Tammy SonsFounder/CEO, TN Nursery · CEO TN Nursery

Are these wild turkeys eating our monarch caterpillars?🐛🦃 #wildlifehabitat #nature #nativeplants

24 Sept 2025 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:48

In this on‑site video, Bailey from Tia Nursery walks viewers through a milkweed patch that is teeming with monarch caterpillars and visited by a group of wild turkeys. Bailey notes that the turkeys are walking through the milkweed and may have sampled some caterpillars, but the monarchs are still abundant, suggesting they are not a preferred food. The footage highlights how native milkweed supports large numbers of monarch caterpillars, and how the presence of turkeys and other wildlife (deer, butterflies, rare insects) is a direct result of planting native species. Bailey discusses the practical issue of the milkweed being heavily defoliated by the caterpillars and suggests moving some caterpillars to another milkweed patch to prevent food shortage. The segment ends with a brief promotion for Tia/TN Nursery, encouraging viewers to order native plants that will attract similar wildlife to their own gardens.

Chapters

There's a bunch of wild turkeys. I came down here to show you these monarch caterpillars, but them turkeys is right in the middle of this milkweed. They may have been snacking on them, but I don't think they ate, uh, monarchs. I'm pretty sure monarch caterpillars are poison to other animals. But look, isn't that cool? Look, I'm, I'm right here and they don't, they don't pay a bit of mind to me. But, uh, here's our milkweed right here. And it has been ate up by monarchs. Look, there's no— there's hardly no foliage left. Them turkeys may have come down through here and snacked on them monarchs, but you see they're still everywhere. Look at that big one right there. They're all over it, and I don't want to scare them turkeys off because they hang around here a lot, but look, there's monarchs everywhere. Let me see. Oh, that one didn't make it, but they are everywhere. Let me see here. Now this is the important— this is why, um, native plants are important. Look, they're back in the milkweed. I hope they're not eating them, but if they are, it's just a circle of life. There's not much you can do about it, but they're completely— these plants are completely ate up with monarch caterpillars. And they look, they've ate all of the milkweed, and we're thinking we have to— may need to start moving them to our other milkweed patch up on that hill because we're afraid that they're going to run out of food. But look, wild turkeys, monarch caterpillars— this is what native plants bring in. It's not just caterpillars, rare caterpillars, it is monarch. I mean, it's turkeys too. Because they ate the pest off of them. But I just wanted to show y'all that, and I just think that is so, so awesome. And I just came down here to show you the milkweed, but I got to show you some other critters too. Look at that, they don't pay a bit of attention to me, they're just doing their own thing, picking. This is Bailey with Tia Nursery, and our nursery is ate up with wildlife— deers, turkeys, monarch caterpillars, butterflies. Rare insects, and they just love this. They just love this, uh, native flower garden. And boy, there's a big one right there. Look, look at him. Ain't that pretty? Shop now with TN Nursery and have these native plants sent, uh, shipped right to y'all's door, and y'all start seeing wildlife like this everywhere, all over your place.