adopted by a turkey

[albemarlepippin]

Hello,
I am new around here and typically raise chickens. About a month and a half ago we were adopted by a wild turkey. I believe he is male and we call him Tom. Well, Tom has become a part of our flock of chickens it seems. He will spend all day with my flock and then roost in the tree that hangs over the coop at night, wake up in the morning and redo all of this again. At first we tried to get him to leave but he kinda grew on us. He's completely goofy and definitely not the brightest crayon in the box. I don't think he stupid, but he is definitely different than my chickens!

Does anyone have any experience with something similar? Obviously he can't live with us forever but I don't think he's headed back to the wild anytime soon. My hubby tried to catch him once but that proved pretty stressful for BOTH of them! Can Tom be raised for Thanksgiving dinner? WHY would a turkey try to be a chicken?

Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[chichick]

What I would do is go out and buy a couple of wild turkey hens, let him breed them, and get the eggs and go about it that way.

 

[ColbyNTX]

If he is a wild turkey, he belongs to the state! If you want to have him for thanksgiving, you still need the proper hunting permits and tags and take him by legal means during the hunting season. Can you post a pic?

 

[Denninmi]

Is it possible its not a truly wild turkey, but a feral or lost domestic turkey?

Pics would indeed help.

 

[albemarlepippin]

I'll get a picture up ASAP. We have a wildlife center not too fat from here, and I talked to them when he first came to us. They too speculated he had been with people in some way. Having said that he shows definite signs of NOT having been around people at times. When he enters the fenced area of my chicken area, and he bumps against fencing, he totally flips out! With the way he can fly it amazes me that something simple like fencing scares him so much. We talked of rehabbing him, but unfortunately the turkey person isn't available this summer. Can ya'll send me to some places to read up some on turkeys? He's really something! I really like him!