What is he? Will he be staying?

[The Sheriff]

We first saw this fellow a couple of days ago behind our back fence. I kept saying "Oh, I hope he jumps the fence and joins our flock." He woke me up this morning knocking on the sliding glass door. We shared a bagel. I googled to see what he was and the closest I could find was a Eastern wild turkey. We are in northern California! Is he a he? What breed is he? Is he likely to stay given his love of bagels? Will he be ok with my chickens, geese and goats?

Thanks for any words of wisdom from you turkey folks.

Mary

p.s. We had lots of wild turkeys at our house four miles from here but none looked like this.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Mary, he doesn't look like the wild turkeys we have around here. I think it does look like a Tom though. He must have heard about your farm in the city and thought, hey, I'll be safe there! Not to mention she'll feed me.

If he's no danger to your chickens health wise, he might be a good hawk deterrent.

I'll be following to see the responses.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I used to live in Northern California. There are wild flocks of turkeys all over the place. We used to see them behind our Albertsons right in town. This guy visiting you might be an escaped pet though....He looks too friendly to be wild.

 

[chicmom]

Well, how cute is that?! What a nice greeting in the morning.....a friendly turkey for breakfast! NO PUN INTENDED....WELL, YES IT WAS INTENDED!

 

[The Sheriff]

Quote:
Ain't life grand? Just when you think nothing sillier can happen, along comes this guy in the middle of the city!

 

[The Sheriff]

Actually I just compared him to a picture of the wild turkeys at our old house and they are the same! I think! He is just waaaaay more friendly.

 

[Woods_Woman]

What a nice guest. Seems a bit friendly for a wild turkey, I think he thinks he's found home.

 

[Illia]

Wow he is GORGEOUS!!

We once found a bronze that looked like that, but it was female and I'm not sure if someone owned it or not. It hung around the roadside for a few days and was quite talkative - And very tempting to take home.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Ain't life grand? Just when you think nothing sillier can happen, along comes this guy in the middle of the city!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/34566_tom-5_copy.jpg

I think your goat told him about the cush life at your house.

If you give him corn, he'll never leave. My stepdad used to feed corn to the wild turkeys at his old house.

And he does look similar to the other pictures of the wild turkeys at your old house. I guess I've just never seen one THAT close before. He does seem awfully tame.

 

[archerobx]

What an amazing bird, they are pretty.
Lucky you.

thought CA only had merriams or Rio Grande