Turkeys how many males to females

[karen richardso]

I have 1 male and 1 female Royal Palm the male is getting very aggressive how many male-female should you have
maybe 3 female to 1 male will he be less aggressive or should there is another male for him as well

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Aggression in turkeys is a individual thing. Getting more or less birds won't correct it. I suggest butchering him and trying again. Don't over handle your poults. Human imprinted toms can be trouble.

 

[karen richardso]

Wow I would have thought if you hold them when they are young they will be nicer as they get older I guess I am totally wrong

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

For hens handling works well, but most male poultry will want to dominate you after a certain age because they view you as part of their flock, and as a means to move up in position. You should handle them some but not so much that they think you are a turkey as well. It can be a fine line sometimes. I prefer to handle the females and ignore the males for the most part and it seems to work out better.

 

[karen richardso]

do you think it is better to have a few females and one male or a few males are OK

 

[Junglefowlboss]

Handling does help with both roosters and hens but there are some that just dont want to be handled at all. Ive never had a rooster or a hen for that matter that is human agressive. But if I do Ill threaten it will the old your going in the pot trick. Lol.

I never handled my rooster and he follows me like a dog (hes a game mix).

 

[Junglefowlboss]

Having more females is ideal btw. Hens can be overmated

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most experts will say keep 1 Tom to 5-10 females to keep down damage to the hens. When there's more than 1 Tom they will often start fighting while one is mating the hen and the hen can get tore up on the back.

I keep about 3-4 toms together with 10-15 hens. There's definitely fighting between the toms. I keep nails and spurs trimmed which seems to help cut down on hen injuries, but it still occasionally happens.

So it depends on your goals and what risks you are willing to assume. The more toms the more chaos you will have. More than 4 toms in a pen will probably result in them killing the weaker ones as the fighting goes on almost continuously, with rotating participants, and winners and losers. I find 3 to be a right amount of toms together to keep problems to a minimum.

I don't have human aggressive toms or aggressive roosters, so I firmly believe aggression in male poultry is directly related to the raising and interactions with them more than what breed or variety they are.

 

[karen richardso]

I have 2 roosters and 20 hens all chickens and they are free range they roost at night and I lock them up for safty but no problems I had 6 female and 3 males turkeys and sold them all and kept 1 female and 1 male they were all chicks that we raised they are only about 11 months now
I really just want 1 male & 1 female is that not a good idea

 

[karen richardso]

the turkeys are free range as well they roost at night
now that the TOM is getting aggressive I have them in a pen but I really want them free range if I can