Turkeys Going Walk-a-Bout?!

[BillyRocks]

Hi all.

After reading through the forums i now realize my turkeys are not that strange after all.

I have a curious situation though. I have three turkeys a BR tom a BR hen and a Bronze hen. I live a long way away from my road and have a driveway over a Km long. The last 2 mornings i have woken up not being able to find my pretty turkeys and to my horror they have walked to the end of the driveway.
Is it normal for turkeys to go for a morning walk? Do they do it for exercise?

I have told them that it is very inappropriate behavior but i don't think they are listening to me..

Any ideas why they have suddenly started this. I am beginning to think they may be trying to run away from home?

 

[NancyDz]

Do you have wild turkeys around? I know a member on here had her turkeys leave to hang out with the wild turkeys and never come back. If so you may want to keep them in a run.

Are you from Australia?

 

[BillyRocks]

I don't think there are wild Turkeys around here. They are not a known species around this part of queensland they are found in the more more northern parts of queensland.
Oh yes I'm from Australia. They don't seem to be doing anything but walking and having a good time, its quite strange.... and they only do it around 6:30 am.
I really do love them very much. The hens sit on my wood pile at night and look through the window to watch T.V. (well thats my opinion anyway) sometimes i'm sure i can here them giggling when something funny happens.
I have a run where chickens used to live but quolls ate the lot of them. It was very sad. I think i will have to turn it into a turkey jail, so nothing can get in or out!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

That is strange as to why they would start doing it all the sudden? It's almost like they are looking for something or following something. Turkeys are creatures of habit though, if you watch them they do follow a pattern every day. You may have to pen them for a week or so until they forget about the morning walk, that should do the trick. Nice turkeys by the way!

Steve in NC

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

all animals are drawn to The Road.. its like its magic to them or something. we ended up getting a gate.. with 15+ acres and a pond and all the lovely food they can eat they all headed to The Road...

 

[Buff Hooligans]

The one time I had a chicken get loose, she headed straight for the road. And yes, she crossed it.

I would make sure your turkeys knew where their real home is. Don't know how to do that though. Good luck. They are beautiful birds.

 

[BillyRocks]

Thanks for advice guys.

 

[chickenannie]

Turkeys are wanderers. They just are. My Bourbon Reds are home much of the time, but if it is springtime (or nesting season) where you live, they will range farther when they are looking to make a nest. Mine behave differently when they are looking to nest, than when they are just foraging for grass. They do weird things like look around a lot to see who is following them, and they seem much more focused, like you're describing.

Mine free-range every day and sleep in a tree in my yard. As they grew from chicks to adults, they wandered slightly further each day. I make sure to have food and water for them at my barn and I feed them treats regularly so they know where home is. However, they typically will wander around the yard, the buildings and some of their favorite hangouts, like out in the pasture, and down the driveway -- but not as far as the road. They spend 70 percent of their time here at my barn and maybe 30 percent of their time wandering. However, mine almost never go further than about 500 yards. The exception to this is when they want to lay a nest of eggs. Or, in my case, when they discovered a market across the street with lots of treats and shiny things to look at. (they would sneak over to the market at 6 a.m. and be back at 7:30 when I went outside to feed them so I didn't know. I found out when the market vendor chased them into the creek on a 10 degree freezing day and they were covered in icicles and shivering when I woke up. After that, I locked them up on market days and that worked to keep them away).

Best case scenario, is if they are laying a nest -- to pen them up (one per cage is best so they don't fight over the nest and crack the eggs). They become very focused on nesting, though it may take 2 weeks for a nest to have enough eggs for them to set on it.

If they lay a nest elsewhere, they usually find obscure spots, often in tall grasses or brush or places where you can't find them, and possibly far away. They will return to that nest every day for 2-3 weeks and lay one egg. When they start setting, they will not return home and will sit on the nest for 28 days until the babies hatch (except for once a day if they need food and water they may run to your place in a hurry, then run back to nest which they do at my place). You can tell if they are nesting because they get very sneaky and try to "shake" the rest of the turkeys so they can have solitude.

If you have predators, the turkeys can get killed while setting on the nest -- which is why I recommend penning them up for nest setting. the poults may hatch but get eaten by hawks or predators or die of thirst if they can't get to water, so that's another reason not to let them hatch out in the open.

Once they establish a nest somewhere "out there" it can be very hard to find it! I've tried and only found the nest because the tom turkey is hanging around, or because I watched the turkeys behavior very closely and followed them to the nest.

By the way, your *girls* look exactly like mine!

Good luck! Enjoy them.