What Do Turkeys Eat?

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a game bird native to North America. It belongs to the order Galliformes, which also includes other ground-feeding birds like chickens, peacocks, pheasants, and quail. Domesticated turkeys are those raised by humans for food. They are bigger than their wild cousins because they are fed to reach a bigger size and provide more meat. Most people have eaten turkey. But what do turkeys eat? Do wild turkeys and domesticated turkeys have the same diet? Keep reading to find out.

What Do Wild Turkeys Eat?

As opportunistic omnivores, turkeys eat a wide variety of foods. They primarily eat seeds, grains, nuts, acorns, fruits, vegetables, and insects. They also eat some surprising foods like fish, snails, and lizards. Turkeys spend a significant part of the day foraging for food. Young birds spend as much as 90% of their waking hours foraging and feeding.

Turkeys look for food by turning over leaves and other ground debris with their feet. They will even wade into ponds or streams, jump and flutter into trees, and venture into city neighborhoods in search of a meal. Their favorite places to find food in the wild include beneath fruit-bearing trees and bushes.

Even in the winter, turkeys eat well. They can keep their stomachs full in the winter months by adapting their diet to the resources available to them. They have no problem feeding on pine needles, lichen, and whatever else they can find above or below the snow.

Here is a list of some of the foods that make up a turkey’s diet:

• Cracked corn
• Crabapples
• Grasses
• Seeds
• Nuts
• Acorns
• Fruits
• Root vegetables
• Berries
• Wheat
• Wildflower roots
• Pine cones and pine needles
• Lichen
• Lizards
• Snakes
• Small fish
• Frogs and tadpoles
• Crayfish
• Caterpillars
• Earthworms
• Spiders
• Insects
• Snails
• Corn and soybean domestic turkey feed

What Do Turkeys Eat in Captivity?

Of course, what domestic turkeys eat on a farm or in a backyard is very different from what wild turkeys eat in the wilderness. While wild turkeys eat whatever they can find in the wild, such as the foods described above, farm-raised and backyard domestic turkeys usually eat commercial-grade feed bought in stores. This feed contains the nutrients they need to maintain a good weight and size. It can also contain seeds, grains, and vegetables like corn. Captive turkeys eat insects and seeds if they can roam and forage on the farmland or other outdoor space.

Wild turkeys need less protein than domestic birds because they are not being fattened up for the dinner table. Instead of 16% to 28% protein depending on their stage of life, wild turkeys generally consume a diet with about 14% to 20% protein. The diet that turkeys eat in the wild does not make them rapidly gain weight as it does in captivity. This makes wild turkeys look smaller and thinner to human eyes. However, wild turkeys are usually able to maintain a healthy, natural size on their own. They find plenty of food and rarely go hungry.

The Baby Turkey’s Diet

Newborn wild baby turkeys primarily eat insects and other small invertebrates that are high in protein. As they grow, they begin to forage for a wider variety of foods. Baby turkeys raised in captivity are given feed called game starter or chick starter. This type of feed has a higher protein content than adult feed. Then, at eight weeks of age, the baby turkey is switched to a diet of grower feed. This food is, as the name suggests, designed to make the baby rapidly grow into a plump adult.

As chicks, healthy baby domestic turkeys eat diets high in niacin and protein. They usually need about 28% protein in their feed for the first 6 to 8 weeks of life. After that, the recommended protein content decreases to about 16% to 20% as they mature. However, unlike other types of ground-foraging birds, they do not require high-calcium foods like oyster shells.