Help! A Brush Turkey Is Destroying My Garden!

Share

You are sitting on your back deck with a cool drink in hand and admiring your garden, when you notice that the mulch around your garden beds looks noticeably thin. As you look closer, you notice that almost all of your mulch has disappeared from your entire garden, along with the new seedlings you planted, some clothes from the line and the odd dog toy.

Brush turkey caught about to be relocated

Brush turkey caught about to be relocated

You wander down the side of your house and hear a “Scratch, scratch, scratch” noise coming from a huge mound of garden debris that has suddenly appeared. Congratulations! A male scrub turkey has taken up residence in your home.

Male bush or scrub turkeys build large mounds (up to 5 metres round) to attract a mate. These massive mounds function as a nest to incubate the eggs, attended by the ever-present male scrub turkey that constantly adds and adjusts the nest.

Brush turkeys believe that bigger is better and will remove all twigs, leaves, grass clippings, mulch and anything on the ground that is not nailed down into building the biggest nest possible. If they run out of building materials from your garden, they will start on your neighbour’s yard and from the houses across the street.

As soon as the first brush turkey mound appears in your garden we recommend you act fast to keep what is left of your garden. Call us to get rid of the brush turkey for you ASAP by legally relocating it.

If they aren’t welcome in your garden scrub turkeys need to be relocated and their mound destroyed before the first egg is laid, as, if any eggs are in the mound you need to leave the turkey in peace until the babies hatch (which is lovely for the turkeys but can totally ruin your garden).

And remember, brush turkeys are protected and cannot be harmed or relocated without a permit, so attempting a DIY relocation could see you attract a hefty fine (not to mention the odd scratch or two from the irritated turkey) for your troubles.