Wild turkey game farm

Benjamin Franklin so admired the big bronze bird that he wanted it for our national emblem. Comparing it to the bald eagle, he said: "The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original Native of America.

Several theories explain how the bird got its name. Early naturalists might have confused it with a species of Old World guinea fowl found in Turkey. Or the word might describe one of the bird's calls, which sounds a bit like turk, turk, turk. Still a third explanation is that the word sprang from a Native American name for the bird, "firkee. Whatever the source of its name, the fact remains that this big bird was nearly exterminated by the ax, the plow and the gun.

As our nation grew, settlers cleared wooded habitat for farms. And they shot turkeys for food. By , market hunters were selling the birds for as little as 6 cents each. By the early s — when eastern forests had been lumbered and periodic fires hampered their regeneration — the turkey was in trouble. Fortunately, here in Pennsylvania, the newly formed Game Commission stepped in. Through seasons and bag limits, the agency succeeded in safeguarding what remained of the state's once-thriving population, which by that time could be found only in the rugged mountains of the state's southcentral counties.

Over time, the agency experimented with ways to return turkeys to the rest of Penn's Woods. Turkey farms were tried. So was placing hen turkeys in holding pens for wild gobblers to breed. But neither enterprise fared well. What turkeys needed was habitat improvements. In the s, as the state's forests began to mature, turkeys began to naturally expand their range. Expansion was furthered through a Game Commission wild turkey trap-and-transfer program that would become a model for every state interested in turkey restoration.

Today, after thousands of wild turkeys were transferred throughout the state, and provided to other states, turkeys are found in every county, and this wily bird has developed quite a following among hunters and naturalists. The wild turkey, native only to the North American continent, belongs to the single and highly variable species Meleagris gallopovo. Taxonomists recognize at least five subspecies; the variety found in Pennsylvania is known as the eastern wild turkey.

Turkeys are gallinaceous — "chicken-like" — birds order Galliformes , related to grouse, quail, pheasants and chickens. Females, or hens, are about one-third shorter and weigh about half as much. Gobblers weigh up to 25 pounds, averaging Adult hens weigh 9 to 10 pounds, and 6-month-old birds, 6 to 13 pounds.

The wild turkey looks much like the domesticated subspecies, except the wild bird is slimmer, has a smaller head, a longer neck, longer, rangier legs, and smaller fleshy head and neck adornments. Tail feathers and tail coverts are tipped chestnut brown on wild birds, white on domesticated ones.

Plumage is an overall rich brown. In shadows, turkeys appear black; in bright sunlight, their feathers gleam with copper, blue, green and mahogany highlights. A hen's plumage is duller and not quite as iridescent, and her breast feathers end in a brown or buff band, while those of a gobbler are tipped with black. Gobblers have spurs — sharp, bony spikes on the backs of their legs that are used in fighting — and rough, black "beards," growths of rudimentary, hair-like feathers called mesofiloplumes, which protrude from their breasts.

These beards grow quickly for their first few years, then more slowly, until they're about 12 inches long. The ends may break off, though, so beard length isn't a reliable indicator of age. Usually, hens have neither spurs nor beards. A gobbler's head is practically bare, while the hen has fine feathers on the back of its neck and head. A fleshy, pencil-like appendage called a caruncle, or snood, dangles from between the gobbler's eyes.

The heads of hens are bluish-gray, and their necks may appear somewhat pinkish, whereas gobblers' heads are pink to red.

During mating season, a gobbler's head and neck are more red; during courtship display, his snood may become long and swollen, and the color of his head and neck changes quickly from red to blue, purple and white. In spring, turkeys eat tender greens, shoots, tubers, leftover nuts and early insects.

As the weather warms up, they eat more insects, including grasshoppers, walking-sticks, beetles, weevils, dragonflies, ants and larvae.

They also consume spiders, harvestmen, ticks, millipedes, centipedes, snails and slugs. But even in summer, a majority of the diet perhaps 90 percent is vegetable. A wide variety of plant species are eaten, as well as a number of plant parts, including fruits, seeds, seedheads, tubers, roots, bulbs, stems, leaves, flowers and buds.

In fall, turkeys eat mast beechnuts, acorns ; fruits dogwood, grape, cherry, gum, thornapple ; and seeds grasses and sedges, ash, corn, oats, weeds. During winter, they rely on seeds, nuts and fruits left over from autumn, and on green plants, crustaceans and insect larvae found in and around spring seeps where groundwater emerges along a hillside or in a flat.

Temperature of this water is above freezing, so the seeps remain open all winter, providing food for turkeys and other wildlife.

A turkey often scratches for its food, kicking forest duff and leaves behind. If the bird finds an acorn, it picks up the nut in its beak, straightens its neck, and swallows. The nut is stored in the bird's crop, a flexible "bag" in which juices and body heat work to soften it.

Then the nut passes into the gizzard, an enlarged, thick-walled section of the food canal that contains small stones and gravel called grit. Strong muscles use the grit to grind down the acorn. Turkeys can range up to several miles a day in search of food and water, sometimes establishing regular feeding areas if left undisturbed.

In autumn, hunters "read" the turkeys' scratchings to determine when a flock passed by, what size the flock was, and which way the birds were headed. Like most birds, turkeys have keen eyesight and hearing. They hide cleverly, fly an estimated 40 to 55 mph, cover more than a mile while airborne and swim with ease.

But turkeys usually rely on their feet to escape danger. The strides of chased gobblers have been measured at 4 feet and their top running speeds are estimated at 18 mph. Each evening, turkeys fly into trees to spend the night. A flock of six to 40 birds might roost in the same tree or in adjacent trees. They prefer the shelter of conifers during inclement weather.

In early morning, the birds glide to the ground, call, and regroup for feeding. Turkeys make a wide range of sounds. The best known is the male's gobble described ill-obble-obble-obble , used in spring to attract females and proclaim territory.

Other calls include yelps keouk, keouk, keouk , made by both sexes; the cluck kut , an assembly note; the whistle, or "kee-kee run" of a young bird kee, kee, kee ; and the alarm note putt.

Gregarious birds, turkeys call when separated from the flock. By imitating such calls, hunters attract birds. Toward the end of March, a male turkey changes physically. His fleshy crown swells and turns pale, his wattles redden and hang from his head, and he develops a thick, spongy breast layer containing oils and fats to help sustain him over breeding season.

Toms gobble loudly in early morning and sometimes in late evening. Blowing a car horn, beating a tin pan, or making almost any loud noises might provoke lusty gobbles. If hens are present, a gobbler will display by fanning his tail, erecting his feathers, and tucking his head back against his body.

He will strut back and forth, hissing and dragging his wing tips on the ground. Rival males fight: each grasps the other's head or neck in his bill and tries to shove or pull his foe off balance. The first bird to let go or lose balance gets thrashed with wing and spur. Year-old birds are sexually mature; hens often mate during their first spring, but young males usually can't compete with mature gobblers.

A dominant male may collect a harem of eight to 12, or even more hens. Males are polygamous: a gobbler mates with several hens and plays no part in nest site choice, brooding eggs or rearing young. In late April, mated females slip away from the flock. They choose nesting spots in wooded or brushy areas, near water sources and usually close to forest clearings or old fields.

The nests are leaf-lined depressions in the ground and might be located under the curves of fallen logs, concealed by vegetation or fallen branches or built at the bases of trees. The gobbler's sperm is stored in the hen's oviduct, so that fertilized eggs can be laid up to four weeks after mating. One mating is usually sufficient to fertilize an entire clutch as well as a renesting attempt, if needed. A hen lays an egg nearly every day until her nest contains eight to 15 eggs.

Clutches average 12 eggs, but are smaller for younger birds. Hens begin incubating constantly after all eggs are laid. Eggs are oval and pointed markedly at one end. Purchasing the gift card was easy and my parents loved it! Forget the ties and golf shirts this year for Father's Day, and get Dad something he can sink his teeth into Elk Rib Chops!

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