Isn't he beautiful?! This is a Chocolate Turkey or a Chocolate Tom Turkey! He is very proud of his size and his feathers and he lets all of us know. Old Blue is also very curious and a little friendly. I call him Old Blue because he spends most of his time with his feathers on display and his head is blue.
The turkeys are roaming around the front pasture under the walnut trees. The sheep and the chickens are always wanting to visit, but the turkeys like to keep moving.
The photos are taken in late afternoon, and we still have not had a hard frost on this 24th day of October. That means we are still picking fresh produce in the garden like lemon cucumbers, zucchini, and peppers to name a few. The turkeys would love to get into the garden, but as long as the plants are living and we are harvesting, we will restrict the turkeys to only compost scraps.
The turkeys are eating plenty from the garden like giant sunflower heads, extra large zucchini, an eggplant now and then, wind fallen apples and pears, and of course lots of greens and a scoop of grain.
Turkeys love sunshine and when there is a harsh contrast between light and shadow, the turkeys will stay away from the shadows. They prefer to live out in the open air. We keep their pen fenced all around and over head so they can sleep outside of the barn.
Their natural curiosity led them to me as I was picking up walnuts. They were so interested in the walnuts they were trying to bob for walnuts in the bucket. The turkeys with the white band on the tail feathers and wings are called Bourbon Red Turkeys. I guess if we cross breed these turkeys we will end up with Chocolate Bourbon!
Turkeys will be harvested in about ten days. We will keep at least on e breeding pair to carry on for next year. They sure are fun to watch.
Finally, at the end of the day, there is time to sit back and enjoy the farm from the front porch!
