When there is green grass and bugs they do well but in summer when the pickens get slim they do better with some layer food. When the grass is green the yolks get so yellow.

The wild turkeys around us get up in all of the crab apple trees, even my little ornamental ones. I wouldn't think my teeny trees could support a lot of those big birds, but they do. It's hard to get a photo of them though, because they all jump out when they see us, but here is one taken through the house.

I want to free-range our chickens out with our sheep to help with the parasite load. We really hope that works, because I am really tired of losing critters to worms.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wild turkeys in crab apple trees

Roberta, as to your question about what the turkeys eat during winter, in this area, and probably yours, they rely heavily upon acorns, waste grain in the fields and to some extent they are even known to eat small mice.

Instead of trying to free range your hens, I would use a chicken tractor. This portable pen will allow you to move your chickens around, but yet allow them to get out and scratch the dirt, eat bugs and eat weed seeds. You'll still need to feed them, but you'll have less problems finding their eggs. Free range hens are known to find the darndest spots to lay their eggs, and unless you've got a large brood of kinders who'll do the egg hunting you'll be worn out just looking for the eggs!

I was fortunate enough to get these photos of my girls free ranging with the young toms. Thought I would share.

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Great pictures!!!!! Our hens lay their eggs in their nest boxes where they are supposed to lay them. We certainly might miss one here and there, but letting them be free is worth it to us. When we first got chickens, we considered doing the whole tractor thing. We visited two farms that pasture their chickens this way and came home knowing it definitely wasn't for us.

I am sure that if that sort of confinement is all they know, it is OK, but our chickens would never put up with being so restricted at this point after having freedom and watching them all over the property is like TV to us! Their antics are a hoot.

My girls always came back to the coop to lay. It amazed me that they would leave the flock to do so.

Unfortunately, I lost all but two of my entire flock while they were free ranging and I will never let my new flock out again unless I am home. Even then they will never leave their nice, large backyard. They will be just as fun to watch (and I mean WATCH) in their own back yard. It was far too devastating to loose 12 in one afternoon.

Oh No Suzanne!!!!! That has to be a devastating experience. We are retired so one of us is usually at home ---- still every now and then, we go out. (Pathetic aren't we???) This is our second year with the chickens and have had an occasional racoon, and hmmmm - my daughter's dog that killed one about 3 seconds after they arrived. Other than that, we have had no deaths. BUT ---

From reading all of the experiences on this forum, I have to figure we are lucky. If we had a major loss like yours, we just wouldn't have chickens anymore. I hope that doesn't happen.

Roberta, I hope it doesn't happen either but the more you let them go them more the odds are increased. It's a sad fact that predators love our pets! Chickens, cats and even dogs.

Neat photo of the hens with the turkeys!

We used to have a lot of farmers in this area who used to raise turkeys and would range them for part of the growing cycle, but now everyone has gone to large pens and barns. Too many predators, both wild and domestic, to allow them to run loose in a field. Also with all of the concerns about diseases in poultry flocks they want them where they can keep an extra close eye on them.

I enjoy seeing those neat photos too, but there's another possible danger that immediately comes to mind, at least to me. Allowing your birds to mix with wild birds like that is an invitation to spread disease and parasites, both from the wild turkeys to your birds, or the other way around. Suzanne learned a valuable lesson about free ranging unattended chickens. Hopefully she won't learn another about disease transmission.

I won't have to learn that lesson Patrick because the hens in those photos were killed in the attack! However, wild turkeys roam my property all the time so they would not have to be "with" the turkeys to pick something up I presume?

Out of curiosity what disease and parasites should I be concerned about with wild turkeys?

You're right, your birds don't have to be with the turkeys to pick something up, but it sure increases the chances. Sun light, drying and time all kill certain pathogens, although not all, and so reduce the chances that your birds will pick something up after the turkeys have passed through. Airborne transmission is another factor, and is more likely to infect your birds when they're right next to a sneezing turkey as opposed to passing through the same airspace a day or week later. You need to worry about any number of poultry diseases that can be passed between chickens abd turkeys, salmonella, AI, not H5N1, the big bad media scare AI, but there are strains in this country, and have been for years, which still occur and have been shown to be passed from wild birds. They'll cause intrastate movement of birds to be stopped, and complete depopulation of your entire flock if it's found to be infected. Roundworms, whipworms, mites and lice are easily transmitted, and are very common.