Are these wild baby turkeys? Found by the road.

[R2elk]

Can they be told apart?

DNA testing when poults. As adults, the frame of wild turkeys is slighter than heritage turkeys who have a slighter frame than broad breasted.

When growing up, the wild poults can be distinguished from domestic turkeys by their behavior. They tend to be "wild" in their behavior.

 

[Tonyroo]

Is this a western version of a Bronze / wild turkey? It was loitering in my driveway for a couple of weeks and checking out my chickens.

 

[DogAndCat36]

My friend wouldn't purposely ghost me. Sorry but I'm still waiting for him to post a picture. Most likely in the morning.
If not, I know where he lives.

 

[NatJ]

Look it up. The APA only recognizes one breed and that is Turkey.

I just looked it up.

Yup, that's mostly true for the APA (American Poultry Association). They recognize one breed (Turkey) of type Turkey (vs. type bantam, guinea, large fowl, or waterfowl.)

But not for the EE (Entente Européenne d'Aviculture et de Cuniculture).
They're in Europe, and I'm having trouble finding much info in English, but it's clear they recognize several different BREEDS of turkeys.

So Bronze or Narrangansett or whatever might be varieties, or they might be breeds, but Turkey is still the name we use for all birds of that SPECIES. If we are talking about what kind of turkey, then "breed" or "variety" can both be reasonable words to use.

A good example of how closely turkeys are related is that if you breed a Bronze tom to a Narragansett hen, all the offspring will be Bronze. All of the female offspring will be pure Bronze because a Narragansett hen cannot pass her single Narragansett gene on to her female offspring. All the males will be Bronze carrying a hidden Narragansett gene because it takes two Narragansett genes for the trait to be shown in male turkeys.

Pfft. That is true for any gene on the Z chromosome of chickens, geese, or ducks as well. Sure, it proves that all domestic turkeys are members of one species, but we already knew that. Chickens are all one species, and we divide them into breeds. So no, that is not useful for settling whether different colors of turkeys should be called breeds or varieties.

 

[R2elk]

I just looked it up.

Yup, that's mostly true for the APA (American Poultry Association). They recognize one breed (Turkey) of type Turkey (vs. type bantam, guinea, large fowl, or waterfowl.)

But not for the EE (Entente Européenne d'Aviculture et de Cuniculture).
They're in Europe, and I'm having trouble finding much info in English, but it's clear they recognize several different BREEDS of turkeys.

So Bronze or Narrangansett or whatever might be varieties, or they might be breeds, but Turkey is still the name we use for all birds of that SPECIES. If we are talking about what kind of turkey, then "breed" or "variety" can both be reasonable words to use.



Pfft. That is true for any gene on the Z chromosome of chickens, geese, or ducks as well. Sure, it proves that all domestic turkeys are members of one species, but we already knew that. Chickens are all one species, and we divide them into breeds. So no, that is not useful for settling whether different colors of turkeys should be called breeds or varieties.

Since you show your location as the USA, the APA is the governing body for poultry designations.

 

[SarahGfa]

DNA testing when poults. As adults, the frame of wild turkeys is slighter than heritage turkeys who have a slighter frame than broad breasted.

When growing up, the wild poults can be distinguished from domestic turkeys by their behavior. They tend to be "wild" in their behavior.

Wild turkey poults are smaller than domestic bronze turkey poults. This is a size chart for wild turkeys.

Compare to the week-by-week photos in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/turkeys-0-9-5-weeks-old-pics.58261/

 

[R2elk]

Wild turkey poults are smaller than domestic bronze turkey poults. This is a size chart for wild turkeys.
View attachment 2759986
Compare to the week-by-week photos in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/turkeys-0-9-5-weeks-old-pics.58261/

The wild turkey poults that hatched here this year were the same size as the heritage poults that came out of similar sized eggs.

 

[Huntmaster]

As far as eastern wild turkeys they look like bronze poults same size as bronze poults. Only difference you can notice is they usually tend to have slightly longer legs. And they are much more skittish than bronze poults. There body isn't as blocky as bronze they are slightly longer leaner looking. But you have to have a very good eye for turkeys to notice any of this as poults. The older they get the more noticeable it gets. From what I have read in thread what @R2elk is saying is true. I have been around both for many years. But I can only speak for Ohio Eastern Wild Turkeys.

 

[Olivia Braddy]

So my friend recently found some baby turkeys by the road. He looked all over but found no parent or a flock. He lives on the main road meaning that someone could have also dumped them. We have wild turkeys here, are they wild? If so they have to bring them to a wild life rehab.
Ps I told him to swap the shavings asap.
View attachment 2758451

I caught some wild baby turkeys one time and will never, ever do that again! They would not eat one bite of food or drink water; thus, they died. Heartbreaking!

 

[Devils Flower]

So my friend recently found some baby turkeys by the road. He looked all over but found no parent or a flock. He lives on the main road meaning that someone could have also dumped them. We have wild turkeys here, are they wild? If so they have to bring them to a wild life rehab.
Ps I told him to swap the shavings asap.
View attachment 2758451

What happened with the turkeys?