Today was an exciting day…if you are a turkey! Greg and Anna have been hard at work finishing the new turkey habitat that has been THE project for several weeks now. Sarah and Brian participated in the original groundwork (literally), they dug holes and filled them in, they levelled and they set posts they ate chicken poop and sweated blood for the cause…thank you both, we miss you. Greg and Anna have finished the project, a gate has been hung and a net strung to protect the little turkeys from Edgar the eagle and his extended family looking for a chicken takeaway. It was time to turn the little turkey poults out into the big wide world…sadly the “so ugly they are cute” birds felt that their world was already plenty big enough and were not excited by… or interested in the brave new world outside the turkey shed. After several moments with only a hint of a little turkey beak in the doorway ( “you go first”…. “no you, I’ll watch this go ‘round ”)…. and a rising level of agitated turkey chatter from within, the battery on the camera was becoming challenged and our patience was OUT !! Enter the turkey “persuader”…me! I’m no longer as fast as I was, certainly not nearly as flexible and Turkey Lurkey and his feathered siblings are clearly related to the Road Runner. I was bouncing off walls and climbing perches, slipping and sliding in turkey poop before those birds decided to surrender to the inevitable and left the safety of the shed (with or without my “persuasion”). All afternoon, as the heavy black clouds gathered ominously overhead, the young turkeys scratched and scuttled happily around the pen ….then the first drops of rain began to fall. The poults bunched up, if turkeys have any sense, they were on sensory overload, their little world had expanded and now wet stuff was falling from the sky, it was all too much for a little turkey. Sadly the birds are not noted for their intelligence and clearly ours were not going to prove to be an exception. Anna Greg and I went back into the pen for yet another turkey roundup, Bran the Border Collie was desperate to help, the birds were less than excited to be saved from the rain and ….I’m DONE with turkeys !
Time to go. The cuckoo clock has spoken. Take care, keep safe. M