Good Morning! I hope you had a great weekend! We spent our Saturday continuing to clean up the mess from tree removal and getting the garden ready for spring. I can feel the effects of my increased outdoor work already….ahh exercise does feel good (and a little bad).
We also got some new birds. After our guineas were annihilated last fall by the neighbor dogs, we have taken our time with replacing them. Still novice bird keepers we learned a lot from our neighbor at Berlin Farms, Jennifer Cermak who sold us our new turkeys.
image by by the distracted hausfrau
We are starting out with Royal Palm Turkeys. They are so much sweeter than the guineas…no crazy screaming and spastic behavior. These beautiful birds are calm, friendly and so amazing to look at. They are also an endangered species and buy buying them and keeping them on our developing farm we are helping to preserve the species. Did you know that there are a lot of endangered farm animals? Yes, with big agriculture, lots of heritage breeds of all sort of animals are seriously in danger of extinction without the concerted effort of people like Jennifer and others who keep back yard animals. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is working to save over 150 breeds of livestock and I have to say I am quite proud to be part of the movement.
The other reason we are starting with turkeys is because, according to Jennifer (our sage bird advisor), they will help to keep away the weasels and fisher cats as their size is off putting. Since our two coops are adjacent to each other this will help to protect our future chickens (that we are in the process of picking out and which will arrive next month). So can I introduce you? Christmas (to be hereafter referred to as Chrissy), Thanksgiving (to be referred to as Tank) and Roxy are our new beautiful black and white bird friends who will turn ticks in our garden and kitchen scraps into beautiful breakfast eggs. We are so excited!
Oh my gosh! These birds are beautiful. They look like they are dressed up in some fabulous designer gowns. Good for you in doing a little something to help save these birds.
I know – I have wandered outside already 3 times to look at them (and it is pouring rain)…when Tank puffs his feathers out and does that awesome turkey thing, he is absolutely magnificent….his markings are painterly and shockingly precise. They are amazing. Oh — and we were graced with our very first egg this morning…we were absurdly excited…my daughter and I split it for breakfast….can’t wait for another one!!
Do they eat ticks? I’ve an online friend who doesn’t want the noise of guinea hens, but is looking for a tick-eater? Do you know?
Not sure yet….because we haven’t let them out to wander yet….but I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t…I am hoping they will eat ticks too…