turkey started attacking me, what to do?

[Windy Ridge Farm]

NOT funny I know, but thank you for making me laugh! I about dislocated a hip one time trying to kick a little Silkie rooster away from me in the pasture. YOU guys are brave!

 

[Pavo Royale]

I had two toms together and the non dominant one got agressive. I removed him from the other one and now both are docile. Seems he was protecting his leader. I am certainly no expert with very little experience with turkeys, but this seemed to work for me. That rascal had it in for my MIL. She would not leave the house after daylight or return home before dark! This was a few weeks ago, so breeding had nothing to do with it.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
He was strutting and making sounds, we raise patrol k9's so I am not typically intimidated by animals but since I don't know much about turkeys and he is fairly large I didn't know the appropriate way to handle the situation. Sounds like just w/ dogs dominance is key. I will work on that!

If he was making the "drumming" sound and dragging his wing tips on the ground that is normal turkey strutting behaviour. If he was making a chirping call that would be agression.

Steve

 

[TexasVet]

Quote:
What breed of turkeys are you raising? I had a Rio Grande tom that was mean as all heck. Once he reached breeding age, he attacked anybody, any time, any where. We had to keep sticks all over our place to use as protection. The hens were no problem at all. And that's why I'm done with turkeys forever.

By the way, he tasted great!

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.ChickenTrackin.com

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We raise Bourbon Red, White Holland, Beltsville Small White, Midget White, Royal Palm, and Standard Bronze.

Steve

 

[Worn]

I tried about everything. The Tom that I had didn't have a hen at the time, so I'm not sure if that was a factor. I gave him to a friend and warned her about him, but he didn't attack her at all. I'm a guy, so I'm not sure if a woman was a factor or not.
I have a Tom now and he follows me around. He's never attacked me, but after the previous Tom, I sure watch my back!

 

[Portia]

Send it to freezer camp....or thanksgiving camp. Either way, its tasty.

 

[DrinkTheRainbow]

Quote:
so we have this rooster that is evil but not anymore only to the excited roos lol but anyways he would chase us individually and if he got close enough he would get all fighty so we attacked him back so if he got low we got low if he kicked we kicked. One day i'm walking in there to go and play (chicken pen) and he follows me around then he attacks me then i get scared and i swing my leg towards him and I end up nailing his head. now he is scared of us.

 

[Me & My Peeps]

Quote:
Except of course, an appropriately placed dinner table. Without fail - THAT works every single time.

 

[Gerardo Andrade14]

We have a blue slate pair, a bourbon red pair, and a white hen. When we bought the slate and reds we thought we were only getting a blue tom but the other tom was acting like a female and didn't have a beard yet. So far this summer I haven't had any problems with the about 3 year old slate and he is big but doesn't get close. However the red tom would just strut around near me but never bothered me. Then one day he starts kind of running at me when I go to leave the area and then he stopped doing it for a while. I got realizing he would attack when none of the hens are nesting and when they started he stopped. Well now we had to throw their eggs out cause they were rotten and a skunk ate most. The last few days the tom has tried attacking again. He'd try to get me when I had to turn my back to get to the gate since I have to duck under a branch. Today I went out to let the chickens out of their coop and had a bucket with feed in it that I poured half out for them to eat. It had rained all night so the ground was like walking around in cow manure so it was slippery. As I was backing to go out the gate the gate fell over since I just had it leaning open so I couldn't back out if I wanted to for fear of falling and him getting to my face. The tom ran at me and I swung the bucket towards him to scare him off and he just kept coming. Not to sound mean but I was scared and defending myself I hit him with the bucket to knock him back. I hit him 23 times and he was still coming and I grabbed a hose next to me to use against him some how and it splashed some water out of their water bucket and it scared him off and I got out of there. I don't know how water scared him instead of a bright yellow bucket attacking. I have messed with roosters attacking which I'd just chase and hold for a while whenever they do it. Even been attacked by a male Chinese weeder goose which he thought I was his girl and I would just take my foot when he ran up and give him a push on his chest to knock him back a foot and he would stop doing it for a few weeks. I have no clue what to do. I have read not to back down from a turkey till you win the fight and are dominate over them but he wouldn't give up. The slate tom is actually dominate over him. I don't want to kill him cause we might sell him at the next bird swap or auction whenever it comes up which will probably be in September.

i also had a problem with an aggressive turkey, and the only true solution is to become their alpha, turkeys usually consider you a part of their flock, ive had to get into actually fights with turkeys to establish my dominance, try running back at them and if they don't take off, grab a nearby stick and hit them in the wings where its feathered, usually after theyre scared off ill chase them for about 30-40 seconds, but no expert and for all i know im just slowly Killing them but it seems to work for now, but the most important thing is to not let them intimidate you, id suggest getting a fowl game but i know they are illegal in many places, but fowl game usually dominates over a adult turkey if raised properly