Turkeys are best known as adaptable and resilient animals. They have a broader sense of taste. So, it makes sense why does turkey feeds on everything digestible. The question arises regarding apple as apple is often discouraged for some pets.
Scroll down to know if Turkeys can eat apples.
Can turkeys eat apples?
Turkeys can absolutely eat apples. They generally love fruits, and apples are undoubtedly on top of their preference list. In fact, turkeys will never leave a sweet chance of munching on apples. Apples are highly nutritious for turkeys as it contains fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.
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Several species of turkeys live throughout the states. All of them possess a common feature that they are opportunistic eaters.
There are several species of apples as well. It is observed by garden owners that turkeys love to feed on Honeycrisp apples and crabapples, and other common apple species.
Turkeys are omnivores. They feed on anything from seeds and plants to insects and worms. They are one of the animals that feed heavily on insects in warmer weather and switch over to grain or corn in colder weather.
Turkeys graze over fields and tear apart soil, searching for grain or tiny insects. You will find flocks of turkeys pecking the grounds, basically like giant chickens. A place with lots of bugs will surely attract turkeys.
Turkeys will never leave a good source of food. They love fruits like apples, berries, grapes, and other small fruits.
Crab apples:
Turkeys can eat crab apples. You will find turkeys going nuts over crabapples. Crab apples are a good source of vitamin C that is vital for the regular activities of turkeys.
Crab apples are just apples that are smaller in size. Wild and domestic, a flock of turkeys will eat every apple it can find its reach.
Honeycrisp apples:
Turkeys love to eat honey crisp apples. The honey crisp apples are of regular size. This apple is a good source of fiber which lowers cholesterol and antioxidants that offer many benefits.
Do these turkeys eat apples?
Turkeys need a diet that mainly contains protein. They require other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals as well, but their diet should have a significant amount of protein.
Food elements that are sugary in nature are fine for turkeys to eat, but too much sugar is not suitable for them. Let’s see if the following turkeys can eat apples or not.
Baby turkeys:
Baby turkeys need a lot of protein growing up. Baby turkeys are turkeys aged from zero to eight weeks old. This is the phase where a turkey absorbs all the nutrients in order to grow appropriately.
A growing baby turkey should only be fed foods that are high in protein. It aids their growth and helps them to grow quickly. Apples are mostly sugar, so you should avoid giving them to turkeys.
Baby turkeys will eat apples if you give them to them. But you should never do this because it may disrupt their diet.
Apple seeds contain cyanide, which is poisonous, so ingesting apple seeds will be disastrous for baby turkeys.
Wild turkeys:
Wild turkeys are always on the search for food. As they are omnivores, you will find them feeding on different apples. Garden owners often have to protect their apple trees from the invasion of wild turkeys.
So, all these enforce that wild turkeys love apples.
Domestic turkeys:
Like wild turkeys, domestic turkeys love to eat apples as well. But make sure you do not overfeed them. Remove the seeds before feeding your domestic turkey apples.
Four reasons why turkeys eat apples
As stated before, turkeys eat anything as they are omnivores. Every food, be it fruits or vegetables, has its own quirks. The obvious reasons would be that turkeys eat anything, and apples are delicious.
However, here are some reasons why turkeys eat apples.
Easy source:
As wild turkeys look for food, they choose the easiest route to fill their stomachs. Apples are an excellent source of food that regrows naturally. So, turkeys have a stable source of food.
Turkeys eat the fallen apples. The apples on trees are also at reachable heights for turkeys. They can easily fly to the top and pick apples as they wish.
The sweet, sugary taste makes apples appealing to turkeys.
Domestic turkeys are a great fan of apples too. They will eat apples whenever you give them. However, you should keep in mind that too many apples could harm your poultry.
Health benefits:
Apples are known for their superior health benefits. Apples are rich in fiber and antioxidants. Fiber keeps the digestive tract healthy in turkeys. Antioxidants help fight various health issues and keep turkeys’ immunity strong.
Apples work great as treats. Instead, it is a healthy way to spoil your turkeys.
Availability:
Apples are not as available as other trees in the states. So, this makes apples more unique to the turkeys. So, be it your garden or the wild, turkeys will feed on them.
Familiarity:
Turkeys not familiar with apple trees may ignore it as a whole. The turkeys familiar with apples are more likely to devour them.
How often should you feed turkeys with apples? How much apple to feed a turkey a day?
Turkeys are omnivores. They eat various foods such as insects, vegetables, fruits, and many more. Although they are omnivores, turkeys’ diet should contain mostly protein.
Apple contains a good amount of carbohydrates and fibers. Both of these are quite essential to turkeys. But apples do not have any protein so, feeding apples in large quantities will do no good to turkeys.
Apples are best if fed with other fruits. You can add apples occasionally with your poultry diet. Remember not to overfeed apples. It should comprise 4-5% of turkey’s daily intake.
Apples are best fed as treats, that too occasionally. The best would be to provide apples to your turkeys at an interval of two to three days.
The apple intake changes as the turkey grow. A baby turkey should not be fed apples until eight weeks old. Feed it apples in low amounts, and you can increase the amount later when your turkey matures.
How can I feed apples to turkeys?
Feeding apples to turkeys is no hard task. Turkeys themselves can eat apples from trees. You can prepare apples in various fun ways.
You will need apples, natural, unprocessed peanut butter, unsalted nuts, berries, and other small fruits safe for turkeys. You can follow these steps to feed apples to turkeys.
Washing the apples:
After buying any fruits or vegetables, the first and foremost thing you should do is to wash them properly. This reduces any chances of viral infection.
Grind the nuts:
For this recipe, you have to grind the nuts you chose. Hard and big-sized nuts could be hard for them to chew. It also imposes choking hazards.
So, make sure the nuts are properly ground.
Stuff the apples:
After washing the apples, carefully remove the core. Using a spoon, stuff the ground peanut butter and nuts in the apple.
This is one way to feed apples to turkeys. Here are other methods below.
Salad:
Turkeys love to eat vegetables and fruits. In addition, you can add a mix of apples to their primary diet. Cut the apples into small pieces. Do not forget to remove the seeds.
Apples should not be fed regularly and should only comprise 4-5% of turkey’s food intake.
Simple cut into small pieces:
This is the simplest way of feeding apples to turkey. Cut the apples into small pieces and remove the seeds altogether.
Can turkeys eat apple seeds?
Turkeys cannot eat apple seeds. Turkeys eat a lot of stuff as they are omnivores. They eat acorns and grains, and insects. No matter what they eat, turkeys cannot intake apple seeds.
Apple seeds are harmless when they are intact. But there is no guarantee that a turkey will not chew on them. The toxin reacts with the turkey’s body when it is chewed.
So, always remove seeds from apples before giving them to turkeys.
Apple seeds contain cyanide which is not friendly to turkey. Too much apple seed has the potential to decimate your turkeys.
Cyanide irritates the neck and nose, and internal organs. Eating too much cyanide can cause nausea, headaches. If your turkey shows these symptoms, you should immediately contact a vet.
Final Thoughts
Turkeys, often called bigger chickens, are intelligent beings that require some effort to raise. Feeding turkeys is not the most challenging part of raising them up. You can feed them apples for their love of fruits, but it should only be done occasionally as treats.