Um, hel-loooo… can someone let me in?
They’re lining up to do a drumline.*
Hey, you just let Rafie in. Come on, you guys.
Don’t leave me out here alone with ’em.
OK. Everyone into formation. Not you, duck.
Quacky idea…stupid turkeys. Hmmph!
Line ’em up, turkeys, straight and narrow!
Watch this…they’re fluffin’ up for the finale…
Woo-hoo, show some tail! Duck, get out!
We’re done…let’s get the flock outta here.
Wait a sec, is there any food?
*Drumline = a name suggested by one of red Ravine’s readers during a lively conversation about what to name our 11 “turklets.”
These turkeys are so advanced that they took it upon themselves to learn amazing turkey tricks, such as “doing the Drumline.”
Perhaps they were scared into action upon hearing some of the other names suggested, namely Butterball, Giblet, Barbie-Q, Stove Top, and Drumstick.
Although we’d like the turkeys to be wild, they haven’t taken well to the idea. Still, we have high hopes that these turkeys will make a mark in this world (and I’m not talking about turkey scat), forever burying the notion that they might be better served on a platter this Thanksgiving.
[Oh, and, the photos? Taken with my cell phone camera. Still waiting…]
LOL. The photos are great. I love the show some tail! I can’t beleive how huge they’ve gotten. If you check out the other posts you link to on the turkeys, they are so small and fuzzy. Especially, the turklet post.
Oh, and congrats to reccos62 for drumline. It was her first comment on red Ravine (LINK). Obviously, she’s in the flow and turkey savvy. 8)
So, do the tribe of 11 know yet that Thanksgiving is coming?
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I think they’re starting to get a hint, being as how every time someone comes by and sees them, they ask us if they’re all “dibbed” yet for Thanksgiving ; – ).
But in all seriousness, the turkeys are starting to get over to the orchard where Jim wants them to hang out. His biggest challenge is keeping them off the patio. And he’s pretty intent now on figuring out what we’re going to do with all of them. We can’t possibly keep them all, or we’ll end up with even more turkeys next spring.
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THe turkeys must be worried. They don’t have much time left… LOL. And, I like the pic with the dog. THat’s cute!
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I think they are scared into performing… probably something deeper than just their present situation where they hear the humans talking about turkey dibbs. Probably genetic, just like we have the instinct to start to eat when the days get shorter, like the birds fly south & the squirrels hide food everywhere, the turkeys know if they don’t start acting cute they are gonna be somebody’s Butterball.
Did you ever desire to be a turkey farmer, Ybonesy??? Maybe you could sell the turkey scat on the internet? I know bat scat gets big bucks…
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No, no desires ever to be a turkey farmer, and from what we have experienced to date, we are not relishing in our unplanned turkey farm-dom.
Jim now has a scraper on a long stick so that he can scrap scat from the patio. Hmmm…if only we can get scat collectors around the yard. Nah. I don’t think so. Jim did announce this morning that his goal relative to the turkeys is training them to stay off the patio. Some farmers we are, eh?
If your theory is right, skywire, about turkeys being genetically scared into performing as the days get shorter and closer to T-Day, then if we can tie that fear into staying off the patio, we will be happy. And then we’ll have to work on the turkeys’ “bark.” They sound like seals. I have to record them for you.
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Our dogs truly seem to dislike the turkeys, LB. When the turkeys show up, the dogs cower about. I don’t know if it’s because the dogs are annoyed by the whole idea of these loud, seal-barking turkeys, or if it’s because the dogs are secretly wanting to eat the turkeys and are, therefore, feeling horridly guilty whenever they’re around.
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skyWire, ROTFL, your theory is brilliant – turkeys genetically predisposed to acting cute in the month of November! I love it. BTW, when in the world did you learn that bat scat on the Internet gets big bucks?!
ybonesy, that Jim, he’s so innovative. Did he hand make the scraper with the long stick just for that purpose? Or is he improvising? LOL. It reminds me of those fire tool inventions on a long metal pole so you don’t have to get out of your chair to move the burning wood into optimal postion. 8)
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This was a fun entry. I’m very interested in your turkey experiment, to see if they’ll take to the wild.
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Wow — I had NO IDEA — I need to go read that whole story.
Omigod Ybonesy — that is hysterical . . love the letter, love the pictures. Still need some names? How about The Brothers Giblets (BGs), for all the males? Greta Gobblers for the girls?
We’re building new coops over Christmas — finally! Then will start rebuilding our own flocks. Maybe we need a few turklings over here . . .
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Bat guano is hot on the internet for use as a fertilizer used for gardening. After doing a brief search, it appears turkey scat is not so desirable. Sorry ybonesy… no more bright ideas about what to do with your turkey tribe. What do the girls want to do with the turkeys? Are they in 4-H so at least they can get credit for raising livestock???
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By the way, if you can disguise it as a ‘replica’, you can get $4.50 for one ‘turkey scat’….
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bosquechica, I LOVE your avatar. Speaking of fowl!! Is it one of your goslings?
Robin, when I came home from the grocery store, the turkeys were all in the north orchard where Jim wants them to learn to live. We found out from a neighbor yesterday (who had been lured to the yard by the strange barking sound in the orchard), that the previous owner had emus in the north orchard. Apparently, this neighbor had to have a hernia operation after one of the emus kicked him in the stomach one day while trying to round them up. Ah, there is a rich history of bird round-ups at this place, we’re finding.
skyWire — if we disguise the turkey scat as bat guano, we can $4.50 for one scat??? Just one curly little poop? Or a pound or what? I’m intrigued.
Oh, and yes, the girls are in 4-H. How did you know? But we are terribly poor participants, in that we do not reliably show up at all our meetings and do all the projects.
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YB — It’s a sandhill crane chick! Adorable! Here’s another one: http://pics3.city-data.com/cpicv/vfiles19212.jpg
When we had turkeys to spare, we gave them to some 4H kids — seems to be a good project.
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Hey YB… you can actually sell the turkey scat as is, selling it as ‘replica turkey scat’ for naturalists to learn what it looks like. So just one little curly poo goes for $4.50!!! I don’t know what the market is like though, so I wouldn’t quit your day job.
Maybe if you sprayed the scat with a layer of Aqua Net it would look like a replica, as well as being preserved for the next millennium or two!!!
The 4-H thing was just a guess. If one lives where one can keep turkeys, ducks, chickens and emus, then you probably have an active chapter of 4-H. Plus I’m from North Dakota where they were quite popular. Do the girls have a project going with any of your wildlife? Or is it with the tamer horse population? Maybe you could offer to donate turkeys to other kids who want a 4-H project?!?
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It’s mostly a horse riding 4-H, although it’s definitely in a state of flux these days. No projects with the wildlife, yet. Tomorrow evening is a meeting — great idea on offering up the turkeys there, bosquechica and skyWire! Thanks.
Wow, you are a creative mind. Aqua Net as a preservative for turkey scat. I would never have put the two of those things together. It’s brilliant!
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Thanks for the compliment Bone-zee!
I just was trying to think of something that would hold the shape of the scat as well as keep the smell in, and good-ol’ Aqua Net popped into my head. After all, what it did for my hair in the ’80’s is a miracle, though I don’t want to know what it did to the environment.
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I have an update on the Young Turks.
Today they actually *kind of* became wild. At about 9 I got a phone call from our next door neighbor. She and I have never met, but we’ve talked on the phone (about barking dogs in the neighborhood, whose they were, etc.). Anyhow, she says, It’s me, Diane, your neighbor. Oh, hi Diane, I say. Yeah, em, she says, your turkeys are in our yard.
Well, it turns out the turkeys were on our *neighbor’s* patio, probably dropping loads of scat. The neighbors were charmed (I’m sure, until the turkeys cleared out and the scat became visible).
It took Jim about an hour to round them back over to our place. So, the good news is they are starting to roam about. The bad news? Jim is talking ever so loosely about eating them this T-Day, which now has even me concerned that these turkeys are not going to have a good holiday.
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