As you can see, She’s left her laptop unattended again. It was easy enough to swipe her camera, since She hasn’t been using it lately, but getting these guys to sit still was another matter. They don’t like it much when the sprinklers come on, so they’ll wait until the timer goes off. Only then will Mom and the chicks come up, run their wild turkey toes through the wet grass, and check out the bird feed that just happens to be waiting for them.
As best I can tell, they live in the trees at the bottom of the hill. This tells me that they are environmentally sensitive and support a carbon-neutral platform. They recycle: whatever they eat goes straight back to nature as fertilizer, and the rest of us have to watch where we step. When it gets hot they sometimes hang out in the shade of the solar panels on the hillside. They’re very smart because the coyotes who yip outside the coop at night haven’t managed to eat them yet.
This gang doesn’t have much use for the mainstream media. They are the strong and silent type, and all of them are camera-shy. The hens are strong on defense because, when we go outside, they don’t back down from a fight. This may be construed as an anti-chicken bias, but I think this is actually a healthy form of competition. I don’t mind a good scrap—I give as good as I get. Nobody gets hurt, and there’s plenty of food for everybody.
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Joan Walsh
Kerry Lauerman
Monique Hollis-Perry
Scruffus
angrymom
MelonCamp
Salon.com
Comments
"With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . .
"I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on." --- Benjamin Franklin
Your turkeys should be the national birds.
Thanks for sharing.
I hope that, as they get used to seeing a chicken with a camera, the Wild Bunch will at least let me get a portrait or two.
Thank you for the quote. It made Tom's and George's day. They're still strutting.
xo
Voting was strictly along gender lines: hens laughed their asses off. Roosters (Top Gun and Psycho) were less amused. We tried to explain the punchline (rooster falling over), particularly in light of their favorite tactic of tag-teaming us but it didn't help. Turkeys wisely staying out of this debate.
She saw the clip and laughed so hard she damn near cried. Which means she needed it.
We all thank you. I told her to rate it.
this link to a story about menacing wild turkeys in Boston. Fierce creatures! But, then, so are some of us chickens.
Turkeys can indeed be fierce! They peck, scratch, and poop in larger piles than any self-respecting chicken. My husband was attacked by a wild tom who managed to scratch through a sweatshirt. He has a pretty good scar from that encounter. Our wild bunch is a smart group, having eluded the local coyotes (so far).