I was lucky enough this morning, to walk out on the turkey mating ritual. It generally consists of, the female partially displaying her tail and circling the male, trying to entice him to mate with her. She then lays out and spreads her wings, and waits for him to mount her. It's oddly enchanting, and kind of sweet. Until the geese get involved.
Stevia seems to think that it's not ok for Romeo, our Tom, to get his swerve on with his girls. Now, don't get me wrong, its nice to have a protective gander, he keeps the boys from getting too rough with the girls. But when it comes to getting cock blocked, he has the routine to interrupt, down to a T. Goosing a Tom while he is servicing his girl, means the Tom hurry's up and gets off.
Despite the fact that Romeo has constant opposition in Stevia, our gander, he gets the job done nicely. With 3 hens to call his own, Jenny, Co Op, and Happy, he was at 100% fertility rate, despite all the aggravation.
I have gone through 4 Bourbon red Tom's trying to find one that could coexist with us and the flock. Every turkey we have, is always raised with the chickens, and gets along nicely with them. We have had aggressive Tom's that wind up dinner, and Romeo started this year, challenging the kids. That is usually how it starts. He respects me, and won't challenge me, but the kids are fair game. The first time he went after my son, I went out and set him like a hen, and made him submit. Since then, he gets the picture, and keeps a respectful distance between him and the kids. I look forward to many more babies from Romeo and his girls, we are currently at almost 30 turkey, in various stages of grow out, and I hope to offer at least 13 for other people's Thanksgiving dinners!!
