Free range turkeys?

[jasonm11]

Keep tehm locked up a few weeks to get used to you and the yard and the feeding schedule. then release tehm and keep the feeding schedule consistant, they will hang around for the food if nothing else. My easterns routinly end up 30' up in my trees for the night but the next morning are trying to get back in the coop/run.

 

[crj]

Quote:
I have a panel gate like that and mine won't go through it. He will go through/under the fence wire. I have it off during the day. If it were on I'm sure it would be a different story. I must say, you have some handsome boys. They look like mine and he is a Bronze.

 

[karimw]

My husband told me last night we'll need to something to contain them or they are likely to be eaten

They don't often hop the fence, but when they want to they can and he's concerned about the garden.

I suppose that's a valid concern. They were pretty interested in digging up my fresh planted garlic last fall until I pile bracken on top. I believe they thought I was hiding treats for them to find

 

[karimw]

Quote:
Actually I think the more sturdy the fence the easier it is for them to get over. Mine jump on top of the pipe gates or the boards I have above the horse fence and then jump down on the other side. They don't go over the bare wire areas except by accident. I have a picture of my hen getting a pretty good run and launching herself toward me to catch up but she miscalculated and ended up in the horse pasture. She wouldn't hop back over it because there was no top rail. I had to go open the gate for her

 

[SandyC]

I have wild turkeys that come and go. Even with that, mine stay pretty close to home. There was one exception though.
I had a Royal Palm that decided that she liked one of the girls next door. If she saw her get off the school bus in the afternoon,
she would follow her home. More than once, I got a knock on the door to see this little girl with a turkey behind her, inquiring
if I had lost something!

 

[Wayne&Kim1963]

My turkeys free range on an acre and stay home. I have 19. They also go to bed in chicken house every night so we can lock them up

 

[karimw]

Quote:
That's cute

They really do have cool personalities. Mine helped me build chicken nesting boxes last weekend

 

[MandyH]

We have a 5 acre pasture fenced in for our livestock and my turkeys always free ranged out there. The hens would fly out and poke around all day and lay eggs but went back in the fence at night. It's been MY experience that turkeys do not tear stuff up like chickens do. Mine never bothered the garden or flower beds.

 

[Breac]

For about half a year I let my three Royal Palms free-range. I eventually placed them in a pen in October because I was worried about how they'd do in the cold. They did extremely well when they did free-range, none of them died or got ill. They were really a sight to see strutting across the lawn or out in the field.

That being said, they did cover a LOT of territory and would occasionally disappear for a day or two before eventually coming back. They were capable of flying pretty high; their roost was a metal pole six feet off the ground. There was some debris around the area, but nevertheless, they could jump up pretty high. They knew not to go out into the road, but occasionally they would wander off the property.

Good luck with your endeavors!