Help! Harboring Lone Turkey.

[LucyElle]

Hi there, I am new today to this group. We have been long considering chickens, but thats for another post. Here is my current pressing situation. A few days ago these 4 Turkeys arrived in my back yard. We found their owner and shooed them home to him. He hatched them from egg with the intent to have them as pets. It is a mom and 3 of her children. Yesterday morning one of them arrived back to my yard. We shooed him home and he came running back to us at which time I realized something was likely wrong. I went down to the neighbors to learn that raccoons attacked the flock at night and killed off all of them except this remaining Turkey. He is alone and very upset and seems to want to be with us. Neighbor said we can/should keep him as the Raccoon has been coming back to his house every night.

Turkey seems very attached to this area under my second floor deck where he and his flock had liked to gather together a few days prior. There are also two big sliding doors there and he sees his reflection and I believe he thinks his family is on the other side of the glass. At dusk last night he panicked and kept flying into the rafters of my deck looking for a place to land. I ran into my woods and got a large branch and propped it on my deck steps and mounted it to the ceiling rafters so he had a nice high place to rest for the night and he seemed happy with that.

So I have NO experience with birds of any kind. Neighbor says he is a Tom. I have attached a photo of he and his family from the few days before. I have so many questions that I don't even know where to begin. He has been eating and drinking just fine.

We bought a ton of chicken wire for him as we were thinking of converting a tall wooden playhouse on our property into a chicken coop anyway for future chickens. Now that we have this issue, we decided that maybe we should do this now so that he has a place to be. I guess my most pressing questions are

1. From the pictures, can anyone tell me what type of Turkey he is? My reading online suggests maybe a Bronze?
2. Can he be alone and will he be happy? Should we consider a friend?
3. Will he become aggressive as he grows older?

Photo of flock attached as well as photo of the remaining turkey. Is it too soon to tell the gender?

Any and I mean ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. I am at a total loss with no experience on this but really want to do right by him.

Thank you, THANK YOU!

 

[rjohns39]

Let's start with the basics. it needs someplace safe at night. It can be as simple as four T-posts with wire around it and some kind of cover (a tarp is fine). Since you're battling coons, I would use 1/2" welded wire around the bottom with a no-dig apron. Another alternative is an inexpensive charger and three hot wires around the bottom. Mine are 3", 6", 9", and 12" (yea I have four). Something like this will work well too.

Feed, you'll want at least 18% grower or better yet a 24% or 22% starter. Clean fresh water and lots of attention... They are a lot like dogs. To figure out its color, type checkout porters. http://www.porterturkeys.com/

There are a lot of folks out here who are way better at breed identification than me. Its probably too soon to identify sex, but turkeys are not aggressive as a rule.

You probably want to join the crazy turkey folks out here as well. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...talk-2000-2100.966414/page-1613#post-18852145

 

[LucyElle]

H

Let's start with the basics. it needs someplace safe at night. It can be as simple as four T-posts with wire around it and some kind of cover (a tarp is fine). Since you're battling coons, I would use 1/2" welded wire around the bottom with a no-dig apron. Another alternative is an inexpensive charger and three hot wires around the bottom. Mine are 3", 6", 9", and 12" (yea I have four). Something like this will work well too.View attachment 1107783

Feed, you'll want at least 18% grower or better yet a 24% or 22% starter. Clean fresh water and lots of attention... They are a lot like dogs. To figure out its color, type checkout porters. http://www.porterturkeys.com/

There are a lot of folks out here who are way better at breed identification than me. Its probably too soon to identify sex, but turkeys are not aggressive as a rule.

You probably want to join the crazy turkey folks out here as well. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...talk-2000-2100.966414/page-1613#post-18852145

I really ap

Let's start with the basics. it needs someplace safe at night. It can be as simple as four T-posts with wire around it and some kind of cover (a tarp is fine). Since you're battling coons, I would use 1/2" welded wire around the bottom with a no-dig apron. Another alternative is an inexpensive charger and three hot wires around the bottom. Mine are 3", 6", 9", and 12" (yea I have four). Something like this will work well too.View attachment 1107783

Feed, you'll want at least 18% grower or better yet a 24% or 22% starter. Clean fresh water and lots of attention... They are a lot like dogs. To figure out its color, type checkout porters. http://www.porterturkeys.com/

There are a lot of folks out here who are way better at breed identification than me. Its probably too soon to identify sex, but turkeys are not aggressive as a rule.

You probably want to join the crazy turkey folks out here as well. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...talk-2000-2100.966414/page-1613#post-18852145

Hi there, thanks so much for the response and advice. I posted in the turkey thread just now.

 

[rjohns39]

did we do ok?

 

[LucyElle]

did we do ok?

Yes. Thank you, I just responded back in the Turkey thread.

 

[rjohns39]

Can I unwatch this thread? Don't want to leave you stranded.

 

[LucyElle]

Can I unwatch this thread? Don't want to leave you stranded.

Yes, thank you for your help.

 

[aart]

Yes. Thank you, I just responded back in the Turkey thread.

Looks like you got some answers here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...talk-2000-2100.966414/page-1613#post-18852460