Amusing Turkeys

These little guys are on insect control duty in the front yard. When they see a grasshopper on a plant, they approach it much like the cats do...slowly, stalking it. At the last minute they grab it and gobble it down...yummm-snacks.

We are so glad Mark and John gave us the LIVE turkeys last fall. They have been really entertaining. Although we only have Turk left from the original trio, the little poults they produced are growing nicely.

One of the mother hens has left them to go back to being a chicken and laying eggs. The other one is staying with them and with Turk's assistance is doing a great job of raising them. Our visitors are often amazed that the Tom is helping out. What a guy!

The little ones are just now learning they can actually fly. Some of them aren't too adept yet and their landings are anything but smooth. Frequently their intended landing spot isn't where they end up on the first try, but by the second attempt they make it. The hen takes them back into their shelter at night and we close the door to keep them safe from predators. Turk is claustrophobic and prefers not to stay in there with them, but roosts on a fence just outside their door. He is always ready for them to be out before I am ready to open their door. It is so cute to see him on one side of the window with them on the other side just chatting away. They have a definite language but the humans have not been able to translate it all yet. But it took us a couple of years to learn "Guinea" so I guess we should just keep listening. They are just now starting to get the color on their feathers and we can't tell genders, but do know we have at least two little toms as they were trying to establish the pecking order a couple of days ago and then trying to fan their tails and strut their stuff. They are still too tiny to look impressive but by fall we could have quite a display. There are 3 hens still sitting on turkey eggs and two hens each with one little turkey in the chicken yard. Turk is one prolific breeder!