Guinea Hen show up with a surpise.

[DaQatz]

She showed up last night with a huddle of keets. That wasn't really a surprise. What appears to be two Turkey chicks mixed in with her keets was though.

 

[R2elk]

She showed up last night with a huddle of keets. That wasn't really a surprise. What appears to be two Turkey chicks mixed in with her keets was though.

Yep that's a turkey poult.

 

[DaQatz]

I wonder how it happened. Did she take over a turkey nest and hatch a few of their eggs?

 

[R2elk]

I wonder how it happened. Did she take over a turkey nest and hatch a few of their eggs?

If you don't have turkeys, my guess is that a wild turkey dropped a few eggs in her nest or as you suggest she found a turkey nest and took it over. When I kept guineas and turkeys in the same run, I had a guinea hen that laid her egg every day in the turkey's nest. She usually laid it right behind the turkey and the turkey would rake it into the nest and then I would end up with a bloody hand getting the guinea egg out of the turkey's nest.

 

[DaQatz]

Yeah I don't have any Turkey. And no one in the guinea's roaming area has any either. Plenty of wild turkey around though.

 

[R2elk]

Yeah I don't have any Turkey. And no one in the guinea's roaming area has any either. Plenty of wild turkey around though.

The poult in the picture does look like a Bronze poult which for color purposes, Wild Turkeys are Bronze.

 

[Celeste Cannon]

lol! So cute . Wonder how that's gonna go.

 

[red horse ranch]

Will that cause problems with the Game and Fish Dept if the poult is kept? In Wyoming wild turkeys belong to the state.

I would find it hard to give it up if my hen came home with one. They sure are cute.

 

[Ghosty]

Cool! I'd keep em for sure. We have wild turkey eveywhere here in Missouri. I can't even find anything on wild turkey ownership. Surely there is a license for it though.

 

[R2elk]

Cool! I'd keep em for sure. We have wild turkey eveywhere here in Missouri. I can't even find anything on wild turkey ownership. Surely there is a license for it though.

To find information on wild turkeys in Missouri, just call your local game warden or DNR agent.

All states consider the wild turkey a game bird and as such claim ownership of all wild turkeys. No state allows the taking of live game birds from the wild. Under these circumstances it is unlikely that the OP would get in trouble if the turkeys were turned in to the local game warden or DNR agent. Keeping the poults would constitute the commission of a crime and if caught could result in an arrest and fine.

Almost all states do allow the private ownership of wild turkeys with a permit and the permits usually prohibit the free ranging of such turkeys in order to prevent any possible diseases being transmitted to the wild population.