Do all turkey breeds have wander lust?

Cottage Rose

Crowing
12 Years
Jun 24, 2008
2,107
79
291
Mid west Michigan
I hatched out a few poults a years ago and fell in love with them.
My 2 girls were calm and pet like but insisted in laying their eggs out in the woods
even though provided with a coop and nest box and as much as I tried to hunt down their nests and break them up they both ended up
setting on eggs in the woods (I couldnt find them) and getting killed off by predators.
I have 1 tom and he never goes beyond the barnyard.
I don't have, or want to keep them confined to a covered pen.
Are any breeds that are known to be less adventuresome?
I'd like to get a couple hens if I could find a breed that sticks around instead of wandering off
if there is such a thing?
Thanks for any advise.
 
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Without penning the hens so they have no choice but to use the "nests" provided? The tamest/imprinted hens (of every variety) will start giving out with that plaintive "whoot - whoot - whoot" as they wander off into the undergrowth, as if in a trance. The first year we let the jennies "choose". As they decided that a patch of Day Lilies, near the house, would do, we just dropped a chain link dog run over them: The second year started out the same. However, the Royal hen spent her "dirt bath" breaks from the nest sneaking off into the wood line where she started another nest (always back with the Slate in the evening when locked in). She was killed by a daytime prowling raccoon on that "secret" nest. That was the end of "hen choice". Our hens are allowed one "choice" only: The back corners of the turkey shed. They''ve done just fine, over the past 7 yrs., and are well adjusted to the drill.
 
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