Rain, wet and our Poultry

We are getting rain. Lots of rain. Today though there is a bit of a lull and the poultry is taking full advantage of it. They are every where. Scratching and pecking, running to the roosters, running away from the roosters.

The ducks are playing in their water troughs, splashing like maniacs. We are sure they splash out four times more water than we put in!

The turkeys are wandering around the yard looking resigned to the gray weather. The young turkey hens occasionally fly up into the old Oak tree and see how high they can get. Its a happy scene. So here are some photos of our crazy poultry.

 A group of the young hens, they look so nice, no pecking problems so they all have beautiful full feathers. They are sassy girls and very talkative and curious.

 Two of the three amazing poults. I still marvel at them, being hatched during a cold spell in December. You ask...is that a Black poult? Yes it is, we were quite surprised but found out that the Blue Slate turkeys have a Black Phase, we have one Blue Slate hen, Lilac, this poult is her baby.

The Turkey hen moulted just after hatching and looked dreadful, she is starting to get her new feathers. She had her children out and about today.  She is very watchful.

 Here is the little family, the poults have feathered up quickly and are stocky things. They have loud strident peeps and cause the hen a lot of stress as they learn the ropes of going outside.

 Our winter chicks are growing  like weeds, there are 10 of them and the hen is really super protective. Beware anyone who gets too close. This Australorpe hatched chicks in the first run of brood hens. We leg band any hen that has chicks. When Ralph put this girl in the nest box to set on the eggs, we found her to be banded. She is a wonderful hen.

 I took this photo as a cat walked down the driveway about 10 feet from the poults. The turkey was ready for battle!

 The chicks came in a wide range of colors, we did not expect white! We have no white chickens. Now though we have two, a pullet and this handsome young fellow.

 Turkey Talk....they congregate in font of the deck and talk about everything.

Two of our first hatchings. The Rooster is Henry, he is an Australorp X Buckeye.  The hen is one of our very favorites, we call her 'Copper'. She is laying lovely eggs and is a Buckeye X Buff Orpington.

So there you have it, scenes from our yard during a rain free few hours. It has started to drizzle again and if you look out now...there is not a bird in sight.

God Bless you all and keep safe and well.