Cirrus Hill Farm

When fully feathered, they will be able to fly 15 to 20 feet high, and 200+ feet over ground, until they get too heavy to make much height at 5-6 months.

They may occasionally wander up to 300 feet on foot in small groups in any direction from their roost in familiar open country, which would not be affected by wing clipping. Clipping (cutting flight feathers) might help to keep them in a fenced enclosure, but would remove their means of evading predators by getting up on something tall, so I have never done it.

If they get into your garden, they may poke a few holes in ripe tomatoes or green squash, but they will not uproot and destroy your plants the way chickens will. The turkeys can be helpful as a roving "bug squad" in the garden, if you don't mind them grabbing an occasional leaf of lettuce or chard.

Keep free-range birds roosts well away (500' or more) from the road, as a turkey walking or flying into the path of a vehicle could be deadly. Turkeys are sociable and curious, and will go out of their way to interact with people, which may not please your neighbours.

They will want to sleep out of doors, on lower branches, fences, outbuildings, vehicles, or anything 3-15 feet high, or even on the ground, rather than inside, but they get the idea eventually.

However, bright white in the dark, they are very vulnerable to owl attack at all ages, so they must be under cover at night, even if housed in a safely electrified perimeter fence. Big owls like the Great Horned, will cause terrible wounds; please plan to eat that injured bird immediately, and don't leave him to suffer.

BSW turkeys get on well with other creatures, and are not aggressive toward other species.