Turkey Riddles: 30 Gobbling Good Riddles with Answers for Kids on Riddlepedia
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Turkey Riddles: 30 Gobbling Good Riddles with Answers for Kids

30 riddles · tap Hint or Answer to reveal

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Turkey riddles are a Thanksgiving favorite, and real turkeys are stranger than most people think. Wild turkeys can fly, they sleep in trees, they can run about 25 miles per hour, and a male’s bare head can change color in seconds. This list has 30 turkey riddles for kids, each with a hint and an answer.

The easy round has turkey basics and a few classic gobble jokes, the medium round is all true wild turkey facts, and the tricky round brings in history, math and Thanksgiving dinner wordplay. Read them at the table, in class, or while the real bird is roasting.

Easy Turkey Riddles for Kids

I’m a big bird with a fan of tail feathers and a red, wiggly flap under my chin. I say “gobble, gobble,” and I’m famous every November. What am I?

Hint
Wild ones of me live in North American forests.
Answer
A turkey

I’m the loud, wobbly sound a male turkey makes to say “I’m here!” Other turkeys can hear me a mile away. What sound am I?

Hint
It’s also a word for eating really fast.
Answer
A gobble

I’m a grown-up male turkey. I’m bigger than the females, and I’m the one who gobbles. What two names do people call me?

Hint
One name is short for Thomas, and the other comes from my favorite sound.
Answer
A tom, or a gobbler

I’m a grown-up female turkey. I lay the eggs and keep my babies safe. What am I called?

Hint
A mother chicken has the same name.
Answer
A hen

I’m a fluffy baby turkey, just hatched from my egg. My name sounds a lot like the word “poultry.” What am I?

Hint
My name has five letters and starts with “p.”
Answer
A poult

When a tom wants to show off, he lifts me up and spreads me out behind him in a big, round half-circle. What am I?

Hint
A peacock does the same trick.
Answer
His tail feathers

A big group of turkeys walking through the woods together is called this. Sheep and birds use the same word. What is it?

Hint
It rhymes with “clock.”
Answer
A flock

Why did the turkey join the band?

Hint
Think about which part of the turkey people fight over at dinner.
Answer
Because it had the drumsticks!

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Hint
Think of a word that means “scared” and is also a bird.
Answer
To prove it wasn’t chicken.

What is a turkey’s favorite dessert?

Hint
Mix a fruity dessert called a “cobbler” with a turkey sound.
Answer
Peach gobbler

Medium Turkey Riddles

I’m a long, fleshy flap that hangs down over a turkey’s beak. When a tom is excited, I grow longer and turn bright red. What am I?

Hint
My name rhymes with “food.”
Answer
The snood

I’m the red, wrinkly skin that dangles under a turkey’s chin and neck. Roosters have me too. What am I?

Hint
My name rhymes with “bottle.”
Answer
The wattle

I’m a tuft of stiff, hair-like feathers that sticks out of a tom’s chest. I look like something a grandpa might grow on his chin. What am I?

Hint
Pirates and wizards have one too.
Answer
A beard

Wild turkeys don’t sleep on the ground at night, where foxes and coyotes could catch them. They fly up to sleep somewhere safer. Where?

Hint
Look up into the branches.
Answer
In trees. Sleeping up high like this is called roosting.

Can a wild turkey fly?

Hint
The big turkeys on farms are a different story.
Answer
Yes. Wild turkeys can fly short distances, fast and low. Most farm turkeys are bred to be so heavy that they can’t fly.

A wild turkey is running away from you as fast as it can. About how fast is it going?

Hint
It’s close to how fast a car drives on a slow street in town.
Answer
About 25 miles per hour, faster than most people can sprint.

When a tom gets excited, the bare skin on his head and neck can change colors in seconds. Which three colors can it turn?

Hint
They’re the colors of the American flag.
Answer
Red, white and blue

The tom puffs out his feathers, fans his tail, drags his wings on the ground and walks slowly back and forth to impress the hens. What is this proud walk called?

Hint
It’s also what you do when you walk like you’re the best in the world.
Answer
Strutting

I’m a small nut with a little cap, and I fall from oak trees in autumn. Wild turkeys gobble me up to fatten up for winter. What am I?

Hint
Squirrels love me too.
Answer
An acorn

Turkeys don’t take baths in water. Instead, they flop in loose dirt and flap it through their feathers to keep them clean. What is this kind of bath called?

Hint
It’s named after the dry stuff they roll in.
Answer
A dust bath

Tricky Turkey Riddles

In 1784, I wrote a letter to my daughter. I called the bald eagle a bird of “bad moral character” and said the turkey was “a much more respectable bird.” Who am I?

Hint
I’m on the hundred-dollar bill, and I flew a kite in a storm.
Answer
Benjamin Franklin. He praised the turkey in that letter, but he never officially asked for it to become the national bird.

Every November, a lucky turkey (sometimes two) gets brought to the White House and sent off to live on a farm instead of becoming dinner. What does the President do for it?

Hint
It’s the same word used when a president forgives someone for a crime.
Answer
The President pardons it.

I’m a country that shares my name with the bird in English, but in 2022 I asked the world to call me “Türkiye.” What country am I?

Hint
My biggest city, Istanbul, sits on two continents.
Answer
Türkiye (Turkey)

Every turkey has two drumsticks. Nine people at the table each want a whole drumstick. What is the fewest number of turkeys you need to cook?

Hint
Four turkeys would only give you eight.
Answer
  1. Four turkeys give 8 drumsticks, so you need a fifth for the ninth person (and someone gets a bonus).

A farmer has 17 turkeys. All but 9 run off into the woods. How many turkeys does the farmer have left?

Hint
Read “all but 9” very carefully.
Answer
  1. “All but 9” means 9 stayed behind.

What do you call a turkey on the day after Thanksgiving?

Hint
Think about what didn’t happen to it on Thursday.
Answer
Lucky

Baby turkeys don’t wait in the nest for weeks like baby robins. How soon after hatching do poults follow their mom out of the nest?

Hint
It’s a lot sooner than a week.
Answer
Within about a day. Poults hatch with their eyes open and fluffy down, ready to walk.

Turkeys have no teeth, so they swallow tiny stones. The stones sit in a strong, muscly pouch in their body and grind up hard seeds and nuts. What is that pouch called?

Hint
Its name starts with “giz.”
Answer
The gizzard

I’m made of a bird’s two collarbones joined together in a V. At Thanksgiving, two people pull me apart for luck. What am I?

Hint
Winning gets you one thing you hope for.
Answer
The wishbone

It’s very hard to sneak up on a wild turkey, even from the side or from a little behind it. What about its eyes makes that so hard?

Hint
Your eyes are on the front of your face. Where are a turkey’s?
Answer
Its eyes are on the sides of its head, so it can see almost all the way around without turning.

Turkey Riddle Games for Thanksgiving

  • Gobble to answer: kids have to gobble like a tom before they’re allowed to guess. The first gobble gets the first try.
  • Hand turkey riddles: trace your hand to draw a turkey, then write one riddle on each finger “feather” and the answers on the back. It makes a great place card for the Thanksgiving table.
  • Fact or fib: read a fact from the medium round, then change one detail (like “turkeys sleep in caves”). Kids shout “fact” or “fib.”

Hungry for more? Try our Thanksgiving riddles, these harvest riddles or our farm riddles.