I have been adopted by a wild turkey hen!

[Je9Jeanine]

I have been adopted by a wild turkey hen! And I want her to stay. How can I encourage that? I know she can fly over my fences. Do I cut her wings?

Thanks
Jeanine

 

[chicmom]

Oh, if she is wild, it would be cruel to cut her wings....she may not be able to escape a predator.......I think maybe you should just enjoy your visit and watch her from afar. Let nature be natural, ya know?

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Throw out some treats like grapes or bread and she should come back

 

[Je9Jeanine]

She is still hanging around. My spanish black tom is dancing around her. She seems indifferent. She stays away from our brown hen turkey because she has been told she is lower in the pecking order. She likes to follow the chickens around, she is about the same size of my chickens in body, though longer in legs and neck. I have been getting allot of calls from neighbors saying "your turkey escaped." I always said "not mine, maybe it is a wild turkey." I am glad she found us. I have told the kids to leave her alone, because she could fly away if she wanted to. We are all now enjoying watching her explore the yard.

Jeanine

 

[RedfogsFlock]

That is so awesome!

 

[Je9Jeanine]

Yes it is! I think everyone was right to leave her wild. It is fun to see what she does. Sometimes she will fly into the turkey's penned area to be with them. Then sometimes she will get tired of that and explore the yard on her own. But she wants to be with the turkeys most of the time. When it was night time she flew up and perched on the fence. Looks like she likes it here with all the company and easy food and water. It should be interesting to see what she decides to do when it comes time to a nest. The wild mallard mother that visited us last year would not fly as long as she had babies, because they could not fly and follow, and that encouraged cats to jump in. So I would think she would be the same. The field next door is unused and mostly forgotten. I suspect she will lay her nest in that field and walk her poults over to our yard. At least I hope we get to see her babies. Should be interesting though if she mates with my Spanish Dancer Tom.

Jeanine

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Quote:
That would be so cool is she mated with your spanish black, but try to prevent it. She could get a disease, and mess with the gene pool.

 

[Blisschick]

I've always thought turkeys were kind of like dogs -- once they figure out where they can get an easy meal, they just won't leave.

My dad was surprised I don't pen any of mine up and they don't wander off. I asked him "Would you if you could get a free meal?"

 

[Je9Jeanine]

I have not penned mine for years. But mine are all now penned because I am trying to keep the other birds out of their nests while they brood. With two fences between my turkey and my duck, the duck still got past them and possibly ruined all of her eggs. Time will tell. He ate three and left the other coated in egg gunk.

Jeanine

 

[Blisschick]

I have the problem of mind going off to nest in the woods. Raccoons are a real problem here, and I've lost a few broody hens to them. I try to keep an eye on them and figure out where they're nesting so I can either move them to a small kennel here at home (plastic garbage cans make great nests), or take the eggs for the incubator. My girls haven't had much luck with raising broods in the yard. I'm not sure what gets them, but the poults end up missing pretty fast, even during daylight.

The ones I have now are ones I've raised myself by hand and kept secure until I felt they were smart enough to watch out for themselves. I do, however, have a free pen now that I plan to fix up to keep them in. Now if the world would just leave me alone for a bit, I might get around to finishing it.