16 Things Turkeys Typically Eat in the Wild

Turkeys are big, impressive birds, and as omnivores, they have a highly varied diet. If you raise turkeys on the homestead, it’s easy to forget that, especially if they are subsisting on a diet of game bird feed!

But in the wild, turkeys can eat all kinds of things, though their diet is largely seasonal: not all foods are available year-round, and sometimes the turkeys are forced to subsist mostly on what is available in a given region…

It’s neat stuff to know, sure, but we can also use this info to supplement the usual diet of our own turkeys with nutritious, whole foods that are typical for them.

Below is a list of things that turkeys will typically eat in the wild…

Various Plant Buds

Plant buds of all kinds are mainstays for turkeys wherever they find them, but they’re particularly important late in the winter and through the early spring when many other food sources are scarce.

All turkeys particularly love hickory, maple, and oak buds, but many others besides. Nutrition levels vary considerably, but all will provide these big birds with plenty of carbs for energy along with some vitamins and a little bit of protein.

Turkeys can even safely eat some plant buds which are otherwise quite poisonous, like hemlock! I’m not saying you should make it a point to provide or harvest this stuff for your own birds, though: it’s just not worth the risk.

Grasses

Turkeys will nibble on grasses pretty much wherever they happen to be growing, and they are especially fond of grasses that are young and tender. Bluegrass, ryegrass, and fescue are favorites, and all of them are a great source of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and often calcium.

This isn’t much of a surprise, as any hunter will tell you: turkeys seem drawn to areas with lush, vivid grass, especially those with wildflowers growing throughout. The greener the grass, the more attractive it is to them!

Clover

All kinds of clover are on the menu for turkeys, and various subspecies throughout the nation will make a huge meal of white and red clover particularly.

Clover is most abundant throughout spring and well into fall, meaning it is a staple food for turkeys throughout the year anywhere it is found growing.

Clover can provide turkeys with a good amount of protein and plenty of fiber, potassium, calcium, and varying amounts of vitamins depending on the species.

Evergreens

The needles and leaves of evergreen plants, from spruce and pine to various kinds of ferns, are important plant foods for turkeys in the wintertime, though they will nibble on any young and tender pieces whenever they can find them.

Evergreens might be some of the only dependable forms of greenery turkeys can get when everything else is dormant or dying back.

These plants provide plenty of roughage and lots of vitamins to these birds.

Moss

Moss is a marginal food by any standard. It offers very little in the way of nutrition, but it does provide some calories and fiber, and again might be the only stuff that a turkey can get during lean times in late fall and winter.

Mosses that grow on the forest floor, on fallen tree trunks, and other surfaces are all fair game for turkeys.

Lichens

Although often confused for mosses, it’s made even worse because some lichens have moss right in the name.

These peculiar plant-like organisms aren’t really plants: they are actually symbiotic organisms that is formed when certain kinds of algae or bacteria grow throughout a structure of fungus.

Turkeys, though, don’t care about the scientific difference and will eat lichens wherever they grow.

Most kinds can offer turkeys a good amount of protein and carbohydrates, and the hardiness of these organisms means they can often be found where plants can’t grow or in the wintertime.

Some species, like reindeer moss, are very important winter food sources for other animals too, like caribou and other deer.

Tubers

Turkeys are surprisingly adept at finding and digging up tubers and other root veggies of all kinds. Potatoes, wild carrots, wild onions, cassava, yams, and more are all excellent sources of energy, vitamins, and minerals for them.

These are an especially important food source for turkeys because, pretty much everywhere, different varieties will be available year-round, and assuming the ground isn’t frozen solid, turkeys can easily find them and scratch them up even in the wintertime.

I can definitely vouch for this one because my own turkeys love sweet potatoes!

Forbs

Any flowering plant, other than grasses, falls into this category, and many of them will fall into the belly of a turkey.

Dandelions, wild lettuce, brassica plants, and more are tasty, easily digestible, and available for most of the year, making them another mainstay food for these majestic birds.

Most of these plants are highly nutritious and also readily available, meaning they are critically important for maintaining good overall health. Most supply abundant vitamins A, C, and K along with a good amount of minerals and tons of fiber.

Tree Nuts

Turkeys eat lots and lots of tree nuts, especially acorns, but also hickory nuts, beech nuts, pecans, chestnuts, and more.

All of them are excellent sources of protein, fats, and carbs, meaning these are some of the very best sources of energy available to turkeys. In the fall and winter, they might be one of the only reliable foods that can supply much-needed minerals during the colder months.

If you want to catch turkeys in the wild, just go set up near a stand of oak trees that are dropping a lot of acorns. If turkeys are in the area, you’ll find them there, I promise!

Seeds

Seeds are a fundamental food for all kinds of bird species, and turkeys are no exception. Every kind of plant seed, with precious few exceptions, is attractive to turkeys, including grass seeds and those from various flowers, wild, cultivated, or otherwise.

Uniformly a great source of fat, protein, and fiber, vitamin and mineral content varies considerably with the species but is dependably good and beneficial for these birds. Seeds are available year-round depending on the species of plant they come from.

Berries

No surprise here: turkeys will gobble up berries by the bushel, no pun intended. Okay, somewhat intended.

Blueberries, blackberries, elderberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, and more depending on the region. All are great sources of vitamins, antioxidants, and energy.

Insects

Another obvious item in the diet of turkeys, there’s hardly a single kind of insect that they won’t eat. Insects are vital for young and growing birds, and also toms during the mating season because they spend so much time and energy strutting around trying to impress the ladies.

Beetles, grasshoppers, ants, termites, spiders, flies, grubs, larvae, and a whole lot more all go down the hatch. Turkeys have extraordinarily good vision and they can easily spot even the smallest insects scuttling around on the ground or on nearby plants.

Insects are a vital source of protein and healthy fats along with different minerals for these birds, but as you expect, they only get them in the spring and summer when most of them are out and about.

As a rule, they’re unavailable to turkeys in mid to late fall and throughout the winter when they either die or are hibernating.

Small Reptiles

Make no mistake, turkeys are carnivorous. It isn’t just a diet of plants and bugs, you know! All sorts of small reptiles, from snakes and salamanders to skinks and other scaled crawly things, will be instantly skewered, torn apart, and then swallowed or else swallowed whole.

Naturally, these small and unfortunate critters provide lots of protein and minerals for our favorite gobblers.

Small Amphibians

Sometimes, and when they can find them, turkeys will eat amphibians like frogs and the occasional tadpole.

Depending on the region and the subspecies of turkey in question, these may or may not be a typical part of their diet, and in areas where water is scarce or where amphibians are rare, they won’t show much interest in them.

As with reptiles, amphibians provide protein and minerals.

Snails and Slugs

The gross-out factor is high for you and me, but there’s hardly anything a turkey loves more than a juicy, fat snail or slug.

Rich in protein and also much-needed moisture, these slimy things are abundant throughout the spring and fall in all moist environments, especially those with abundant, tender plant life that they feed on.

You might think that a snail’s shell would give a turkey trouble, but that just isn’t the case: if they can swallow the shell, it will surely be ground up in the gizzard along with all other hard foods that they eat.

Grit

Speaking of grinding, wild turkeys are like all other birds, especially our own poultry, in that they need grit in their diet to properly digest and extract nutrition from the other foods that they eat.

Sand, tiny stones and gravel, crushed shells, and more are all sought by turkeys directly or else consumed incidentally when they are eating other things.

After being swallowed, they are kept in the gizzard to facilitate the grinding and breaking down of tough foods like those aforementioned snail shells!