We have raised turkeys on and off over the past 7 years, having started with Midget Whites and now “regular” sized heritage birds.
Turkeys are probably my favorite barnyard fowl. I have found them to be friendly and inquisitive, a trait I would probably attribute in large part to the fact our birds have all been hatched in incubators and raised around humans (namely, the two of us.) The turkeys follow us all around the farm like a bunch of star-struck fans trailing a rock star.
So, it surprises me when I get asked if our turkeys are mean. We don’t by any stretch of the imagination have a lot of experience with these intriguing birds, but with the exception of one young tom (maybe 6 months or less) who decided he was going to take me on in a barnyard brawl (and let’s just say he lost) we’ve not had any aggressive tendencies displayed towards us. I’m thinking it might have something to do with the face we have a decent sized flock with more hens than toms, and they focus more on maintaining their pecking order with the other turkeys than worry about us.
I advertised our bronze turkeys for sale (we want to concentrate on lighter colors) and someone asked this very question. This is the video I sent to demonstrate the calm nature of our flock.