Remember not long ago I posted about old mama hen with the 5 baby turkey chicks.
Well she still has all 5 turkey poults and has raised them well. She provides early morning entertainment for O Wise One and I on a daily basis. These days we let her free range since we tend to be out there most days anyway. Every morning we open her pen and all 5 turkey chicks take off flying. Those rascals fly like eagles I'm telling you. Poor mama hen is at a dead run all day trying to keep up with those 5 hooligans.
She naturally does not fly as well as the youngsters and they give her quite a run for her money most days. Every now and then though she gets her licks in and chastises one real good. As the mother of 5 I can so commiserate with her.
Notice in most pictures the poor thing is at a dead run. I think after this year she deserves to actually raise chicken babies next year. Those baby turkeys consume gobs of grasshoppers though which is a good thing this year.
And every night like clockwork at dark she and her 5 chicks fly by themselves into an empty brooder over by the rabbits and O Wise one closes the door so they are safe all night. Every morning he opens the gate and they fly out to start their foraging. The hen and chicks follow him all over the yard when he is near because he gives them corn on the cob and sliced cantaloupe.
Since these 5 are so tame we plan to keep them as breeding stock so they will become a permanent fixture on the farm eventually replacing some of our older stock.
Seems like just yesterday they were tiny doesn't it ? Don't worry we just put a new batch of baby ones out in the brooder out of the incubator. It just seems like the ones hatched with a hen are so much more docile and calm though. She did such a good job!
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
CQ, Your chicks have grown, are you feeding them Wheaties? Just teasing, they sure look healthy.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely to see, and educational for me. Thanks. What kinds of sounds to they make? Can baby turkeys gobble yet?
ReplyDeleteNo they can't gobble yet but just kind of cluck. They fly really good though!
DeletePoor mama hen! She's so cute running after those little turkeys!
ReplyDeleteIts funny seeing a mama chicken with baby turkeys ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a good mama she is! I know it will be nice for you to have such tame ones a breeders. I've never raised turkey, though I'm thinking about getting some ducks, as my dad loves duck eggs.
ReplyDeleteDid you get any rain up your way? We got about an inch late yesterday. It hasn't taken us out of the extreme drought condition, but I'm sure the plants enjoyed drinking it up as much as we enjoyed watching it fall!