Help! Stray Turkey, should I keep him? Pics added *

[dianneS]

No, he is a domestic Eastern. Not a wild Turkey. That is certain.

 

[ivan3]

Doubtful that he'll spend any `scratching time' on your vehicles. Poults/jennies/jakes/hens are the usual finishers of finishes; most damage usually done as they attempt to gain some purchase on the paint with their claws, sliding along, before having to `bolter' back up into the air from the far side of the hood/roof (like F-18's shooting back up off an aircraft carrier at the end of a botched landing). Toms will usually try to find an easy to reach deck railing.

You could put out some food and water for the guy but, if you're not going to put him in a run, don't let anyone know you've taken `possession' (on the off-chance he did get ambitious and park himself on a neighbor's new Mercedes you don't want to get the bill). Just because he's crowding you doesn't mean he's about to attack/mate you - they're just kinda more `rammy' in the Spring/Fall. If he's not trilling at you (stretching out neck/beak to the sky/wings half-open - tips to the ground) he's probably not about to whack you.

I'd wait a month before ranging him with the chooks - just in case (quarantining without dedicated run is nearly impossible, anyway) and then watch his behavior.

The Wild males, here, have already started making their appearance - they'll hang around out, in the tree line, and vocalize with our toms. However, any human activity sighted and they fade away like ghosts.

 

[dianneS]

Thanks for the input. I don't think he'll be a problem with cars either.

However the first time he showed what I thought was aggression, he was trilling. Luckily I had the kitchen door open right behind me and was able to jump back inside when he jumped up in the air.

He spent the night on the roof again. He's just hanging around the house today, not wandering far at all. He came up the driveway at me this morning and I tried to shoo him away from me like the neighbors told me to do. He didn't back down. I shooed a little more aggressively, stomped my feet at him. He still wouldn't back down. He was not trilling, but it took my husband's intervention to get this guy away from me.

I'm trying to find someone to take him, or find his original home if someone is looking for him.

I've made up my mind, he can't stay here.

The funny thing is, that the only time he's ever been aggressive toward me, I was wearing my pink jacket??? Yesterday, I was outside all day in my blue jacket and he didn't bother me at all. He stayed up the road a ways, nearer the neighbors house and didn't visit me at all. He only came down here last night to go to bed on the roof? I wonder if its my pink jacket?

 

[ivan3]

Toms can take issue with specific colors. They can certainly `read' the `mind' (through the kinesics) of individual humans (choice of targets isn't random - which, when one considers that they will attack their own reflections in windows, is pretty impressive). Our previous roo would never so much as approach me unless I was wearing the mud boots with the yellow stripes separating the uppers from the soles (then he'd extend his hackles, peck at the boots and then run - human consistent about responding to aggression). Have yet to have any issues with any of our toms.

Another member suggested opening an umbrella at an aggressive tom (confusion arising from waaaayyyy too much novelty).

Good luck finding him a home, or platter...

 

[dianneS]

No turkey on the roof tonight. I haven't seen or heard him since this afternoon. He didn't bother me at all this afternoon, and I was even outside in my pink jacket.

I think he may have moved on?

I couldn't entice him to stick around. He wasn't even interested in food. It was entirely his choice to hang around, and it's his choice to leave.

I kinda miss him a little...

 

[heartsizedfarm]

He would have been a total nuisance if he stayed, and yet, a little friendly and unexpected piece of the wider creation we didn't think we could befriend and love. But we can. And that's interesting.

 

[TurkenItUp209]

No, he is a domestic Eastern. Not a wild Turkey. That is certain.

How is that certain? My guess is you had a wild jake visit your birds like I do all the time. There are wild turkey in your area, and they are easterns. What makes you think he is domesticated?

 

[dianneS]

I never asked the question "is this bird wild or domestic".

I live in the country, not the suburbs, we have many wild turkeys around here too. This is not one of them. He didn't visit my birds. I only have chickens, not turkeys and he had no interest in them.

 

[dianneS]

He would have been a total nuisance if he stayed, and yet, a little friendly and unexpected piece of the wider creation we didn't think we could befriend and love. But we can. And that's interesting.

Yeah it was fun, but I don't think I want him around permanently. His roosting on the roof resulted in a lot of poop! I would have had to clean the roof off regularly, plus I wouldn't want him scaring visitors, he's just way too bold.

He spent most of the day up at the neighbors yesterday, right next to their porch, while the whole family was in and out of the house, cleaning out their dad's farmhouse (to sell). That was the last I saw of him. He tends to avoid the woods and stays near homes/people. I think that's how he's survived on his own for so long. He's been making the rounds for quite a while, and traveling miles in the process, since all of the houses out here are so far apart. He was sleeping on someone's back porch for a while and they wanted to keep him.

I had several people offer to take him, and he'd be easy to catch up on that low hanging roof, but now that he's not roosting there, I guess he's not my problem anymore. That's kind of a relief.

 

[dianneS]

The turkey saga has come to an end!

The one of the neighbor clan on the farmland next to us, well their son caught the turkey and put him in a run next to their chickens.

He lives about 1/2 a mile from me and I stopped this morning and saw the big guy. He's safe and sound in a covered pen. I think he preferred his independence, but at least now he won't get hit on the road or killed by a dog, (and I won't get the blame for having a free roaming turkey stopping traffic... or worse!)

Thanks for all the input. All's well that ends well!