Turkey Talk
Animals

Turkey Talk


I thought I would share a little turkey talk with you today.
After spending almost two years with these three comical birds,
I've got to say....
turkeys are just about the coolest birds you can have.


Ours, as you know, follow us all over the farm...
always curious about what we are doing.

Turkeys have a long fingerlike projection that hangs over their beak,
called a snood.


The amazing thing about this snood, is how it changes throughout the day.
When our turkeys first get up in the morning,
their snoods are tight against their foreheads like a unicorn's horn,
with absolutely no pigmentation...pure white.


Then as they strut around for a few moments,
their snood relaxes and turns a brilliant shade of scarlet.


Throughout the day, their snood can be flaccid, turgid, or somewhere between the two...
it seems to be related to emotion.
I have noticed that frustration and fear will bring their snood into
its horn-like position as well as cause the color to drain from their facial tissues.


Here is a quick video to show you a little "turkey talk"...



different from the gobble that you are accustomed to hearing on my videos.

To answer a question that I am frequently asked...
no, we won't be eating our turkeys...
ever.
Never....they are our friends.




- Détente
All is well in the turkey world once more. After several days of Tom (the aggressor) being "sequestered"(placed on house arrest, actually),the boys have seemingly worked out their differences. You will notice in this picture, that Tom is all puffed...

- Talkin' Turkey
Two years ago we had the idea of raising our own heritage breed turkeys for meat.We thought we would start small,so I ordered a few bourbon red turkey poults from our local feed store. From the very first day, these little birds were quite friendlyand...

- Herding Turkeys
As if we needed a new task to add to the end of each day....we seem to have acquired one....herding turkeys! We decided over the weekend, that it is time for the turkeys to free range a bit.We have been reluctant to allow them to leave their yardout...

- Turkey Trivia
Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner,I though I would share some trivia and observationsI have made raising turkeys. Oh, and by the way, we are NOT eating our turkeysfor Thanksgiving.They have gobbled their way into our hearts and we are...

- The Great Turkey Debate
The great turkey debate is actually two separate issues.The first debate is over the sex of turkey #3. It is quite obvious that we have one "Tom",as he spends quite a good deal of time strutting his stuff. Of all the turkeys, he has the longest snood...



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