Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Its a Busy day for a Turkey

This is a "Spike and Trainwreck" view of a day on the farm. Spike is quite observant of all the things that go on.

"Hello, Spike here."

5:00 am:
The screeching of the guinea fowl warns us dawn is near.

5:30 am:
We hear the weird alarm 'Boss' uses on his phone. It sings Good Morning, good morning, its a beautiful day. Of course this is irrelevant because it is still dark. Oh it also sings that same song in sleet, rain, snow you know whatever!

5:32 am:
We turkey's, except for the hens that are sitting on eggs, fly off the deck rail at this point and go for a drink and some Fresh food. Boss says good morning as he goes by to let the chickens out, the ducks are already out and...doing duck things. There is a good reason to "gobble" life is wonderful! I am making romantic headway with Lilac.....ooohhh shes a cutie pie!

 "This is Lilac, her long legs just make my little turkey heart beat faster!"

7:00 am:
Mrs Boss comes out on the deck to say hi and usually gives us some treats. Stale bread, left over oatmeal, even torn up bits of soft taco's. Yesterday we had the seeds from some tomato's she made sauce from.

8:00 am:
That darned Royal Palm bozo "Blackback" says hands off Lilac, he is the boss but I know she likes me  best cause she keeps sidling up to  me when he isn't around.  Trainwreck said he would lookout for us.

"Blackback thinks he is just THE turkey..."

8:30 am:  It is a nice morning and the grass is really growing so we head out to graze for a while. This is much nice than in the winter when we ate bagged feed, now we get greens until we just can tuck another bite in. Well there are some tasty bugs too. Don't try the garlic leaves though, they are horrible! Plus Boss gets pretty nasty when we go over there.
 
11:00 am:
We spend a couple hours out and about, its fun because we can graze under the apple trees, over by the clothesline and even on the west side of the big barn. Today though it is quite warm and we decide to get some shade on the north side of the utility building. It is much easier to keep warm with all our feathers than to cool off. Heat is going to take some getting used to.

 "I just love clover and this farm has lots of it."

2:00 PM:
The buff roosters are rude to the hens, we try to protect them and they are often around  us or underfoot.


We were protecting some girls and Lilac come over to say hi....I was speechless and sure made a fool of myself!

" I have been trying to be cool around this girl.....and the hen said that Lilac likes me....."


4:00 PM:

There is always something new around here, Boss has to watch the weather and he got this new gadget, it tells them if its going to rain or storm or be windy, heck I can tell them all that stuff!



6:00 PM:
I have a question...do Guinea's ever shut up?



6:45 PM:
We have  been watching the big oak tree, Mrs Boss loves this tree and often sits under it with us. It is shady and in this hot weather has a nice breeze under it. It also has the wind chimes...I can sing way better!



7:42 PM:

Well its about that time. Another day at the farm and its about time we hit the "deck". I am tired and feel a bit sleepy. It takes a lot of hiking around to keep this farm in shape. I am going to have to keep up my form and who knows...ahhh Lilac.


Good night everyone!

12 comments:

  1. Heh-heh! Just loved it! :o) Sometimes you really can tell what our feathered friends are thinking!

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    1. I think people underestimate how animals think. I know these turkeys are smart. They are very much the most interesting birds.

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  2. Spike love the name and I must tell you I remember all our first years of farming and your posts bring me back there. We still farm of course but age has dwindled our variety of animals. I miss turkeys. Hug B

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    1. This is Ralph's dream and he is working harder physically than he has in a very long time, he is loving it! Spike is "his" turkey or maybe Ralph is Spikes person? We get up early and go to bed tired and are just in heaven.

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  3. "Do guineas ever shut up?" No! :) I love them though!

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    1. We really enjoy them, I love the little whistling noise they make when the are relaxed. The drive the turkeys crazy when they zip around the feed at 90gmph [guinea miles per hour]

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  4. Fun! You might have the makings of a children's book in those characters :).

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    1. Spike and Trainwreck are really social and quite gentle. They just like to be where we are and we love them. Yes a soppy sentiment when it comes to turkeys but true just the same!

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  5. beautiful turkeys :)
    I have considered getting a few a time or two.

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    1. I will warn anone who wants to eat their turkey's....the heritage breeds are very much different than the commercial meat birds. They have personality and are just a lot harder to be realistic with. I was glad we found a processor to butcher the extra birds. They are worth having though and I know Ralph and I do not regret it at all and he now calls me old softy a lot more!

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  6. I have been flat out overrun with wild turkeys this year. They are coming down into the meadow to eat in the early mornings. My chickens are out there at the same time, getting bugs. So far they co-exist uneasily, the roosters don't want to tangle with the Toms who are much larger.

    I have been looking for some guinea hens now for quite awhile. They used to be everywhere but no one seems to keep them not. I like guinea hens, we had some when I was a little boy.

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    1. We are quite enjoying ours despite the heavy losses due to odd things. We have learned a lot about them and next batch will do some things differently. We got ours from Meyer hatchery and they arrived in good fettle and were vigorous and marvelous keets. The price was fair and the service is great. We will have a designated guinea house/coop next time. They sure work on the bugs around the house. We don't know about the ticks though as the tick season is just starting. The wild turkeys were here in a large flock of 40 or so but hunting season is here and they are hiding.

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