Bye Bye, Birdie: A Tragic Turkey Tale

Back toward the end of September, I did a post about our turkeys ignoring the call of the wild turkeys.

They may not have been very adventurous back then, but earlier this month they got really adventurous--and came to call in the back yard.

So we clipped their wings, Herb put up chicken wire to block the handy cross rail they were landing on, and we put them back in the pasture where they belonged.  Or so we thought . . .

Then last week our contractor, who was putting a railing on the back porch, called me while I was driving home and said, "I'm being attacked by a turkey!"  It turned out he was kidding--about the "attack" part.  But there really was a turkey in the back yard hoping for a handout from his lunch!  I got home, caught the turkey and put him back where he belonged.  And that was that, for a while.

Then just this Monday, the 14th, Herb came in and told me that one of the turkeys was gone.  We concluded that it had gotten over the fence again, this time to join its wild fellows.  We decided we needed to slaughter the other turkey quickly, although it seemed to have settled in with just the sheep for company.  We set today as the sad day.  I knew we would really miss our turkey's cheerful "prrrrit! prrrrit!" but with half our Thanksgiving dinner running wild, we intended to make sure of the half that was left.

Then yesterday morning Herb came into the house with some tragic news.  Turkey Lurkey, as I had christened the "one that didn't get away," had drowned itself in the stock tank.  We simply could not figure out why--with the kiddie pool/duck pond right there full of water--our poor, silly bird had tried to drink out of the tank.  Even though we had intended to dispatch him within 24 hours, it made me sick to think of him dying that way.

Then yesterday afternoon as I was moving cattle, something caught my eye in the Home Pasture.  A closer look led me to the obvious conclusion that "the one that got away" hadn't gotten away at all.  In fact, it had met a fate worse than mere death--it had been killed by a predator, most likely a coyote.  The widespread clumps of feathers with blood here and there indicated that the poor turkey had fought and struggled before succumbing; the absence of bones indicated that it had been carried away.  Suddenly the stock tank drowning made more sense:  maybe the other turkey jumped up on the water tank to escape a return of the predator.

And where was Misty when all this happened?  In the barnyard with the ducks, guarding the chicken coop.  She can't be in two places at the same time, poor girl--and I must confess to being rather thankful that she didn't have to fight off whatever took the turkey.  Her presence might have discouraged the predator from attacking--or she might have been injured fighting it off.

We've learned several things from this tragic tale.  We like turkeys, and we'd like to try again.  But next time we'll follow advice we just got from our friends the Newswangers, who raise a whole flock of turkeys along with their Dexters:  We'll use electrified orange netting.  Predators can't climb it to get in (like they can with a fence), and turkeys can't climb it to get out.

This was a costly lesson for us since I now have to order an expensive organic turkey.  It also cost our poor turkeys because they died lingeringly and in fear, as opposed to quickly and mercifully.  Life on a farm isn't always stunning sunsets and cute calves.  Sometimes it's ugly and cruel, and we have to learn to take the bad with the good.

Backing Up

I forgot to post pictures about getting the round pen, etc. ready for Sara the day before our planned breeding.  So I'm going to back up and post a few.

This picture of Misty trying to figure out how to get back through the fence shows that we have some major fence repairs to do!

 Here's our nice straight line of electric fence set up to keep the animals in the back half of the Lower Pasture until we can fix the fence in the other half.  The white speck in the distance is Misty keeping cool in the shade.

And this is my favorite picture.  I call it "Rear View Mirror."  I just looked out the truck window, saw this photo op, and shot it--almost like a reflex.  I couldn't help myself!

A Good Day's Work (Tuesday, Apr. 26)

Storm light over the farm warned us that we might not get much work done outside today and we'd better get going.
The first item of business was to make a new paddock and move the animals. Here they are in the new paddock (at right). You can see the difference between this fresh grass and the grazed area (at left).

Zephyr inspects the fence line!  You can see where Herb weed-whacked under the electric fence.  He has to do this to keep the long grass from shorting out the fence.  In other applications we've seen, one single wire higher up is all the farmers use, but since our little Siobhan is a pint-sized Dexter calf, she has been able to scoot under the bottom wire unless we place it quite low.

Here is the left half of the new paddock, with access to water in the creek running to the left of the horses.

Here's the right half, with access to shade.

Our paddocks are a lot bigger than those usually used with rotational grazing, but they're better than nothing.  For now, since we don't have water over most of the property and since finding shade is a problem, we are making paddocks as we can.  We are also able to graze the animals on grass that has been untouched for the last few years since it has never been fenced.

We're still pretty new at this, still getting our routine down, and it took us 2 hours to get the new paddock built and move the animals in.  They are really getting used to the new routine, though--as soon as we started, they were standing there waiting to be let onto the fresh grass!

After lunch, it was time to plant the sweet potato slips and the seedlings that Charis and I grew.

We had to do a lot of weeding first, but several hours later, we had some new pole beans planted and more space ready to sow some new seeds.  Notice Charis' nice big bean plant at left--way ahead of mine!  Go, Future Farm Girl!

Here's Charis' big bush bean, dwarfing mine again.

And here is one of her muskmelons; my poor little specimen is way in the back.

One fringe benefit of all that weeding was having a ton of green stuff to throw to the ducks when we did evening feeding.  They were delighted!

After this good day's work, before a shower and supper, I walked out with the dogs to check on the animals in the new paddock.  Hero thought it was a great chance for a run; I'm glad he had enough energy left!

Accomplishments! (Monday, Mar. 14)

Herb has had the most visible accomplishments lately as his line of fence posts grows around the hill behind our house--the future Home Pasture.  But I've been busy, too, and today I actually have something to show for it!

Last week or so, I hauled the old bedding from last year's chicks off to the compost heap--not too much work since I could gather up the tarps and drag them out through the door.  Then I mopped all the surfaces with strong bleach water.  So this is what I started with today.

First, I laid a new 8' x 12' tarp on the floor and weighted it down.  Then I set up the brooder box with its handy re-purposed metal top.  Next I restrung the extension cords so they would work right for the lights we're still using in the two coops in the evening, as well as providing two outlets for the brooder lights in the brooder house.  Then I hauled the bale of shavings in there, and spread them out.  I took all the feeders and waterers to the house and bleached them clean, then filled the waterers and brought them back here.  All that's left to do is make some cardboard walls to confine the little ducklings and chicks in their respective places while they're tiny.  We're ready for the ducklings to arrive on Wednesday!

After that, I broke out the instructions for our new solar fence charger, which I had put up on a south-facing post four days ago to fully charge.  Herb helped me measure the placement for the 3 ground rods (not very visible in this picture) and hammered them in for me.  I did the rest:  Attached the ground wire from the charger to each ground rod; pushed the fence posts into the ground; strung the wire; attached the handles back at the beginning of my wire; and turned on the charger.  Then Herb held the gate open while I led Angel in to see if it was working.  I led her up close to the wire while keeping hold of her lead rope in case she tried to run away when she got shocked.  Suddenly she gave a leap back--and went back to grazing.  It was as easy as that!

After Angel's reasonable reaction, I felt safe bringing Brandy in.  I introduced her to the wire, saw that she wouldn't freak out when she got shocked, and then I turned them loose.  While we went about our evening chores, the horses enjoyed a meal of nice, long stocked grass.

I was beat, but boy, did I feel a sense of accomplishment after this day's work!