Life on the farm provides us plenty of opportunity to observe how other species socialize. It can be a little startling to realize how similar the barnyard is to the classrooms I remember from my youth.

Animals of any sort will do amazing things to be noticed. Male turkeys fluff up and fan their tail feathers. My son, Atticus, calls this “making a tom.” The ritual is designed to establish dominance and attract hens. It isn’t the strangest courtship ritual we’ve seen. Our billy goat pees on his head as a signal of his virility. The does swoon.

Many of our animals have an established hierarchy, not unlike that seen in human social circles. The term “pecking order” comes from how chickens, and other fowl, determine who is in charge. Low-ranking hens often have feathers missing from where the other hens have gone after them. Chickens who are in charge strut around the field and command the highest roosting spots at night. Those who are lower in rank sleep below, with the lowest hens sometimes relegated to the floor.

Establishing social order in the pastures brings back memories of the dark side of school time socialization. There are more than enough bullies to go around.

Our turkeys have been pretty interesting to raise so far, but last week, they started getting aggressive with us. Up until now, any aggression has been directed at each other. From time to time, they will pick out one bird who is not accepted by the flock. All of the turkeys know who that bird is, and they take turns torturing him in various ways.

Male turkeys have a snood, a little floppy part that hangs down over their beak. It exists, apparently, as a target for other turkeys to latch on to. Once the aggressor has a good grip, the turkeys then run around the yard, squawking about as the others gather in a bunch and encourage them to fight.

If the designated pariah manages to escape, others in the flock will peck him on his way past, just to remind him of his low stature. We have had to remove a few birds to keep the others from killing them. Sometimes bullying goes too far.

I noticed a change in the turkeys’ behavior as I passed by them this past week. Usually, they gobble a hello and come to see what I’m up to. This week, a few of the toms tried to peck at me through the fence. Later, my daughter came to say that they’d been threatening toward her as well. Brian grabbed a shovel and prepared to establish the social order in a manner those birdbrains can understand.

To protect his family against rogue turkeys, Brian raised up the shovel while he stomped and yelled in the general direction of the turkeys. It was quite a sight. Those toms did what most bullies do when confronted with a real threat — they turned tail and ran.

Brian kept after them for a bit just to confirm, at least for the moment, his position within the flock hierarchy. Then he cleaned out the automatic waterer and filled the feeder. On his way back across the pasture, we could tell he had done his job well. As the toms huddled in the shelter, a line of turkey hens followed Brian back to the gate.

I guess they realized what I’ve known for nearly two decades — Brian is quite a guy. And he didn’t even have to ruffle up or fan tail feathers to prove it.

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