Is it a good idea to keep turkeys around fruit trees or growing pumpkin?

[wilderbirds]

-putting on my hard hat-

If I were trying to set up a situation similar to what it seems you’re trying to create....
Here are some things to consider.

Having had free range, heritage breed turkeys when they were young (we started w 14 all the same age, only 4 were hens, 2 different varieties)....
I LOVED the mini pterodactyls roaming around!
When they are small (until 3-4 months or so) they are very light and excellent fliers.
Even with one wing clipped, they needed to be in a covered pen during the day, and I always put them in a secure coop at night.
Then spring came. The Toms all started spontaneously fighting when the hens came of “age”.
In a day. All at once. It was a sh*t show but highly entertaining for my friend who was visiting as I was breaking up the fights and separating everyone
I’m glad I had pens and coops sufficient to do so!

@R2elk @Molpet amd a few others have surely gotten many laughs and many more on my behalf but they have solid advice. Please do consider their suggestions as well.

I (obviously) don’t know the layout of your property. I also don’t know your goals.
Pets?
Raising to butcher?
Raising to propagate a variety?
Trying to set up a “petting zoo” along w the other farm activities?

What I can share from my experience-
- you don’t want the turkeys in your garden. They will eat pests, along w almost everything else. And, yes, they will poop everywhere. But they will have eaten all the greens and veggies, sooo.... the poo is a secondary concern.
- you are going to need to think about coop and run set ups. The youngsters will need a safe area to grow until they are too big to fly/ jump over your perimeter fencing. They all- including adults, should be closed into a secure coop at night so they are safe from predation.
- if you want to incubate or hatch eggs. You are going to need the ability to separate breeding groups. Both physically and visually.
- You should plan to keep one Tom per breeding group, ideally w 3-4 hens. And you need to make sure that there is a safe “laying” area in the coop for your hens, where the Tom can’t get to them. The best coop set up is probably a question for another thread, though.

It is not likely that you will be able to have a mixed flock free ranging happily. Even in that much space.
Perhaps one breeding group. Or maybe a bachelor flock.
But.
IF you decide to do a free range group (or groups)....
- Your free range pen needs to be out of sight of your breeding pens, should you want any.
- you should still have a secure coop for night time and not allow them to get into the trees. Even if you have to go herd them in, in the evening. You work too hard to let an owl, raccoon, weasel, hawk, coyote, bobcat, dog, etc have an easy meal. And if the the predators DO find an easy meal- they will be back w friends.
- you should have runs and coops for every group that you have, so you can close them in if you want or need to.
Even if it is just because you are headed out of town- your farm sitter isn’t likely to have a lot of luck chasing a bunch of turkeys to their coop over 5 acres or so.

Now here is the other point that no one else has brought up.

Even heritage turkey Toms can be very large birds.
They are usually very docile, esp when raised right.
But. You mentioned having customers come onto your property.
My Bourbon Red Toms are about 30ish#
My Holland White Toms are about 38#+

....they are all very good to me, and everyone I’ve let around them.
But. If someone had a small child on my property, and they were inside a fence....say picking apples.
And one of those Toms decided that he wanted to mount, or attack, someone’s kiddo- he could do some serious damage, esp if the person who understands their behavior (you, in this scenario) wasn’t right there to recognize the behavior and stop it before it happened.

The liability is highly worthy of consideration as well.
Just my $0.02

Thank you for your thoughtful response. Its for a bird sanctuary. Since turkey enclosures and care (fencing around the property and a coop or 2) is easier to manage than most other birds I decided ill start here. Plus i find them so cute and charming compared to say chickens or ducks. The orchard was an idea for making it a fun place to go with your family and help fund the expansion of the sanctuary. I worry about young children purposely harassing the animals so id probablly set an age limit for the upick area or make it a guided tour, but thats a good point so i should probablly focus on females then maybe 1 docile human friendly male or if there is opportunity to take in a very young male so he can get used to the commotion? I dont want any breeding going on but he keeps them safer? For protection I do have a LGD (great pyreneese) with strong preference for outside over inside as I believe he was a former farm dog so maybe the barking and his presence would help. There will be fencing and i was thinking motion activated spotlights ... but with animals free to live outside as they desire theres only so much you can do and i understand that though id like to give the best opportunity to hide. Ill keep what you said in mind about the coops and not having to run allover the farm for them...ideally id like them to go in themselves. I wonder what could encourage that besides keeping their food and water in there...

 

[wilderbirds]

My turkeys prefer roosting 30ft in mulberry and 50ft in black walnut trees. Everything was fine for a couple years, until the GH owls showed up.
I lose a few hens to owls and nest raiders every year. Lost 5 poults to something one night. Might have been weasels, mink, raccoons or opossum. I think a hawk got 3 poults. Coyotes got a Tom and 3 hens on nests.
The owls have even killed a 4 year old tom last Dec. And this spring several hens and a poult that I didn't get to before they were put of reach of my 10ft pole.

Wow sorry to hear that and suprising that an owl killed such a large bird...what have you tried for protection? Do you keep larger animals on your land like dogs or donkeys?

 

[Molpet]

Wow sorry to hear that and suprising that an owl killed such a large bird...what have you tried for protection? Do you keep larger animals on your land like dogs or donkeys?

I used to have a good dog, but he was in the house at night anyway. The city idiots passed stupid laws for the whole state, about dogs outside.....Dog I have now is not useful for protection.
Motion light and scarecrows only work for a while even when moved regularly.
Basically I let them hatch way too many, hope I get 6 jakes and breeding stock for next year.

 

[R2elk]

The orchard was an idea for making it a fun place to go with your family and help fund the expansion of the sanctuary. I worry about young children purposely harassing the animals so id probablly set an age limit for the upick area or make it a guided tour, but thats a good point so i should probablly focus on females then maybe 1 docile human friendly male or if there is opportunity to take in a very young male so he can get used to the commotion?

You better get some really good liability insurance.

1 docile human friendly male or if there is opportunity to take in a very young male so he can get used to the commotion? I dont want any breeding going on but he keeps them safer?

Male animals that are "human friendly" are not to be trusted at anytime. If you have a tom and hens, there will be breeding going on.

 

[wilderbirds]

You better get some really good liability insurance.

Male animals that are "human friendly" are not to be trusted at anytime. If you have a tom and hens, there will be breeding going on.

AlI I mean is I don't want resulting chicks; the eggs can be taken care of to prevent chicks If I do want to keep a male. I don't think domestic turkeys are near as broody as most chickens though. I've been to farms that keep male animals of many species and open to public just fine. Human males are statistically much more dangerous than male turkeys and I have to deal with them everyday but I'll keep comments in mind-I don't see turkeys as a huge danger to the public but also my experiences with them have always been good-wild turkeys always mind their own business domestics are gentle natured. There are rare cases I'm sure but in any situation or business there is liability and more often than not attacks from an otherwise gentle natured species are provoked. I have raised and cared for animals all my life and never found human raised animals to be "unpredictable"-there are signs early on if an animal was poorly socialized and there's potential to rehome an animal to a more closed sanctuary if there's warning signs of potential turkey on human bloodshed you speak of but my question was moreso on turkeys effect on apple trees/pumpkins not tips on merging the public with sanctuary animals or legalities. There are sanctuaries and petting zoos who are successfully doing so with male turkeys and public that I can ask about this if I run into any issue regarding that.

 

[Molpet]

I don't think domestic turkeys are near as broody as most chickens though.

All my turkey hens go broody. I have a couple that dumps the kids with a daughter's brood and have another nest.
Some are very territorial and run everything off.

If turkeys don't realize there's a difference between them and another species, they can try to get to the top of the pecking order. .... Or breed, which has caused a couple squashed chickens.
The first heritage turkeys I got the dominant would attack me. I tried all the tricks and the higher protein helped until the mulberries or grass seeds ripened. One by one I put the dominant jake in the freezer and the next one would start jumping on me when my back was turned. I started over with a different bloodline and haven't had any problems.

 

[SarahGfa]

AlI I mean is I don't want resulting chicks; the eggs can be taken care of to prevent chicks If I do want to keep a male. I don't think domestic turkeys are near as broody as most chickens though. I've been to farms that keep male animals of many species and open to public just fine. Human males are statistically much more dangerous than male turkeys and I have to deal with them everyday but I'll keep comments in mind-I don't see turkeys as a huge danger to the public but also my experiences with them have always been good-wild turkeys always mind their own business domestics are gentle natured. There are rare cases I'm sure but in any situation or business there is liability and more often than not attacks from an otherwise gentle natured species are provoked. I have raised and cared for animals all my life and never found human raised animals to be "unpredictable"-there are signs early on if an animal was poorly socialized and there's potential to rehome an animal to a more closed sanctuary if there's warning signs of potential turkey on human bloodshed you speak of but my question was moreso on turkeys effect on apple trees/pumpkins not tips on merging the public with sanctuary animals or legalities. There are sanctuaries and petting zoos who are successfully doing so with male turkeys and public that I can ask about this if I run into any issue regarding that.

I grow apple trees, pumpkins, and turkeys. My turkeys don't bother the pumpkins or apples. I also grow berries and corn, and the turkeys prefer to eat those. You can grow a lot of trees on 5 acres. 20 turkeys won't make big difference in your harvest.

My domestic heritage turkey hens can fly to the top of a 60 foot oak tree hopping from one branch to the next. Then they glide down 1/4 mile away. I don't have hens anymore because predators killed them all over this past year. Now I only have tom turkeys.

 

[R2elk]

AlI I mean is I don't want resulting chicks; the eggs can be taken care of to prevent chicks If I do want to keep a male. I don't think domestic turkeys are near as broody as most chickens though. I've been to farms that keep male animals of many species and open to public just fine. Human males are statistically much more dangerous than male turkeys and I have to deal with them everyday but I'll keep comments in mind-I don't see turkeys as a huge danger to the public but also my experiences with them have always been good-wild turkeys always mind their own business domestics are gentle natured. There are rare cases I'm sure but in any situation or business there is liability and more often than not attacks from an otherwise gentle natured species are provoked. I have raised and cared for animals all my life and never found human raised animals to be "unpredictable"-there are signs early on if an animal was poorly socialized and there's potential to rehome an animal to a more closed sanctuary if there's warning signs of potential turkey on human bloodshed you speak of but my question was moreso on turkeys effect on apple trees/pumpkins not tips on merging the public with sanctuary animals or legalities. There are sanctuaries and petting zoos who are successfully doing so with male turkeys and public that I can ask about this if I run into any issue regarding that.

Guaranteed that anytime you are open to the public, you better have good liability insurance.

I gave you a link showing what turkeys will do to growing pumpkins.

There are plenty of posts in this forum telling of turkey attacks on people. I met one fellow years ago who was getting a tom from me. He had scars on both sides of his face. He was bent over fixing a hole in his fence. His human imprinted tom jumped on his head trying to breed him and ended up by raking both sides of his face with his feet.

The places you speak of do have problems with people and animal interactions. They don't publicize these attacks. They do have liability insurance because they do get sued.

 

[wilderbirds]

All my turkey hens go broody. I have a couple that dumps the kids with a daughter's brood and have another nest.
Some are very territorial and run everything off.

If turkeys don't realize there's a difference between them and another species, they can try to get to the top of the pecking order. .... Or breed, which has caused a couple squashed chickens.
The first heritage turkeys I got the dominant would attack me. I tried all the tricks and the higher protein helped until the mulberries or grass seeds ripened. One by one I put the dominant jake in the freezer and the next one would start jumping on me when my back was turned. I started over with a different bloodline and haven't had any problems.

I see...i mostly wanted the male to protect the others and to give them opportunity to be there too. Could it be protective of the females thinking you will harm them seeing you as a predator or same with pets as well? Either way theyre not too big so id be willing to test it tbh with a very young male and see if he fits. I wouldnt mind a protective yet non violent male.

 

[SarahGfa]

I see...i mostly wanted the male to protect the others and to give them opportunity to be there too. Could it be protective of the females thinking you will harm them seeing you as a predator or same with pets as well? Either way theyre not too big so id be willing to test it tbh with a very young male and see if he fits. I wouldnt mind a protective yet non violent male.

Alot of people, even grown men, don't know how to interact with turkeys. I had a visitor kick my most FRIENDLY male turkey because the turkey got too close and he (the visitor) felt intimidated. The turkey was strutting over to say hi to new stranger, ended up getting kicked in the chest. My turkey responded with a flying kick at the man's face. Unfortunately I had to cull the turkey, even though the turkey did nothing wrong.