One of the more perverse miracles of nature is the evolution of a cute Wild Turkey youngster (poult) into one of the wild’s ugliest birds.
Nonetheless, countless numbers of these cuties are merrily following their chortling and hissing mothers around here now, learning how to catch insects.
This is the time that the mothers (hens) roost with their poults on the ground and defend them from predators there, while the males and non-breeding females (Toms and younger Jakes and Jennies) continue to roost in trees. Sometimes, while tromping in tall grass, a hen will pop up and hiss and, as we give her a wide berth, we have to imagine her unseen poults gathering around her.
The poults start flying at about four weeks after hatching, and then the whole clan roosts in the trees. (Brooklin, Maine)