How does a lost baby turkey sound?

How does a lost baby turkey sound?  

A baby turkey (called a poult) makes a very loud sound when lost and calling for it's mom. 

 Just like this:

Of course, I returned the lost baby to it's family.

The End of January in Farm Photos

It seemed cold and dreary this week at the farm.  Many of the animals stayed huddled together.  

Everyone in the chicken house getting ready for bed!

This little hen is a guest in the chicken hospital- a straw filled dog crate in my warm office.  She has been keeping to herself and not eating much so I want to keep an eye on her and make sure she gets some extra healthy food and lots of warm water.  Cute isn't she?

Waking up...

A close call with a goose beak..

Couldn't give this chicken a blond wig again if I tried.  What do you think of the look?

My shoulder makes a nice perch.

"It's cold out.  May I come inside?"

Whose print is this?  This belongs to Cherokee, our male (Tom) turkey.

With increased hours of sunlight each day, the hens start to lay more eggs!

"Do you have any food for me?" asks Traveler.

A Tom Turkey discovers his reflection and is surprised at how hard the reflection hits back at him!

I love this guy!  Check out this Narragansett Tom Turkey who has discovered his reflection in a glass door.

Have you ever seen a turkey strut?

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

A November week on the farm in photos!

Fall is my favorite time of the year and so many beautiful moments at the farm this week!

Here is our big Tom turkey showing his stuff!

Momma hen on an outing with her quickly growing chick.  Notice how attentive the chick is to mom's instructions!

A big morning crow from the Big Red Rooster!

Muddy piglets!  We had quite a bit of rain this week!  The piglets don't mind and their house is warm, dry and filled with straw.

Narragansett turkey hens out for a stroll.

Our house cat, Seneca, posing.

One of our geese.  His head is titled a little as he turns one eye towards the sky to watch a hawk.

Showing the two chicks I'm in charge of the great outdoors.  Scary view of me.  lol.

A Week of Fall Farm Pictures!

Fall is so beautiful on the farm.  I feel like I can't take enough pictures!  Enjoy and have a great week!

Warm breakfast snacks with extra protein for the molting chickens.

Is this bird sick?

This poor turkey hen looks so uncomfortable to me.   She is avoiding her bird family, looking a bit lethargic and her feathers are all falling out.  Is she sick?

No, this little lady is molting.  Molting means that she is losing her old feathers to replace them with new, healthy feathers to keep her warm and dry over the winter.  Male and female birds molt.  Sometimes they only lose a couple feathers and sometimes it can be so many the poor bird looks almost naked. When you look at the picture above, you can see the new quills growing that will be part of her feathers.  Right now they look like white points.

I don't know for certain if birds feel bad while molting but I notice many of the birds hide and keep to themselves.  Maybe they know they look silly.  

Many things related to birds are influenced by the seasons and the amount of light.  Birds usually molt when the days begin to shorten and there is less daylight.  Nature is planning for winter!

I LOVE AUTUMN!!

37 degrees this morning. I love autumn! Cold nights, starry skies, quiet cold mornings and perfect sunny weather with trees changing colors during the day. Hot Tubs! Warm comforters! Hot drinks! Fires! Pumpkins! Turkeys! Football! Sloppy Joes!  Roasted beets!  Hats and mittens! Hikes, horseback rides! Have a happy, cool sunny Sunday!

PS:  It took a long time and many shots to get this guy (Narragansett Tom Turkey named Cherokee) to pose next to the pumpkins!

Thursday morning on the farm...resting Gandolf, fighting turkeys, nosy geese

I love mornings on the farm.  It's usually quiet with just the birds chirping- nature and farm animals just waking up.

It's hard to sneak up on Gandolf, but he was enjoying a relaxing morning in his house after protecting everyone last night.  This guy is so handsome- I just love him.  Wish you could see the size of his paws in this picture!

First thing in the morning, I open the chicken houses and the goose house.  They geese come charging out, turn the corner, flap their wings while the run for about twenty yards.  Toulouse geese are really too heavy to fly although they sometimes make it off the ground about four feet in the air before they come down.  I'll try to get a video of this sometime for you!  In the meantime, here are a couple of my geese checking me out.

This morning there was a turkey fight!  No idea why but in the end, nobody was hurt.
You can see this on YouTube at Turkey Fight!  I love how Cherokee, my Narragansett Tom (that's what you call a male turkey) watches over the fight like a referee!

And lastly, we have a little groundhog living near our house.  He's a happy guy these days because the Chinese Chestnut Tree has dropped it's chestnuts and he's always standing up in this area munching away.  I'll try and get a better picture but it's difficult to sneak up on him and get close enough.

Happy Thursday everyone!

A hug makes it better!

Sometimes having a pet turkey to hog makes everything better!