More Turkeys Pictures !!!!

The boys finally decided to start showing off !



I have been waiting ever since they got their freedom to get a fluffy turkey shot.



I think they knew.This whole time they were teasing me.They would halfway raise their feathers,just enough to get me all excited and ready with my camera,only to deflate themselves again.I was turkey teased!



We got a cool front in this morning,I don't know if that made them feel frisky,but all they have done this morning is regally fluff out their lovely feathers.It worked,because I am in love with them! Really, who couldn't love this face?

Their tail tips are a little ragged from rubbing against the wire in the coop,but still they are gorgeous don't you think?


Did you know Bourbon Reds are not only good looking they were rated the second tastiest of all turkeys?Yep,good looking and tasty...

It's a win win,.....well,for me anyways!

Freeee-ee-ee Bird......

Just play a little Skynyrd in your mind as you read today's post :) ! The Bourbon Reds are finally free.





Well, in theory any way.They can leave their coop but their wings have been clipped so they will stay in their yard.


The Boy hated having to cut their beautiful wings! It was a matter of their life or death though and given the choice I am sure they would choose not being eaten by dogs over their wing tips! The turkeys are so funny, they will follow us every where.We can be standing there watching them and turn and walk away.Then we will here all this rustling and wing flapping behind us and turn around and there they are! They follow The Boy all over just like dogs,it is so funny!

We had a very hard time with these turkeys.I ordered 10 the first time.They we're nice healthy little things.I kept them inside for about 2 weeks.

Then I moved them out to the rabbit hutch.It is about 3 and half feet off the ground and,of course, covered in rabbit wire.The next morning only 3 remained.Possums climbed up and got their little toes and pulled their legs thought the wire.I was crushed,my sweet little babies.I have wanted these turkeys ever since I read about them several years back.They are nothing like baby chickens.They are not afraid,they do not run or scatter when you come near.They will come right up to you, curious and friendly.This was probably my second hardest loss of our life on the farm.Things die on farms,it is just how it is.I accept that pretty well.For some reason loosing these sweet little things in such an awful way got to me.

So I tried to order more but everyone was sold out.I finally found one place that I had never heard of and order 15 more.Some of these were not so healthy.One had a deformed leg and one was a weak little runt and died right away.6 in total died over the next week or so.Then we put them in their coop,which was apparently the possum buffet.No matter what we did we could not keep the possums from some how getting them.Every morning one less turkey.Finally this coop had multiple kinds of layers of wire around it and on the ground and layers of boards around the bottom.When we finally got it like some kind of turkey armored car we were down to seven.Seven out of 25.You want to know how many turned out to be hens?Two,just two.Guess what we are having for Christmas dinner?Yep,excess tom turkey!


I really have my heart set on raising these beautiful,friendly birds.I hope my 2 hens make it so I will have eggs this Spring.If they laid eggs all year round those chickens would be in trouble!I would keep turkeys instead of them!
So, it took me and The Boy all week to get their area done. That's one thing I can cross of my list! Now only 99,467,382,736 more things to go !

Whew!!!

We did it!Our day went smooth and without a hitch even though it gently rained the entire time!After regular morning chores and doctoring Sir Loin's leg we got the sheep fence finished.It's a little crooked,but hey,it works!


Our sheep are bucket trained,they will follow us anywhere if we are carrying a feed bucket,so getting them in their pasture was no problem.We will still put them up at night for safety though.
They can easily jump these fences if they want to.They don't,I guess they probably would if they were threatened.They have been perfectly content to stay where ever we have put them.I hope they stay that way!Of course,they are well taken care of so I guess that helps!


They kept giving me the butt!I could only get a picture of their tail ends!I love the sheep,there is something quiet and serene about there nature.


Then we started on the turkey pen.


Boy,that had me worried!I still can not believe how smooth it went.I had to cut some limbs.I don't like using a chainsaw but Hubby has an attachment for our weed eater that is a small chainsaw.I don't mind it at all and luckily all the limbs were small enough for it to handle.Then we had to get some boards under the edges for skids.I lifted the edges with a crowbar and block of wood and The Boy slid the boards under.The valve on the compressor was leaking,so we had to do all the nailing by hand.Then we tied a rope around each corner and I used the Ford to pull it foreword at and angle that would align to the gate and moved the ropes to the back side and just pulled it over to our place.Boy,am I glad Hubby built that thing stout!Then we had to redo the wire around the bottom to 'possun proof it,fingers crossed.

Those 'possums have gotten more of my turkeys than I have but I am determined to have my Bourbon Reds!

The turkeys make the sweetest cooing noise to each other all day long,I am sure soon they will start to gobble-gobble!

So we worked all day in the rain,The Boy and me.It was good,honest,satisfying work.The kind of work where you are tired and know you will sleep good that night and you would willingly do it again in the morning.Surely we are blessed!


I know this picture is blurry,but it is sooo funny.It is Butter Bean sliding down or jumping off his slide!

What to do with Your Old Front Porch

The Turkeys are in their new home.

Hubby built this nice pen to keep them from getting their little turkey heads bitten off by coons and 'possums.I made the mistake of putting the first batch of baby turkeys in the rabbit hutch.It is high off the ground and covered in tiny square rabbit wire.It was a mistake.In the morning I had only 3 left .A 'possum climbed up an grab their toes and pulled their legs through.I was heart broken.I know that sounds gruesome ,but that is life in the country folks.We,by we I mean Hubby,will put on a real roof later.

This pen is a good example of recycling.Most of the wood came off the super ugly closed in porch that I tore off the front of the house shortly after we moved in.Hubby first used the wood to build The Boy a tree house,but he didn't finish it.Then Ike dropped a huge limb on it.So it just sat there until a few weeks ago,because this is a hillbilly-redneck family,we just considered it lawn decor.The other day I was looking at it and pondering what to do about it.Then it just hit me,like good ideas most often do,turkey coop!

Poor Hubby!He is always having to build something for some critter or another!He is a good Hubby and deserves some kind of medal or plaque or possibly a t-shirt because me and The Boy are always dragging home some new critter!Just the morning before yesterday I woke up and said" I want a milk goat,Boy,look on line and see what you can find."And that night we came home with Doodah!


These are Bourbon Red turkeys.They are a heritage breed.I saw a while back in a magazine,maybe Mother Earth News,where they did a taste test on turkeys.Bourbon Reds were the second tastiest!

Here is a bonus picture that has nothing to do with turkeys.

This is The Boy and Hubby flipping over the goatie house so The Boy can shovel out all the built up goat poop.Then,before putting it back down,soaking the ground in cheap yellow dish soap to keep away fire ants.Just in case you didn't know, fire ants won't stay where cheap yellow dish soap is in the ground,a good safe way to get rid of the little devils with out risking poison around your critters.Time for a Boy Quote.The Boy says"Fire ants had to be created by the devil."I tend to agree with him.