[tn-bird] Re: young turkeys
- From: James Brooks <comeback@xxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 17:58:38 -0400
Dear Carol -
I think it's a covey of quail, but a flock of turkeys, or around these
parts - a mess of turkey.
I have seen hens on the nest in the wild with about 20 eggs, so a dozen
surviving to the age you mentioned probably wouldn't be unusual.
Upon hatching, and these observations are taken from my experience in
raising free-ranging domestic turkey, the young are partially feathered
and precocial. The hen promptly leaves the nest with young in tow, using
what wing feathers they have to hop from branch to branch. Even so, this
is a tough way to raise a family and those that cannot keep up are
quickly lost to predators.
In the wild they do seem to form loosely connected clans. It's not
unusual to see 20-30 Wild Turkeys of various ages together. The biggest
number I've seen in Washington County was 85, but this was due to a
farmer who put feed out for them every day at dawn.
James Brooks
Jonesborough, TN
jreese5@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>I have been seeing a lot of turkey on a farm I have permission to wander
>just past the acreage I bought for a house site. It is at the end of
>Roundtree Lane just a couple of miles west of MIfflin, TN, just in the top
>tip of Chester County. Today we (the dogs and I) broke out iinto a bean
>field from a brushy area, and surprised an entire family of turkey, Are
>there as many as twelve in one brood? because it seemed like that many,
>with some going one way and a couple coming back by us, crashlanding
>clumsily in some large alder growing by the ditch. They were only about one
>third the size of the adults and a soft brown color, but they flew
>surprisingly well. The dogs sniffed around where they had been but came on
>with me agreeably when I called them, since the baby turkeys set up a
>piteous peeping right away to be reunited. Are turkey families called
>coveys? I assume that turkey flocks aren't necessarilly all related, or are
>they?
>
>Carol Reese
>Ornamental Horticulture Specialist -Western District
>University of Tennessee Extension Service
>605 Airways Blvd.
>Jackson TN 38301
>901 425 4721 email jcreese@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
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=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
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Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
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Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
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TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
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