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Males are [[Animal sexual behaviour#Polygamy|polygamous]], mating with as many hens as they can. Male wild turkeys [[Display (zoology)|display]] for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails and dragging their wings. This behavior is most commonly referred to as strutting. Their heads and necks are colored brilliantly with red, white, and blue. The color can change with the turkey's mood, with a solid white head and neck being the most excited. They use gobbling, drumming/booming and spitting as signs of social dominance, and to attract females. Courtship begins during the months of March and April, which is when turkeys are still flocked together in winter areas.
Males may be seen courting in groups, often with the dominant male gobbling, spreading his tail feathers (strutting), drumming/booming and spitting. In a study, the average dominant male that courted as part of a pair of males fathered six more eggs than males that courted alone
When mating is finished, females search for nest sites. Nests are shallow dirt depressions engulfed with woody vegetation. Hens lay a clutch of 10–14 eggs, usually one per day. The eggs are incubated for at least 28 days. The poults are [[precocial]] and [[nidifugous]], leaving the nest in about 12–24 hours. Turkeys are a ground nesting bird, and because of this they are heavily predated on; reproductively-active wild turkeys have a lower annual survival rate due to predation of nests.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Byrne |first1=Michael E. |first2=Michael J. |last2=Chamberlain |title=Survival and Cause-Specific Mortality of Adult Female Eastern Wild Turkeys in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest |journal=Southeastern Naturalist |volume=17 |issue=2 |year=2018 |pages=345–56 |doi=10.1656/058.017.0216|s2cid=90478338 }}</ref>
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