Help! Turkey dropped off?

Hi I'm hoping some knowledgable turkey owners can help me out! This turkey showed up in my yard this morning and keeps flying up on my Marans coop and run and causing a commotion. I've tried to run it off numerous times and it keeps coming back. It's pretty rough looking- holes in tail feathers and almost like its molting around the face. Could anyone tell me if this is a hen or young tom or possible breed? I don't know where it came from and don't know if it's been dumped off here or is just lost. Legs are pinkish red color and also has small spurs.



Thanks for the help!

I would call it a hen, though I am not super knowledgeable in turkeys....

I don't know much about turkeys either but it might be a Royal Palm or Blue Slate.

Hopefully somebody who knows will see this thread and answer your questions.

Micah

micah wotring said:

I don't know much about turkeys either but it might be a Royal Palm or Blue Slate.

Hopefully somebody who knows will see this thread and answer your questions.

Micah

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CascadiaRiver said:

I would call it a hen, though I am not super knowledgeable in turkeys....

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Thank you both for your help
Micah thanks for the pics- I think it does look a lot like a blue slate.

Can you get close enough to see if it has feathers up the back of its neck?

From what I've read, hens should have a strip of feathers on the back of its neck and that toms don't.

Also, if it's old enough it might have a wattle. I think it does just by looking at the pics.

If you have several turkeys to compare then the longer wattles are toms and the shorter wattles are hens but I don't know what you would do If you only have one.



My guess is either a young tom (Jake) or a full size hen.

One thing you could do, depending on how tame it is, you could weigh it and look up weights for full size blue slat hens.

Micah

micah wotring said:

I don't know much about turkeys either but it might be a Royal Palm or Blue Slate.

Hopefully somebody who knows will see this thread and answer your questions.

Micah

Click to expand...

Sorry it is definitely not a Royal Palm or a Blue Slate. I suspect that it is some kind of a slate cross but can't really telly from the photo. It is possible that it might be a Self Blue (aka Lavender). Blue Slates have black spots or splashes on their feathers, Self Blues do not.

Based on the size of the snood and the caruncles it does appear to be a hen.

R2elk said:

Sorry it is definitely not a Royal Palm or a Blue Slate. I suspect that it is some kind of a slate cross but can't really telly from the photo. It is possible that it might be a Self Blue (aka Lavender). Blue Slates have black spots or splashes on their feathers, Self Blues do not.

Based on the size of the snood and the caruncles it does appear to be a hen.

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Thank you, I appreciate the info. It doesn't have any dark splash type markings for sure. It has disappeared at the moment so the only other pic I can provide now is from earlier this morning when it flew up on the chickens' run (sorry not a good pic).
Since it's likely a hen, would you tend to think someone dropped her off here? I wouldn't expect a female to be roaming around on her own like this.

R2elk said:

Sorry it is definitely not a Royal Palm or a Blue Slate. I suspect that it is some kind of a slate cross but can't really telly from the photo. It is possible that it might be a Self Blue (aka Lavender). Blue Slates have black spots or splashes on their feathers, Self Blues do not.

Based on the size of the snood and the caruncles it does appear to be a hen.

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OK,
Good to know

Laurel Meadows said:

Thank you, I appreciate the info. It doesn't have any dark splash type markings for sure. It has disappeared at the moment so the only other pic I can provide now is from earlier this morning when it flew up on the chickens' run (sorry not a good pic).
Since it's likely a hen, would you tend to think someone dropped her off here? I wouldn't expect a female to be roaming around on her own like this.

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I doubt that she was dropped off. For the most part people prize their turkeys too much to toss them. My guess is that she had a hidden nest destroyed by a predator and got confused by rapid flight. She possibly ended up where she was able to hear your poultry causing her to attempt to move in.

I have had toms in the past call in wild turkey hens from miles away.

Good luck.

R2elk said:

I doubt that she was dropped off. For the most part people prize their turkeys too much to toss them. My guess is that she had a hidden nest destroyed by a predator and got confused by rapid flight. She possibly ended up where she was able to hear your poultry causing her to attempt to move in.

I have had toms in the past call in wild turkey hens from miles away.

Good luck.

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Thank you for the helpful information. I'm glad to hear she may find her way home then! We live in an area heavily populated with predators so I can see how that situation could easily have happened. I havent seen her in awhile so hopefully she's heard the call she's looking for.