I've got a hen with 4 poults that have been living in my yard the past few days. She doesn't like to pose for a picture, so this is the best I got:



I hate to even walk outside because I will scare the turkeys and she will take them into the woods, but she soon brings them right back. There was even a gobbler strutting for her one day last week, but I think he figured out she wasn't interested. I went months without seeing a turkey around, so it's good to see some. I think it shows how poor the habitat is around here when my yard is the only bugging area she can find. I have held off cutting the grass, but it's not exactly loaded with insects anyway.

Anyone got a suggestion of how to help her out? I thought of putting out some wheat for her. It would seem reasonable to think that letting her find an easy meal would help, but I've never seen that recommended anywhere. Is there anything I could do for the poults? I thought of buying crickets, but can't think of a way to make them available without most getting away.

Is there anything you can buy and put out that poults can eat? What do you feed domestic turkeys at this age?

I think these turkeys illustrate how an area can look like great habitat yet have no turkeys. There are just no bugging areas around here. Leaving out just one type of critical habitat results in no turkeys.