Turkeys Wild among the Geraniums, letting the turkeys loose on the land one morning, photo © 2007 by Jim. All rights reserved.
It’s been about ten or so weeks since our mama turkeys hatched a bunch of babies. We call them “turklets” in our household, but they’re really called “poults.” They’ve grown a lot since the last post about them. I imagine they’re about 16 years old in people years.
For a few weeks we talked about giving them away to people who would raise them as pets and promise not to eat them. But it looks like we’re going to keep them instead. Jim has this idea that he’s going to let them run wild on the land. That we’re going to start a whole colony and that years from now, long after we’re gone, people will wonder where the wild gray-and-brown turkey flock came from. For all we know, books will be written about them and their fame will rival that of the wild ponies of Assateague Island.
For now we are working on making them as wild as possible. Every morning Jim shooshes them out toward the field. So far, they have learned to circle the house several times a day. Mostly they hang out on the back patio.
We’re hopeful. They all have learned to puff up big any time the eagle comes flying ’round. We know we might lose one or two before they are fully able to survive the wild. But some day, hopefully in our lifetimes, we will see gray-brown turkeys roaming the Rio Grande Valley.
Ha! Turkeys are funny! 🙂
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The family shot in the tree is really great.
I think you should expand on that with the “upwards, under the tail, feet dangling shot”. Now that would be pro level! That’s alot on hineys to dodge.
Are you game? 😉
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Oh yeah, that could get dangerous. These are Jim’s shots, so I’ll have to ask him if he’s up for it. The turkeys in their near wild state aren’t game for posing or anything ;).
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I love it. “Wild” turkeys that do two circles of the house and then lounge exhausted for the rest of the day drinking wine coolers on the patio.
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What a fabulous idea! I hope the turkeys go forth and multiply, and become as famous as those ponies.
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LOL. I love that mental picture, tiv.
Hope you had a good trip, Robin. Glad to see you back.
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ybonesy,
Jim: such a pacifist and gentle soul. Gotta love the guy for that!
I like the scheme (as they’d use the word in the UK). Turkeys eventually repopulating the Bosque and the Valley.
Before arriving to your house last August, on that same day, I had a morning encounter with two turkey moms and their “turklets” when riding down a trail (Turkey Track Trail or TTT in Stan’s book) in the Zuni Mtns. It was the highlight of the ride. Turkeys are cool!
MM
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They are pretty cool, aren’t they? I like the sounds they make. And they’re pretty calm. The moms (we have two moms; the tom drowned in the duck pond shortly before the babies hatched) have taken to chasing my daughters, which, given the size of the moms as compared to size of my girls, it can be pretty scary. But I think it’s completely a temporary stage with the mom turkeys. They’re just being protective.
Jim just cleaned out the cage for our bullsnake, Baby. We inherited Baby when we bought the place. Her (we’re told she’s a she) cage is good-sized. Jim said it hadn’t been cleaned for years. He put wood shavings from the wood he’s cut. He carried in several new boulders, including one that he thinks will absorb the morning sun and give off heat all day. And he put in a “swimming pool,” since he says snakes like to swim. He’s loving his animals!
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p.s., MM, aren’t the Zuni Mountains gorgeous? I visited the first time two years ago. I was stunned by how beautiful they are.
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When I saw the word, Rioteague, I immediately thought of Assateague and Chincoteague Islands.
I grew up dreaming of, and wearing out the library’s only copy of, Misty of Chincoteague.
Misty of Chincoteague By Marguerite Henry, with Wesley Dennis illustrations…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_of_Chincoteague
My thoughtful mother planned a side trip to Chincoteage during one of our infamous vacations. It was an unusual experience, one with a bad sunburn, scared ponies being seperated from their mothers, and a whole lot less of the “ideal” than I was prepared for.
Nonetheless, I went to Pony Penning Day.
I say, “Run free little turkeys! No Turkey Penning Day for you!! Run, turkeys, run!!”
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That’s so cool, leslie, that you got to visit Chincoteague. Although, not so cool that you had to see the babies and mothers separated. There’s also a swimming thing they do to get horses from one island to the other; it sounds frightening.
Dee is a fan of Misty of Chincoteague and the sequel, Stormy, Misty’s Foal. I read parts of each out loud to her. My “Rioteague” was a play on the name of those two islands — glad you caught that ; – ). BTW, you’ve said in a past comment somewhere that Dee reminds you of yourself. Here’s another similiarity.
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It’s cool to hear about Assateague and Chincoteague Islands again. One of my first vacations with Liz, we went to Ocean City, Maryland with my family and Liz and I took a day trip to the islands to see the horses.
Well, needless to say, it was so hot and humid and there were so many flies on the island (we had been warned by my family!) that we ended up spending all of our time in the new visitor’s center with AC!
We’re not proud of it, but we never saw the ponies! We did end up buying some cool cotton sweatshirts from the yearly Pony Swim though. It’s a really cool place. The ecology is so different than the Midwest.
I like seeing your post and the follow up photos of the turklets. I showed them to Liz, too. She’s fond of them.
Tell Jim his photos are great! I really like the top one. Good composition through the grasses in the pond. Makes you work a little bit to see the gobblers. 8)
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I was happy to see this post featured on the wordpress home page. I’ve never really heard of anyone raising turkeys who wasn’t thinking of Thanksgiving dinners from the get go.
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Thanks for letting us know. Those WP pages change so quickly, we never know if we land on them.
Yeah, turkeys aren’t the first choice of domestic bird, are they? Other, more exotic creatures that fly (or, in this case, only fly high enough to roost).
QM, I’ll definitely tell Jim you liked the photos. He’s getting into it. He asks me every day, Where’s the camera?
I was wondering, are the flies on the island a result of the horses?
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amuirin, yes, thanks for letting us know. Very generous of you. And I would never have known!
yb, I’ll have to do some research on the flies. I’ve got a book around here somewhere on those islands. But will it really talk about the flies? Inquiring minds want to know. Maybe leslie knows from her trip to see the ponies?
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Pardon me for taking a bit of time to return here. My computer and the mouse are giving me FITS!
I don’t remember flies in particular…I do remember humidity, heat, sunburn, and W..a..i..t..i..n..g for the ponies to swim.
I would likely have endured the proverbial plagues of locusts to see those ponies.
I revisited Chincoteague on my ‘hippie’ trip years later. We drove over onto Assateague, and looked around for a few hours. When I first visited, as a child, you couldn’t go to Assateague. (or so my parents told me 🙂 )
http://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm
I have looked at this site and the ‘camping’ section does warn of biting insects. I have to suspect it’s black flies or deer flies, and sand fleas, and a skeeter or two. There really aren’t enough ponies to create a manure/housefly problem, I don’t believe.
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leslie, thanks for the link to Assateague Island. It reminded me that Liz and I found our first Travel Bug (TB) when we were Geocaching (LINK) in the Virginia part of the islands. Ah, good memories. Anyway, I hope to go back someday. For now, I have to settle for the sweatshirt. 😦
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