Have you ever seen a turkey strut?

Cherokee aka Pop Tart is such a strutter! Ask me sometime where these names came from!

Thankful for the lives we share

Dedicating this morning's rising sun and beautiful fall colors to my big lady turkey who passed away sometime last night.  Her passing was not unexpected.  I could see her declining in recent days but it still makes me sad to know her time has ended.  She was one of my three ladies- three meat producing turkeys that we purchased at the same time five years ago and I am sad to see her leave us.

The typical meat turkey has been changed over years by humans to gain weight in their breasts rapidly.  They are voracious eaters and peck at food as if they are starving.  The weight gain tends to cause many health problems in the turkeys that are allowed to live longer than the 16 weeks at which most of them are slaughtered for food.  They have leg problems from the weight and heart problems.  

This lady turkey did live a life worth living with a group of friends, and plenty of healthy food and snacks.  Although she never actually hatched any chicks (this is also difficult due to their weight as the tend to crush the eggs) she did spend time sitting on a nest with the other hens.  She was able to be free range on our farm much of her life.  A pretty good life for a turkey if you ask me.

Thankful today for her and for all the lives I share this world with who come and go or stay for a long time. 

 RIP pretty lady.  You will be missed.

A hug makes it better!

Sometimes having a pet turkey to hog makes everything better!

Things I have learned living and working on a farm

You can’t sneak up on a goose.

When a turkey ‘bites’ you, it hurts.  And you get a bruise.

Pigs are really amazingly smart animals.

If you want to play with pigs, you’re going to stink.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Get your work done while the sun shines.

Never ever carry an egg in your pocket.

Do not put off things you see need to be done. 

Prepare for the worst.

If your water tank is half full, fill it up.

If it’s going to freeze overnight, fill up extra water buckets just in case.

You can’t keep a duck out of water.

Geese make great watch dogs.

The biggest dogs are often the gentlest.

Animals are smarter than we think.

A rooster takes care of his hens.

There is a hierarchy of being in any animal group.

Most farm animals aren’t real cuddly.

Animals recognize their families and you!

A change from your usual clothing makes you appear as an unknown intruder.

You can see alot more than you think in the dark.

Turkeys have a very large vocabulary.  

Any 'mother' has an intense attachment to her babies and innate mothering skills.

Pigs show emotions.

One of the pleasures of being a farm bird is the morning wing flapping ritual.

Cold Winter Mornings

It's a sunny, cold winter morning here so by my standards, it's really nice!  Even when the weather feels terrible to us, all of our animals need our care and attention.  There are no sick days on a farm!

Before you were even out of bed, I put on my snow boots (my Boggs were fine for today keeping my feet warm and dry), my overalls (gosh! These keep you so warm!) my coat, hat, gloves) and went to brave the cold to take care of everyone.
 

The ducks were quacking and happy to see me when I opened the door of their house to let them outside.  Ducks like to stand on their toes and pull their heads and bodies towards the sky as they quickly flap their wings many times as their morning stretch.
 

Cherokee, the turkey who you saw yesterday always comes out chirping as do the five chickens who live in the same house.
 

This morning I had to carry water from our house because all of the outside water is frozen.  Birds and animals should always have free access to fresh water.
 

Lastly, this group gets a scoop of 'scratch' which consists of a couple types of grain in small kernels.  I spread this around their pen so they'll actively search the ground looking for pieces.  This helps keep them warm.
 

After I've taken care of all our other farm friends, I'm headed back inside for a warm drink and some breakfast! 

And you would be surprised, but all the animals know when to expect me.  The horses expect their grain about 8am.  Today I went late and here they were waiting!

 

Couple updates

Remember poor Blanca molting?  She has her feathers back!  They are still growing but she looks much better doesn't she?

 

 I can't say the same thing for this little Narragansett hen...she doesn't even have a tail!  In a week she will have her new feathers too.  Maybe you have figured this out but a female turkey is called a hen!

And just for fun, here are my chickens waking up this morning. 

 

And here they were getting ready to go to sleep last night!

 

Are turkeys stupid?

Have you heard that turkeys aren't very smart?  Many of us have heard stories about how turkeys are so stupid, they will keep their heads turned up to the rain with their mouths open until they drown.  Do you believe this? 
Here is my turkey, Cherokee.  What do you think he's doing?

He's making me laugh for one thing!  He knows that his feed is kept in this can and as soon as I open it,  he is trying to get in to get as much food as he can.  When I picked him up and took him out of this can his mouth was so full of food he couldn't swallow.  Probably hard to eat upside down!  Often, I will find him lingering around the can during the day sometimes trying to open it.

Check out this video of my four Tom turkeys.  When I let them out of their house, they have a habit of running down our driveway to cross the road.  Why do turkeys cross the road?  That I can't figure out.  But I do know that as soon as I call 'Gobble Gobble' in a loud voice, they come running!

My turkeys all respond to my 'Gobble Gobble' call because I have said this everytime I've fed them since they were little.  If you come to the farm and yell 'Gobble Gobble' they will often all answer back. 

So, are turkeys stupid?  I don't think so.  As for the rumor about drowning in the rain, I have read many theories.  One that makes sense is that sometimes, in spite of their coat of waterproof feathers, a turkey will get cold in the rain and actually die of hypothermia and not from drowning. 

We'll talk more about turkeys this month!

Saturday mornings on the farm

It's 930am and finally, I am sitting to eat breakfast.  Many things happen on our farm by 930am.  Here is some of what I happend this morning:

Happy dogs!

A ground hog visitor!

Visitors to the farm meeting 5 month old Buttercup!

Traveler meeting new friends!

And lastly, a check on Blanca the turkey who must have been cold last night as so many feathers are just starting to grow!  Can you see all the short spikes coming out of her pink skin?  All in neat rows.  They are new feathers starting to grow.  A chicken, turkey or duck loses feathers in the fall and then a new set of feathers grows back.  This is molting and we talked about it earlier this week.

Have a great weekend and we'll see you next week!

turkeys! More importantly, baby Cherokee!

Early this summer, I was able to hatch just one little turkey.   We named him Cherokee and somehow he is now called PopTart.  Here he is just a day old.  How cute is he?

He is five months old now and he loves people and likes to ride around on my shoulder.  He finds my hat and rubberbands interesting! 

Chickens and Turkeys molting

Meet my pretty hen Turkey, Blanca.

 Blanca is having a bad feather day.  Do you know why?  In the autumn when the days get shorter and cooler, you may get sweaters out of the closet and go back to school.  Chickens and turkeys have to replace their feathers.  They lose their feathers a few at a time.  During this time when the feathers are falling out and before they grow back, many people think the chickens or turkeys are sick, but they aren't!  All of the feathers grow back so the bird has a new set of feathers before winter starts.  The process of losing feathers and growing them again is called molting.  Blanca will be back to having her warm, water resistant set of feathers in  no time.