fionaj Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 I hope someone can help me with my mysterious behaviour.I have a small flock of turkeys, 6 females and 2 males(father and son) last year all was well on the turkey front the male, Snoodles,did the business and I had lots of chicks. I kept a male from last years chicks as a 'just in case'something happened to Snoodles, as we live in a very romote area and findingturkeys is extremely difficult. This year all was going well Snoodles was up to the task andeggs were being laid, then he had an accident and broke his foot, the foot hashealed reasonably well although he has a pronounced limp he was still doing hisjob, displaying and doing all the 'man things'. I treated him with medicationat the time of injury but no treatment for the past 6 weeks. The other stag MrWhitey started to fight with Snoddles sensing weakness I supoose so the stagswere split up and have access to the females seperately. Now here is the oddity, Mr Snoodles a fine handsome chap hastaken to sitting on eggs and broodingchicks at the expense of everything else including food!!! He seems to havelost his male role in life and has no interest in the ladies other thandiscussing childcare!! Has anyone ever known this to happen before? Will Snoodles become again the sexy beast he once was?Should I be doing something to help him regain his libido?Could he be going through a sex change? Any help on the subject would be much appreciated asSnoddles is my main man and favorite pet out of all the poultry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berger Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 hi, turkeys not really my area, but i think it is behavior attributed to his possible demotion in the group, although not usual behavior for a strong male, is the other male now showing signs of domination that he had not before ? the end result is you are giving seperate access for both, the injury and subsequent battle between the two males for top slot had affected snoodles somewhat. do you keep the males seperated now ? if so then it may be compounding the problem, the dominant male has to find his own route back to the top, no real help from you can be given, if he has lost his "crown" and does not attempt to regain, then the animal must still feel he is not physically able to compete.any medical problems need to be outlawed firstly which could be causing this, i have not been a great help but demotion in a group for any animal will have affects on behavior, but role reversal is not the usual form.hope he is wellmonty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I think that Monty may well be right. I've heard of similar behaviourin chickens and the advised "cure" is to practice flock mating, ieallow both males to run with all the females until they sort it outbetween themselves. If you are uncomfortable about your older birdperhaps getting hurt then you might try errecting a couple of mirrorsaround his pen - the appearence of apparently competitve males (whoconveniently don't fight back!) can sometimes stimulate agressivebehaviour and get the hormones flowing again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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