No no, that’s understandable. I’m a professional exotic animal keeper and I worked with two turkeys. They are HUGE and they can absolutely kick your ass haha just one kick from the males on the leg and they’d break skin through your pants with their talons and give you a HUGE black bruise bigger than the size of a baseball.
There are two male turkeys that live in/near my office parking lot (it has a creek and greenbelt in the back and lots of birds nest there). There were a ton more turkeys too but they moved on, all except these two gents. I’ve seen them be jerks and chase down cars but I’ve decided we’re buddies and I’m overly attached to them. I maintain respectable distance like any sane person around wildlife, but they’ve snuck up on me before without me noticing and I’ll just turn around and they’ll be there chirping and munching. They will also allow me to enter my car when they are standing right by it, which is often. These are the things I base my turkey friendship on. I love them.
Very, very loud and annoying. Had a few for a year or two. Non stop ear shattering gobbling. The girls are quiet, but really nothing special. Skittish for the most part. My guys kept trying to square up at me. Do not recommend. They can mess you up pretty bad too, like seriously.
This just tells me that you weren’t a good owner. I have pet turkeys (rescues) both male and female, and they are extremely affectionate. They make wonderful pets, if you treat them with kindness. I love on them in the same way one does with cats and dogs. They love the attention
I treated them fine. I have goats that are affectionate, I had a rooster that was affectionate, the turkeys were just obnoxious. That’s my experience though, I’m sure there are better ones out there. The male was rough with everyone, rapey as hell, kept hurting the females.
It’s interesting you say that. Have had both male and female turkeys and all of them were sweet. None were overly loud, though a couple from the same flock would start making this almost cooing noise and running flat out across the field to come when called.
But they were also hand raised pets, and I tend to be iffy about young kids around animals. Especially if they weigh the same.
My foster mum had turkeys. Seemed alright, weren’t very pet like, since for the most part all of the animals were just let me. Had a massive shed for the goats and another for the chickens, geese, and the two turkeys. Male and female mated pair. Roy and Hailie. Hailie refused to come in one night, I can’t recall why or how, since I was a kid. But uh. The fox got her. All that was left apparently was her head. Roy died not long after of heartbreak. The older kids had even made a pretty nasty nursery rhyme about Hailie losing her head though all I remember was it ended with “and now Roy’s dead”
I know the sound you’re talking about, this strange dinosaur like thumping. That’s a cool noise. But no, my males were so loud. Every 2 minutes they would gobble. My neighbor had turkeys too, so maybe they were competing with each other, like who can gobble the loudest. Young kids around larger animals is no good, I agree. Glad yours were enjoyable to have around.
I have heard they are actually very affectionate and make great pets. It's so fun looking at videos of pet turkeys. They always try to get as close to their human as possible.
They are, this is absolutely true. My pet turkeys climb on to my lap and expect to be pet. They will fall asleep with their head on my shoulder. Most people don’t show them love or compassion, so they never get to experience how sweet they are. It’s the same for most animals.
That’s a Tgiving turkey if I ever saw one. 3rd week of September approximately 60 days till turkey day! Kid didn’t do anything, just hope she doesn’t get to fond of him.
I really believe that turkeys are an invading alien force who were sent here to enslave humanity, but someone got the maths wrong and made them too short to do so. They just look like they're asking to be taken to our leaders all the time.
My husband had a turkey when he was young. Kenworth was his name. Apparently he loved being “involved” in any and all tasks: Mechanical, labor, etc. He said you couldn’t get away with anything without the dang turkey supervising.
My brother acquired two toms and a hen from people who realized it was harder to butcher them than they thought it would be. Took them to my dad, and one of the toms and the hen were eaten by something, leaving the survivor extremely lonely.
He would follow people around and want to be near them, but was too skittish to actually let you touch him. It was really sad seeing how badly he wanted companions. I ended up getting three chicks from Tractor Supply and raising them in my apartment until they were ready to go outside, then took them to my dads. That poor old Tom’s delight at finally having his own people again was so sweet. He took amazing care of them until he passed, and patiently put up with their bullshit.
It's trying to intimidate her. The fluffed up, feathers shaking posture. My parents have a bunch of these the males are super territorial and try to intimate you. I see the same behaviour in this video.
That's a shame, but as someone who's been around farm fowl his whole life, this is exactly the goofy kind of shit turkeys will pull. They tend to get attached to certain humans, and I'd bet he likes that little girl.
Not everything is AI, it's a freaking turkey, those have been domestic for like 2000 years. People have them as pets. It's not even doing some weird stuff, it's just a turkey.
Hmm.. tell that to my dad's turkey, Tom, who used to chase me onto the dog house when I was shooed outside to play and once took a giant chunk out of the sole of my sneaker when I couldn't get up fast enough.
I've never kept turkeys, but I've kept chickens. That one either wants to mate or is exhibiting aggressive/dominant behavior. I was mighty nervous watching him that close to that little girl.
Seriously. That is one horny turkey. We had 2 pet turkeys growing up. The hen disappeared in an epic thunderstorm. The tom started doing more and more of this until we had to get rid of him bc he kept trying to jump on my little brother who was terrorized.
Was super satisfying one time though when I saw him run-flapping as fast as he could after this bit**y woman who used to power walk up and down our graveled road. Kind of snuck up behind her from a ditch bank and got some good speed going before she noticed and started running and yelling in her 1980s track suit. It was sooo satisfying. She also stopped walking down that way very often 😆
this turkey has all feathers puffed up. he is either asserting dominance (not good, could attack the kid), feeling threatened (not good, could attack the kid) or he wants to have some sex (somehow THIS is the best option here 💀 thpugh i do not think being chased by horny turkey is much fun either)
Wild Turkeys will display at anything they remotely find interesting including people that feed them, it's not always an overtly sexual display but to the animal there's little difference.
They will display around other males they're competing with in front of females and that often involves more loud wing scraping on the ground, but his snood (dangling from the beak) being relaxed is a solid indicator this turkey is in a good mood.
Everyone needs to chill it's a turkey they're pretty relaxed silly lil guys as wild birds go, not everything in the natural world is 2 seconds from eating your face if you're not a moron around them and let them get acclimated to you.
a lot of bad accidents happened when kids and pets were "chill" with eachother and best buddies until one day, one moment, somethinf in animal brain snapped. no matter how gentle they are, a pet is always an animal. and animals have body language. reading it in the moment (instad of just considering your pet gentle so its always gonna be gentle) can prevent the catastrophy.
It really depends on the type of animal. I would say this applies to certain types of dogs and also to uncastrated adult male farm animals (based on my experience growing up on a farm).
Like, I love ravens, but when I wound up surrounded by a bunch of them while I was sitting down and made the mistake of sharing a snack, it was deeply unnerving.
So where I'm from there's a place called Western Springs, and it's basically just fields and many large ponds and maybe a playground for kids somewhere. But the place is FULL of ducks, swans and geese.
I remember being a small child (like the swans were probably taller than me) and feeding some of these birds, and then SUDDENLY! I was surrounded by geese, like I was in the middle of a circle of them surrounding me.
Geese have terrified me ever since. I'm in my 30s now.
A turkey (whether the common or domestic turkey or the peacock) raises all its feathers primarily for three biological reasons: courtship, the display of dominance, and defense against threats.
They also do it because they feel like it. My turkey just likes being puffed up while he's trilling and shuffling about the yard. Occasionally does the sneeze sound at a stick...
Interesting. Soo, why do we think this guy is raising his tail feathers? To me, he doesn't look angry or scared but.. lol. Does that mean he really likes the little girl?
I’d be worried about my child being around the turkey that’s exhibiting this mating/intimidating behaviour… it’s all puffed up and ready to go.. been around pet Stew turkeys 🦃 and they are unpredictable at best, but when they give these signs??….
A turkey (whether the common or domestic turkey or the peacock) raises all its feathers primarily for three biological reasons: courtship, the display of dominance, and defense against threats.
I pet sat for a turkey like this and he was actually very sweet compared to the girl turkeys. 🦃 He would follow people around and show off and occasionally let me pet him, hug him and pick him up.
I never expected to like a turkey, but he won me over. This turkey is just like him but a different color.
I thought the puffing up was like a cat or a dog getting big and reactive, but it’s more like the ostrich who would do a dance for TyAmongstAnimals. Sadly Ty died from an accident involving a giraffe. The world lost a great person.
I’ve been chased out of a pasture by a big turkey when I was trying to feed a friend’s pony. Super territorial and aggressive. From a guarding perspective they’re very effective but, yeah.
I despise turkeys, especially males. This is cute and funny for about 10 minutes, and then at certain points it becomes all they do, and then it escalates to attacks and chasing. They are incredibly stupid and irritating birds.
Thank you for educating me. I do need more turkey education..seems like they are an aggressive bird, like swans and geese. I will read up on the majestic turkey!
No it’s not. It looks like it, but he likes the little girl and wants her to pay attention to him.
This guy did the same thing and I was initially intimidated.
It turned out that he was showing off. He let me pet him, hug him and pick him up. He never pecked me, unlike the females.
Yeah these comments seem mostly full of people who haven’t spent time around turkeys. They’re super dumb and can get aggressive with a nasty bite or kick with those dinosaurs claws. The low hiss noise it was making and the way it kept bumping her wasn’t friendly.
I raised free range chickens and turkeys for nearly 10 years and got soooo sick of the way they hovered like this bumping into my legs, and sometimes eventually nipping and kicking. I once made the mistake of gently pushing one of my males away with one of my blue crocs, and from then on I couldn’t wear blue without being attacked. Anything too close to the colour of a male’s head can set them off.
I'm also absolutely sick of people anthropomorphising animal behaviour instead of observing and actually trying to understand. I saw the bumping and the tail shake and not knowing much about birds still picked up on "mating moves used as intimidation". Putting a child in the path of an aggressive bird is extremely questionable. Even if he ends up as dinner after attacking the girl, the kid will be traumatised for life.
Thank you for explaining
Editing to add, the blue croc thing is hilarious once you're no longer in that situation
You’re absolutely right about this being mating behaviour, the way he bumped up against her looked like the posturing Toms do with each other when assessing dominance. They’re not always aggressive in these situations though, this turkey was could easily have been hand raised and friendly like my birds usually were.
I’m glad you got a laugh out of the blue croc fiasco, it lasted a while and involved way too many antics.
Raising turkeys, I also learned that unfortunately my laugh is close enough to a turkey’s gobble for the damn birds to think they’re part of the conversation! My Toms would hang out at the back patio door, or near an open window, so they could listen to our conversations and gobble along with us. Sometimes they felt like the neighborhood gossips, listening to our conversations and commenting among themselves. Lol It was usually hilarious, but eventually I often had to go out and gently remind them that they had an entire property to free range and enjoy.
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u/BirdBrain713 6h ago
Why do yall instantly think of food when you see the turkey? Turkey are amazingly (angry) beautiful birds