Found wild turkey chick, will raise it. Any tips?

[TacticalChickenDad]

Today we found a lone wild turkey chick all aloke on our property. No clue where mom is. We're going to keep her and raise her with some TSC chicks. They're all currently in a brooder and generally getting along. She's only a few days old. We've raised plenty of chicken chicks successfully, any tips that are turkey specific?

 

[the_peanut_coop]

@JustBabyMargo

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I would take her to a wildlife rehabilitation center, they would know how to best raise a wild turkey for release back into nature.

 

[nuthatched]

Call your dnr, make sure it's legal for you to keep, which it most likely isn't. Turkeys, especially wild ones can get a disease called black head from domestic chickens, it's often fatal, please get it away from the chicks and call your dnr.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Wild turkey chicks are also quite difficult to raise as they often won't eat regular chick feed or drink properly in a contained setting. As the others stated please contact your local Fish & wildlife or wildlife rehabilitator and hand it over.

As it's a game bird/wildlife it may be illegal to keep in your state without a permit.

 

[21hens-incharge]

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the taking, killing, capturing, transporting, harboring of the birds or hatching eggs, that which are Native to the United States of America, Europe and central Asia. All are protected by state and federal agencies.

https://www.fws.gov/birds/policies-and-regulations/laws-legislations/migratory-bird-treaty-act.php

https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/policy/species-protection-and-hunting-birds

Any threads started on this subject will be closed.

Thank you for your understanding.

-BYC Staff