The Call Again Farm Journal

Yesterday evening, the turkey hens flew over the pasture fence into the woods.I felt bad for Big Guy, my tom, who weighs so much that flying seems painful for him, was staring through the fence, worrying about his hens’ safety.I went to herd the girls back into the pasture, and they went willing to the section of the fence through which they generally get back into the pasture.Some of them flew over fence, but two of them tried to squeeze under it.Since they have a habit of doing this, earlier that day I had put along bricks along the bottom of the fence where they usually squeeze through.Were those hens ever bewildered!One of the hens finally remembered that she could fly over, but my oldest hen, Blue, continued pacing back and forth along that section of the fence, trying to force herself through.Kindly, I picked her up with the intention of helping her over.Then I thought about how little time I’ve spent with her in the few months, so I instead brought her over to a bench in the yard and held her.She was such a good turkey!Right after I sat down, she settled right down in my lap.Occasionally, she’d let out a small sound to the rest of her flock, but it was more of a “Come over here and be with me!” call than a “I’m in danger!” call.I petted her for five minutes or so.The most magical part was when she turned and looked me right in the eye, and held my gaze for a few minutes.Recently, I finished reading Jane Goodall’s book, Through A Window, and I thought of something she said close to the beginning of the book.“Often I have gazed into a chimpanzee’s eyes and wondered what was going on behind them.”I often wonder that about the turkeys, and I did especially in that moment, looking into Blue’s.

Blue is a wonderful turkey, my favorite among the whole flock, my pet.She is the only surviving member of my original flock of heritage turkeys, with all the others having become meals for people and predators.She, more than any other turkey, has unlocked the world of turkeys to me and given me a love of them.She was the first one to allow me to pet her.She is the tamest, and does not mind being held.She is the alarm bird, who cries out to her flock when there is danger or when there is anyone approaching.She’s also a troublemaker.When the turkeys are outside of the pasture fence, they were most likely led astray by Blue.Back when we had our first heritage turkeys back in 2006, there were three hens that hung out together caused mischief.We called them “The Gang of Three” because it was around the time of “The Gang of Fourteen” on Capital Hill.Their names were Blue (of course), the Bourbon Red hen named French Hen, and a Black Spanish hen that we called Spanish Dancer or Miss Chief (depending on how annoyed we were at the trouble she caused).

After a little longer, Blue started to get restless with sitting on my lap, so I carried her back to the pasture.She perched on my arm for a little bit before flying down to join the rest of her flock. 

In other news, Rosie is broody!She’s been acting like she wants to incubate eggs, sitting on her nest every night in the raspberry bushes when it’s time to come in.Last night, I caught her and brought her into a nesting box in the barn*, and Bob gave her some fake eggs.She ignored the eggs, though, and crouched in the nesting box, looking very scared.I left her confined in it overnight.This morning when I went out to do the morning chores, I checked on her with little hope.I was in for a happy surprise.She was sitting down with the fake eggs nestled below her.I brought out the real eggs, and she gently pushed them under her body with her beak in a way only broodies do.I was thrilled!If all goes well, her eggs will hatch on May 10^th.In the mean time, we’re going to have to avoid the barn as much as possible, because she gets freaked out every time she hears footsteps and hisses at the intruder.She needs to feel like her nest site is safe, otherwise she’ll abandon the nesting box and the eggs.

*I was so busy with her I didn't have time to blog last night.  Sorry!  This entry was supposed to go up yesterday, so check back here later today to hear about Easter at Call Again Farm.