My red bourbon turkeys keep escaping the turkey run to go hang out with the naked necks (turkens) they really seem to love being with eachother!Beings this is a new thread, I figure we need some pictures.
This first picture is JJ. I bought him thinking he was a slate blue, that's what the people I bought him from said. He had hardly any feathers when I got him and he was living in the city under a persons deck in about 18 inches of rotting manure.
The turkey in the below picture is Ethel, I got her with JJ last spring. She also was not in good condition. I got a second hen with them, Myrtle, she only lived about 3 weeks once I got them. I felt so sorry for them when I got them. They have become great pets. They are like dogs, they follow me everywhere. They let me pick them up and pet them. Ethel talks to us until we pick her up, She will go to sleep in my arms or on my lap when I pet and groom her.
The chickens with her are "turkens" These are chickens I bought last year to keep her happy when she wanted to go broody. she thinks they are hers and they still think of her as Mom. Last fall Ethel hatched 5 poults on her own in the woods. She was gone for most of a month, I would see her every day or two in the yard, but could not find her nest. When the babies hatched and she brought them to the yard, the Delaware turken, saw Ethel and ran to greet her Mom. Mom had new babies and ran the poor turken off.
It was heartbreaking to see the poor chicken sulk away. My DW and I both saw it and thought it was one of the saddest things ever. Poor turken!
They are back together now though, (The 5 poults became Eagle snacks)
The next picture is of my Blues. I have another hen but she is in a nest box at the time of the picture. The nest boxes are those round cut off cardboard barrels. They seem to like them. As you can see the Jake/tom is a self blue, two of the hens are self blues and the other is a splash, not a great splash but a splash.
