4 ms·

I've never seen a turkey live (yes, I grew up in cities) - is this really such a strong animal? Wouldn't grabbing it and kicking/strangling not be enough? A do

I've never seen a turkey live (yes, I grew up in cities) - is this really such a strong animal? Wouldn't grabbing it and kicking/strangling not be enough? A dog that weights the same has teeth that are designed to bite and cut, so the have an advantage in hand to paw combat - but a turkey?

incanus77 5y ago
Birds are deceptively big for their weight (or rather, the other way around). Male turkeys are quite large and, like many males in nature, are geared to fight off threats. Take a look at these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DE5Q-jwTaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DE5Q-jwTaA I grew up in the country and a rooster (male chicken) could give a grown man a run for their money, at a lot smaller and shorter than a turkey.
aaronbrethorst 5y ago
I would never fuck with a goose, and turkeys seem to outweigh them by a good margin.
geocrasher 5y ago
Turkeys can be very aggressive and are not to be reckoned with. They could really hurt somebody. (Especially if you fill the fryer too full)
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pseudo0 5y ago
A solid kick would likely dissuade a turkey, but then you'd be on rather low moral ground for harming a relatively harmless bird. This turkey seems like quite the outlier, most birds just put on a show of hissing and flapping wings and it's sufficient to just walk away from them. Not to mention the risk that someone gets the incident on camera and posts it on Twitter, accusing you of animal cruelty.
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- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > you'd be on rather low moral ground for harming a relatively harmless bird It's one the most threatening in that set of animals who are widely perceived to be too cute or helpless to physically assault. Sort of the inverse of city pigeons?
- smcl 5y ago
  I have to say, that opening sentence is hilarious in a way I can't quite put my finger on :D
- mauvehaus 5y ago
  Can't speak for a male turkey, but roosters cannot be dissuaded with even a fairy robust application of boot. Source: had an aggressive rooster. He became soup after attacking a friend's visiting 6 year old kid.
  - pseudo0 5y ago
    One of my cousins dealt with a Canada goose that way and it seemed to work. Sample size of one though I guess, and he wound up and gave it a very robust kick. In my cousin's defense, the goose was chasing a small child at the time. A solid kick gave him time to grab the kid and get him out of pecking range.
qbasic_forever 5y ago
Maybe this one has a bit too much velociraptor DNA still in its genes. :) https://phys.org/news/2014-09-dinosaur-family-tree-fresh-insight.html https://phys.org/news/2014-09-dinosaur-family-tree-fresh-ins...
TigeriusKirk 5y ago
I'm in California farm land, and we get flocks of wild turkeys passing through the neighborhood from time to time. They even came over the fence into the yard once. They can be aggressive, that's for sure. I'm not sure a kick would make them back off. Are they a lethal threat? No. But they could hurt you. Who wants a bunch of cuts from fighting a wild animal? Best to avoid them if possible.
mellavora 5y ago
Well, I suppose you could grab it, but where? Birds have claws which are designed to cut and tear. They can also move them very quickly, scoring down your face/belly multiple times. Birds have beaks which are designed to inflict harm. Think: woodpecker. Think: parrot (beak can cut open metal cans). So you grab the turkey by the neck, now it is raking your entire front with claws while flapping wings which effectively blinds you by overwhelming your vision. Or you grab it by the legs -- need to get both in one grab, by the way, and it pecks you. And you might be assuming a fair fight. What if you are walking down the street, and the turkey jumps you from behind? Yes, that sounds like a bizarro comic, but the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_capercaillie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_capercaillie (mentioned several times here) is known to do this.
- 317070 5y ago
  You're not wrong, grabbing by the legs is the answer, once you have them by the legs upside down they calm. Growing up, we were farming some turkey and it is how we caught them when butcher day came: https://youtu.be/YRXhM9ycU0Y https://youtu.be/YRXhM9ycU0Y Nothing a grown adult can't handle, but for elderly or children it is definitely stronger (and heavier!) than a chicken.
t-3 5y ago
They're roughly the same size as Canadian Geese, but they tend to run in larger groups. I've never had problems with them being aggressive though, unlike geese. An angry goose once knocked my bike into a ditch when I didn't swerve far enough away for his liking.
ClumsyPilot 5y ago
"is this really such a strong animal? Wouldn't grabbing it and kicking/strangling not be enough?" If you were savage and willing to kill the turkey, then it's quite easy. Subduing a wild animal without injuring is quite difficult and messy

incanus77 5y ago

Birds are deceptively big for their weight (or rather, the other way around). Male turkeys are quite large and, like many males in nature, are geared to fight off threats. Take a look at these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DE5Q-jwTaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DE5Q-jwTaA I grew up in the country and a rooster (male chicken) could give a grown man a run for their money, at a lot smaller and shorter than a turkey.

aaronbrethorst 5y ago

I would never fuck with a goose, and turkeys seem to outweigh them by a good margin.

geocrasher 5y ago

Turkeys can be very aggressive and are not to be reckoned with. They could really hurt somebody. (Especially if you fill the fryer too full)

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pseudo0 5y ago

A solid kick would likely dissuade a turkey, but then you'd be on rather low moral ground for harming a relatively harmless bird. This turkey seems like quite the outlier, most birds just put on a show of hissing and flapping wings and it's sufficient to just walk away from them. Not to mention the risk that someone gets the incident on camera and posts it on Twitter, accusing you of animal cruelty.

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JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> you'd be on rather low moral ground for harming a relatively harmless bird It's one the most threatening in that set of animals who are widely perceived to be too cute or helpless to physically assault. Sort of the inverse of city pigeons?
smcl 5y ago
I have to say, that opening sentence is hilarious in a way I can't quite put my finger on :D
mauvehaus 5y ago
Can't speak for a male turkey, but roosters cannot be dissuaded with even a fairy robust application of boot. Source: had an aggressive rooster. He became soup after attacking a friend's visiting 6 year old kid.
- pseudo0 5y ago
  One of my cousins dealt with a Canada goose that way and it seemed to work. Sample size of one though I guess, and he wound up and gave it a very robust kick. In my cousin's defense, the goose was chasing a small child at the time. A solid kick gave him time to grab the kid and get him out of pecking range.

qbasic_forever 5y ago

Maybe this one has a bit too much velociraptor DNA still in its genes. :) https://phys.org/news/2014-09-dinosaur-family-tree-fresh-insight.html https://phys.org/news/2014-09-dinosaur-family-tree-fresh-ins...

TigeriusKirk 5y ago

I'm in California farm land, and we get flocks of wild turkeys passing through the neighborhood from time to time. They even came over the fence into the yard once. They can be aggressive, that's for sure. I'm not sure a kick would make them back off. Are they a lethal threat? No. But they could hurt you. Who wants a bunch of cuts from fighting a wild animal? Best to avoid them if possible.

mellavora 5y ago

Well, I suppose you could grab it, but where? Birds have claws which are designed to cut and tear. They can also move them very quickly, scoring down your face/belly multiple times. Birds have beaks which are designed to inflict harm. Think: woodpecker. Think: parrot (beak can cut open metal cans). So you grab the turkey by the neck, now it is raking your entire front with claws while flapping wings which effectively blinds you by overwhelming your vision. Or you grab it by the legs -- need to get both in one grab, by the way, and it pecks you. And you might be assuming a fair fight. What if you are walking down the street, and the turkey jumps you from behind? Yes, that sounds like a bizarro comic, but the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_capercaillie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_capercaillie (mentioned several times here) is known to do this.

317070 5y ago
You're not wrong, grabbing by the legs is the answer, once you have them by the legs upside down they calm. Growing up, we were farming some turkey and it is how we caught them when butcher day came: https://youtu.be/YRXhM9ycU0Y https://youtu.be/YRXhM9ycU0Y Nothing a grown adult can't handle, but for elderly or children it is definitely stronger (and heavier!) than a chicken.

t-3 5y ago

They're roughly the same size as Canadian Geese, but they tend to run in larger groups. I've never had problems with them being aggressive though, unlike geese. An angry goose once knocked my bike into a ditch when I didn't swerve far enough away for his liking.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago

"is this really such a strong animal? Wouldn't grabbing it and kicking/strangling not be enough?" If you were savage and willing to kill the turkey, then it's quite easy. Subduing a wild animal without injuring is quite difficult and messy