Really really need turkey advice! PLZ read!!

[MakNat]

Long story short. Guy came out to my place and bought ducks. He said he had a trio adult of turkeys that he wanted to rehome. Said my place would be wonderful for them, as we live on the end of a dead end road way out in the country. Turkeys raised with chickens and use to free ranging. He just lived allot closer to neighbors so they got him in trouble. Ok, got the turkeys last saturday. Black spanish Tom and hen and a blue slate hen. Locked them up until thursday. BTW the Tom is so tame you can walk up to him and pick him up. They hung around the my yard with the ducks and chickens the first day they were out, wen. Thursday, they wondered to my neighbors, we walked them home. Yesterday I had them in the barn, but the hens got out and left! The Tom could have gotton out but didn't. The hens are still gone this morning, but I still have the Tom. Whats the chances the hens will come back? And Whats the chances the Tom will run away too if I let him loose? Is he going to get depressed? Should I find him more hens? hould I just let him loose and see what happens? It was nice to get 3 free turkeys, but really this whole thing has been a head ache. I LOVE the tom, do you think he can just become a barnyard pet?

 

[brahmabreeder]

They might come back. I had four turkeys and they always left my property. Some days they would be gone for awhile and then would reappear for a couple of days.

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

Might come back or might not. Depends on how smart they are about picking safe places to roost at night. this may be a case of spring wandering. I have had trouble with some of my hens when I free range them. they disappear only to return after a while with a bunch of poults. I have since learned to keep them locked up in the spring or clip their wings so they cant fly over the orchard fence (where the free range during the day) and leave. I would keep the tom locked up for another week just to be safe and make sure he has the idea of where home (and food )is . Sometimes birds do decide to just wander off and either get eaten or choose not to come back. If the hens come back I would lock them up for a good long time (at least two weeks) before letting them out again. If they dont come back the toms will be fine by himself. I have found birds while they may prefer one of their own kind will easily glom on to a flock of whatever is around. (i currently have a goose that thinks its a duck and refuses to live with the rest of the geese because it was brooded with ducks, I used to have a turkey that thought it was part of my goose flock, etc).

 

[MakNat]

Thank you. The black Hen is back and locked up with the Tom. I'm pretty sure we saw the gray hen about a 4th a mile up the road running through a field. I once had a white cochin pullet who would sleep on the ground all snuggled up with the younger muscoveys!! Very cute!

 

[newduckie]

Might come back or might not. Depends on how smart they are about picking safe places to roost at night. this may be a case of spring wandering. I have had trouble with some of my hens when I free range them. they disappear only to return after a while with a bunch of poults. I have since learned to keep them locked up in the spring or clip their wings so they cant fly over the orchard fence (where the free range during the day) and leave. I would keep the tom locked up for another week just to be safe and make sure he has the idea of where home (and food )is . Sometimes birds do decide to just wander off and either get eaten or choose not to come back. If the hens come back I would lock them up for a good long time (at least two weeks) before letting them out again. If they dont come back the toms will be fine by himself. I have found birds while they may prefer one of their own kind will easily glom on to a flock of whatever is around. (i currently have a goose that thinks its a duck and refuses to live with the rest of the geese because it was brooded with ducks, I used to have a turkey that thought it was part of my goose flock, etc).

I agree that he will be fine without the females if they fail to come back. My turkey tom has never had any dealing with the female turkey until this spring. H wll associate with her long enough to do the deed and then he is back with the geese. he is happiest with the geese.

 

[Elisi]

When I was living in Alaska, the lady across the street had free ranging turkeys. (imagine our surprise at seeing turkeys in Alaska!) Anyway every spring the hens would move over to our woods next to the house to nest. They would actually live there until their babies could fly at which time they would slowly introduce the young ones to the main flock. (One summer we had more than 50 turkeys of all ages more or less living in our yard!) After that they would some times spend days away from her farm/barn. They would quite often range up to a mile in ether direction from the barn. They roost in the trees and nest on the ground. They are good fliers and very good mommas! They always came back sooner or later to feed on corn & pellets but they didn't like the barn. In my experience they will stay relatively close to the food source, (they LOVE corn & flowers!!) but you will have to have an outside feed station. (covered if you have much rain & feed pellets)

If you really want to have turkeys I think you might be better off starting with a small flock of babies to raise. They will bond with you and stay near your property. They will still wonder to nest & roost in the trees as they become adults but they will return to where the food is, they will also be much tamer. Also when the babies grow up they will trust you & teach their babies to trust you too.

I learned a lot in my 7 years living with them. Turkeys have a bad rep, but in reality they are very a intelligent and interesting bird!