Talking Turkey....cuz Turkey Day is Coming --

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it seems appropriate to talk turkey.  Here are some things you might not know about the turkey:

1. With about 600 million turkeys in the world (National Geographic, May 2011), about 90% of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving and 50% consume turkey at Christmas (www.home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia-submit.asp  2012).  

A white broadbreasted and a Spanish black heritage turkey -- the same age.

2. Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere, with the first turkeys being domesticated in Mexico and South America (www.infoplease.com/spot/tgturkeyfacts.html  2012), and there is evidence that they have been around for over 10 million years (www.baltimoremd.com/content/turkey1.html  2012). 

Turkeys are curious birds and investigate everything -
and we haven't had one drown in the plastic goose/duck pond,
though my cousin said that she had one that drowned in a trough
(it got in and couldn't get out).

3. Contrary to popular belief and in spite of the musical that I really like (1776), Benjamin Franklin did not go head to head with others in favor of the turkey being the national bird.  The legend seems to have originated with a letter to his daughter about six months after the national coat of arms was accepted with the bald eagle as the national bird.  His letter mainly referenced his feelings about a military fraternity and after finding fault with the society's motives and its concept, he writes:

    Others object to the Bald Eagle, as looking too much like a Dindon, or Turkey. For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country. His a Bird of bad moral Character...Besides his a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. His therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country, tho' exactly fit for that Order of Knights which the French call Chevaliers d'Industrie.

 I am on this account not displeas'd that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For in Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bid, and withal a true original Native of America...He is besides, tho' a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Genadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.

 So, while Benjamin Franklin may not have been that happy with the choice of the Bald Eagle, he never actively promoted the turkey (www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=MMM.Turkey?action=print).  The things we learn in history class...

I left the dog kennel open and came home to roosting turkeys. 
When they saw me, they came to greet me. 
Who wouldn't like that?!?

4.  Several sources claim that, unlike wild turkeys, domesticated turkeys can't fly.  It is clear that they haven't been to GEE Funny Farm where our turkeys fly short distances on a regular basis.  While we have mostly heritage turkeys that are much more similar to wild turkeys in build and functioning ability, we happen to have a broad-breasted turkey who flies over our six foot fences on a regular basis -- which surprised even us, since that has not been our experience before.

Several of my heritage turkeys, at a young age,
roosting on our 6 foot kennel fence. 
Yep, they flew up there.

5. And finally, there is the claim that domesticated turkeys are so dumb that they will look up at falling rain and end up drowning.  Snopes says it ain't so. And we certainly haven't had that experience.  You can go to Snopes to find out what they believe caused the myth.



My favorite turkey, Sariah, coming
to visit at the front door. 

Sariah at the back door.
How can I not love this bird who seeks me out?

While we have heard from people that turkeys are 'dumb.' Ours come when called and know where to find food and water (including from the dishes of the other animals on the other side of the fence).  And while we may be among the Americans enjoying turkey at one of our holiday meals, we really love and appreciate our birds.  We are glad that they enjoy a life of leisure and fun as they wander where they will every day and that they have a secure place to go at night (from which they can and do escape if I'm not on hand when they feel it is time to get going in the morning - they fly through the opening between fence and 'roof.')  I really like turkeys...and not just eating them.

Talking Turkey

Like everyday, morning and night, I've just come in from feeding animals.  Sometimes, depending on weather, I dread going out, but once there it is a joy.

So, tonight, I'll tell you about feeding the turkeys.  I started off by calling them.  They were hanging around outside David's office window where they spend a lot of each day peering in at him and tapping on his window.  One of our turkey hens was hand-raised and she is pretty sure that she should be an inside bird.  She loves seeds given to her by hand and has made our other two hens look forward to the treat, too.  We have been going up to the window and herding them down to their pen.  They have to go in since there are coyotes and other things in the night that would love a turkey treat!  

Once we get them headed in the right direction, they usually go to the pen without a lot of complications -- unless we wait until it is truly dusk.  Then they are perched and if they move they want to go toward light -- which isn't in the direction of their pen.  So, I try hard to get out to them before dusk!!  My latest idea was that, because they love the seeds I give them, we would reward them when they go to their pen.  Last night my hand raised hen came at a turkey trot to meet me at the barn, where I keep the treat, and follow me to the pen; the other hens came running, too.

Tonight, they glanced in my direction, but they didn't move.  It was warmer out today and the snow had melted, but now it is starting to freeze and it is slick.  They are uphill from me and I'm not too happy that I'll have to slip and slide up the hill to herd them.  I decided I'd go ahead to their pen, calling as I walked.  Just about the time I was going to give up, my little hen came running with the other two on her heels.  Whew!  Saved again by a turkey!  Sarah, the hand-fed one, looked at me expectantly and I gave her a treat.  She's a wonderful turkey ambassador!

(In a moment of true confession -- I wrote the blog last night and didn't have a camera.  So I thought I'd get a video tonight.  I opened the garage and there they were waiting for me.  So, they followed me down to the barn and I ended up dropping some seeds to distract them long enough for me to get ahead of them -- I love turkeys!)