# If released into the wild would farm turkeys eventully breed back into wild turkeys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378 "2004-11-17T23:57:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/1 "2004-11-17T23:57:54Z")
I know [chickens can survive in the wild](http://www.snopes.com/critters/gnus/chicken.htm). Can turkeys? If you released a flock into the woods would they eventually breed back into wild turkeys, or not? ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/2 "2004-11-18T00:14:47Z")
I don’t have a cite, but I’ve heard that turkeys’ breast muscles have been enlarged so much by breeding that it’s impossible for a male to mount a female anymore. They used to put “saddles” on the females to make it easier for the males, but now they use artificial insemination. So I don’t think they’d do very well in the wild. ---
**Author:** ![cstamets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@cstamets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cstamets)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/3 "2004-11-18T00:27:26Z")
Hmm. What if the flock was released into an area with wild turkeys? Could the females survive on their own long enough to run into wild males and hatch a few mixed eggs? ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/4 "2004-11-18T00:30:32Z")
Heh…come here to Papa and show me your butterball… ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/5 "2004-11-18T00:34:19Z")
Just a nitpick, a animal once domesticated, and then finds it’s way on it’s own is called ferrel, not wild. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/6 "2004-11-18T00:39:27Z")
Assuming that they are not a breed that has been too excessively modified, and that they are not in an area where predators while make short work of them, domestic turkeys will readily revert to something very close to the wild type in a few generations. [Here’s](http://www.mvgazette.com/features/nature/index.php?document=20031128_turkeys_on_parade) an article about feral turkeys on Martha’s Vinyard. [This page](http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwturk.htm) mentions feral flocks elsewhere in Massachusetts. [This page](http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/fall2003/wildturkeys.html) mentions feral turkeys in Illinois. Feral flocks derived from domestic birds can be distinguished from true wild birds in the U.S. because the tip of the tail is white instead of chestnut. Domesticated turkeys are derived from a subspecies in Mexico with a white-banded tail, as opposed to the northern subspecies which has a chestnut band. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/7 "2004-11-18T00:43:20Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Just a nitpick, a animal once domesticated, and then finds it’s way on it’s own is called ferrel, not wild. Nitpick of a nitpick: it’s “feral.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/8 "2004-11-18T08:36:28Z")
Thanks. Esp. to Colibri. [This part was interesting.](http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/fall2003/wildturkeys.html) I never would have imagined a turkey’s gizzard would be that powerful. > [@](#): > > Wild turkeys live where there are nut-bearing trees — acorns and hickory nuts provide a large part of their diet. They will eagerly gobble large insects as well. Turkeys forage on the ground primarily at dusk and dawn, swallowing nuts whole and crushing the shells in their powerful gizzards. The remarkable strength of the gizzard cannot be exaggerated. Several bizarre 18th-century experiments proved turkeys were capable of pulverizing glass balls, grinding 12 steel needles, and flattening metal tubes with over 400 pounds of pressure within their gizzard. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/9 "2004-11-18T08:40:38Z")
Another reason turkeys might find it tricky in the wild is their well know propensity to [drown](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_010) whenever it rains. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-released-into-the-wild-would-farm-turkeys-eventully-breed-back-into-wild-turkeys/275378/10 "2004-11-18T08:47:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Assuming that they are not a breed that has been too excessively modified, and that they are not in an area where predators while make short work of them, domestic turkeys will readily revert to something very close to the wild type in a few generations. It’s probably worth expanding on that thought - natural selection may cause the population to ‘revert’ to something _morphologically_ similar to the wild types, there’s no guarantee that the result will be genetically closely similar to the wild type (in fact, it’s unlikely), because similar morphologies do not necessarily require similar genes.