Narraganset found in the middle of city!!!

[chickchickgirls]

A friend of a friend of a friend had a big tom fly from the neighborhood across the street (4 lane highway), and land on his porch. He thought it was a wild one, caught it, and started calling to see who could take it. I only have hens (chickens) but said I would take him. I clipped his wings and put him in the pen with the girls. No fighting, the girls mostly just stare at him, while he stands around. Yesterday, I saw him doing the turkey dance. I know nothing about turkeys, other than how to cook them on Thanksgiving so not sure if he is showing off for the girls, or trying to show dominance. I'm hoping he will be a sort of protector for the girls, as I have lost a few to possums. He is definitely a Narraganset and pretty tame, and the whole area is residential, so I'm sure someone raised him intentionally. I have checked Craigslist all week and no one has posted a missing turkey. Looks like I will probably be keeping him, so just wanting to make sure he is okay with my hens. My two daughters love him. They promptly named him Albequerque (after the song).

 

[r4eboxer]

Do you mean your chicken hens? From what have read on this forum Turkeys should be housed completely away from chickens. They are carriers of blackhead disease that can infect the tom.

Read this thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=587948
Always quarantine any new bird first.

edit for clarification

Some people do raise them together but IMO I think it's too much of a risk.

 

[chickchickgirls]

Quote:
Thank you for that link. I wish I would have seen that last week! Most of the posts I saw on here had them together without issues. I knew turkey babies were more fragile, but I thought they were okay as adults. My friends used to have a couple turkeys running with their chickens, so I based it off that. I really don't want him, since we won't be eating him, but my girls just adore him. He's been with them for three days, so I'm thinking the damage has been done. I'll just keep my fingers crossed at this point, and hope for the best. We live in town, so I don't have an area big enough to keep him separated.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Blackhead is one concern, but if he's "dancing" for them, he could try to mate with them later, which could result in squished hens.

 

[kari_dawn]

Maybe you should try to find the owner...if my birds went missing (and one did), I would want them back safe and sound. The owners may love their turkey...it took us two weeks to get our guenia hen back, and we were so thrilled that she was okay...

 

[chickchickgirls]

Quote:
Blackhead doesn't seem to be an issue here where I live so I think we are okay on that one. I did read about the toms squishing the girls when they try to mate. I normally let them free range in our yard, so they won't always be close to him. The pen they are in is about 60x15 with 8 hens. As far as finding the owner, I have tried most available routes, Craigslist, local feed store, even grocery stores in the area. Nothing so far. He was found in a residential area and I wonder if someone didn't realize how loud he could be, so they just turned him loose.

I would be happy to find the owner as his poop is a lot bigger than my girls! I'm not looking forward to cleaning up after him!