A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[JRNash]

Ralph you are diabolical!!

 

[rjohns39]

Well folks, Every now and again I get live wild entertainment at my place. Last year I had a wild hen who used to hang out in my front yard, I named one of her poults Wrong Way Sam, because which ever direction mom and the rest of the poults ran, she always went the opposite way. Last year she gave me a good 45 minutes of hilarity. Today, just 5 but I thought I'd share both stories with you.

Last year, I stepped out on the deck, Mom and the poults (except sam) went scurrying down the driveway. Sam flew backwards up about 30 feet into a tree. Now the tree's base is at least 50 feet below the driveway, so she was up about 80 feet. From her size I'd guess she was probably about 20 weeks old at the time. She cried out for mom who had no patience with her. She spent the next 45 minutes trying to figure out how to get down, since flying was not an option. She finally made it..

Fast forward to now. She's got about 8 poults and she still hangs out in my front yard. This afternoon, they were in my driveway and the poults were chowing on what ever green stuff comes up through the cracks when one of the local deer wandered out into the driveway. Sam fearing the deer might step on one of her poults (he's a year old) flew up and planted her talons in his rear end. He of course jumped completely over the driveway easily clearing her poults. Guess she turned out to be an ok mom.... But I've never seen a turkey attack a deer.

 

[memphis]

Wow. Rjohns that would have been fun to see!

 

[rjohns39]

Wow. Rjohns that would have been fun to see!

I must have laughed for ten minutes afterwards and then he came full circle back up to my front yard with a really funny expression on his face. And he kept looking down the driveway at the turkeys as though he was trying to figure out what happened. Just goes to show that if you live out in the woods, nature can provide all the entertainment you need.

 

[rjohns39]

Got another question for the folks out here. What are your thoughts about crows? I had to toss a lot of eggs over the last couple weeks, so they went into compost. I've got a half dozen crows that have been following the new kids around chowing on the left over food when they move. Now they've moved into the compost pile and keep digging up the eggs. They don't seem to be hurting anything, other than giving me an extra chore and they don't get close enough to the babies to give them bugs. Should I leave them be or motivate them to move on?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I must have laughed for ten minutes afterwards and then he came full circle back up to my front yard with a really funny expression on his face. And he kept looking down the driveway at the turkeys as though he was trying to figure out what happened. Just goes to show that if you live out in the woods, nature can provide all the entertainment you need.

I bet that was absolutely hilarious!

 

[rjohns39]

I bet that was absolutely hilarious!

I keep threatening to get a bumper sticker that says "I brake for turkeys" as more than once I've turned onto my street and found a mom and poults walking down the street.

 

[rjohns39]

Maybe... I brake for wild life?

 

[JRNash]

Got another question for the folks out here. What are your thoughts about crows? I had to toss a lot of eggs over the last couple weeks, so they went into compost. I've got a half dozen crows that have been following the new kids around chowing on the left over food when they move. Now they've moved into the compost pile and keep digging up the eggs. They don't seem to be hurting anything, other than giving me an extra chore and they don't get close enough to the babies to give them bugs. Should I leave them be or motivate them to move on?

I personally like crows. Smarter than the neighborhood crackheads. They can be fairly efficient opportunistic predators when they take a notion. I saw one swoop down and grab a sparrow once.

 

[JRNash]