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Barnyard Buddies:  Can anyone help me with Mildred McGobbleSticks?  |
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farmmommy
True Blue Farmgirl
500 Posts
Kelley
Texas
USA
500 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 7:32:14 PM
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| We have a pet turkey, she is a black spanish and we're pretty sure she was hatched last spring...we don't know for sure..as a matter of fact, the only thing we know for sure is that she flew into the back of my husbands truck while he was out camping in the woods, tried eating grass out of his hands, refused to get out of the back of the truck, and rode 10 miles home at 65 miles per hour down a highway!!! True story, I promise. That was in Sept 2008 and she has been our faithful, loyal, spoiled and hilarious companion ever since!! Now, here is the thing (we have never had turkeys before, so she is kind of a mystery to us) we recently moved, and she really loves her new home. We allow her to go where she wants and do as she wants, she even comes in the house from time to time, but not too often(that would be messy!!) Last week she started sticking very close to the kids, which is not unusual, she loves them...but I mean VERY close, to the point where she was letting our 2 yo pet her...now That is unusual....she will follow us around all day long, eat out of our hands, get in our laps, run with the 4 wheeler, but petting has always been off limits!! ?? !! So imagine my surprise when I walk outside yesterday to find our 2 yo son wagging her aound like a baby!!!! I thought she was sick, but aparently not, I picked her up, carried her up to the front porch, set her on her roost, talked to her for a minute...and then when I walked off, she followed, just like there was nothing wrong...My husband and I are wondering if her wierd behavior isn't maybe because of her new yard mates that she had never met before we moved...Speckles and Fred, a hen and rooster. Now, she has always loved humans, especially the kids, but since the chickens got here, we have never seen her stick SO close to the kids!!!!! Yet she hasn't even come close to being aggressive! So it's very weird to us....Now, even though Fred is a chicken, is there some way she could be acting hormonal...or is this behavior just a way of saying that the kids are hers??? We just don't know, and since this is our first experience with a turkey for a pet, we really don't know how they act. She has also been scratching up places in the yard, laying down in them and fluffing the leaves back up around her, almost like she is getting ready to lay.....we just don't know....if anyone that has any experience with turkeys could offer some advice, it would be MUCH appriciated!!!! Thanks...Kelley |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 8:07:08 PM
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This sounds like the precursor to the mating behavior that Barbra Kingsolver describes that her turkeys went through in Animal Vegetable Miracle. What a funny bird! I hope she sticks around for a long long time!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
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farmmommy
True Blue Farmgirl
500 Posts
Kelley
Texas
USA
500 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 8:27:38 PM
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| Hey Alee, even though the book is on my wish list, i haven't read it, I'll have to check it out...We kinda feel like she may be getting that "mating" feeling, we just find it so odd that she has actually been letting us pick her up and carry her,and pet her, where, a I said before, she has always been super social (sits on the arm of my rocking chair in the mornings with me while I drink coffee) (tries to load up in the car with us when we go to town)but she has always let us know that "petting" was off limits. So, she has definatley changed since Fred came home, we were just wondering why.....Kelley |
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homesteaderbelle
True Blue Farmgirl
391 Posts
Belle
USA
391 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 10:47:41 PM
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A few years ago,I had a hen that started to make nests, lay eggs in the nest, and sit on them. Whenever someone would try to take her eggs she pecked at that person. She kept acting this way for a long time even after we took her eggs. The strage thing about her behavior was that I didn't own a rooster. She was just a broody hen. So, I called a friend who had lots of rooster and hens and and asked her for some of her eggs. I put the eggs and the broody hen in a pen with a nest and she sat on those eggs until they hatched. It was the fist time that chickens hatched on my farm that were not hatched by an incubator.
Out of a dozen eggs, only three hatched and one lived. The one who lived was a rooster. We let the chick with the other chickens too soon and they picked on him, so he ended up dying.
Maybe your Turkey is like that broody hen I had. Maybe she wants to be a mother. Do you know anyone near you that has turkeys? Maybe you could get some turkey eggs for her to hatch.
By the way, the story of how you found this turkey (or how she found you) is funny!
Belle
http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/
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Laura Marie
True Blue Farmgirl
419 Posts
Laura
Rancho Cordova
California
USA
419 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 11:41:12 PM
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I don't have a turkey, did have one as a child, but never have I heard of a turkey being so personable. I would say you could make a childrens story out of it. Please keep us up to date on your turkey and let us know how she is doing. She sounds like a doll. People who don't have pets don't know what they are missing out on.
Farm Girl Hugs!
Laura Marie #369
www.lauramariedesign.com
"It's not the size of the farm but the size of your heart!" |
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hipmamato4
True Blue Farmgirl
51 Posts
danielle
wernersville
pa
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2009 : 06:35:23 AM
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I agree. You MUST make this into a children's story! Too funny!
Homebirthing, home-schooling mama to 4 awesome kids, living an idyllic country life in Pennsylvania |
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katie-ell
True Blue Farmgirl
1818 Posts
Katie
Illinois
1818 Posts |
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farmmommy
True Blue Farmgirl
500 Posts
Kelley
Texas
USA
500 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2009 : 07:23:12 AM
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| Ya'll are so sweet, and we really are beginning to think that this looks alot like mommy behavior. If ya'll think the stuff I've written so far is funny, just wait....Ya'll won't believe the stuff she does....Her first day at our house was so exciting, she was just so personable that we couldn't believe it, and we just knew that she had been hand raised. The first couple of hours that day, we stayed outside with her, feeding her cheerios and rice chex out of our hands and what not. She could have cared less about our 2 labs when we let them outside to inspect her...and then, when the excitement died dowm a little, and we went back inside (dogs, too) she threw a screaming fit!) literally!! So my hubby went back outside and she was happy, and quit screaming....So then followed the "step in, step out" test with the door. She would literally throw a fit he minute we would step inside the door, and then stop the minute we stepped back out! So, needless to say, it didn't take her very long to figure out that if she came aound to our back french doors, that she could see us in the kitchen, living and dining rooms...so that made her happy, and that also became her #1 spot! Our black lab, who is a very laid back, sweet, old male soon became her Mommy....she went everywhere he did, even sunbathed for hours on end with him out in the front yard! Then there was the time I came out of my laundry room and into the living room to find my 3 year old daughter feeding the turkey homemade mac and cheese at the table...True story!! I even grabbed the phone to take a pic, but then didn't save it....duh! But, it's not like she hasn't given us plenty more photo opps! She even climbs trees with my hubby and kids! She plays in the waterhose! which makes it very comical and interesting to water plants or spray down house rugs...And she would walk 1,000 miles with us...there isn't a step that we take that she isn't right with us. I just had to giggle and get that "warm, fuzzy" feeling the other day, when I stepped out on the front porch to drink some tea and take an unpacking break...I looked up when I heard the sound of my daughters voice laughing and guess what I saw??? My family coming out of the woods in a single file line, Daddy, Emily, Black lab, Choc lab, basset hound, turkey, and Flicka the cat. Almost my whole "family" coming home from a walk through the pines! it was just great!! But, then again, I'm cheezy like that! LOL Anyhow, I'd love to tell ya'll all the hilarious things that have happened since Mildred McGobbleSticks has come to be part of our family, but I don't think there is enough room....lol maybe I should write a book!!! But, don't worry, I'll keep ya'll posted, and hopefully soon I'll figure out how to add pictures on here...LOL...Kelley |
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yarnmamma
True Blue Farmgirl
4247 Posts
Linda
Clarks Summit
PA
USA
4247 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2009 : 07:31:05 AM
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oh Kelley! you've got to get some pics on here for us!! Alee has a tutorial on how to post pics if you want it.
Linda in Scranton, PA
farmgirl #71
BLESSED ARE THE CRACKED FOR THEY ARE THE ONES WHO LET IN THE LIGHT!
Have a wonderful Farmgirl New Year!! |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2009 : 07:46:54 AM
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I vote for a book, too! Love the stories.
I had turkeys for awhile, too. They are very interesting creatures. There was 1 Tom and he was always very friendly. Never aggressive at all. One day my neighbor came by to see them and that tom got as close to the man as he could and puffed up triple his size and turned the most beautiful colors! His whole head and neck were the most brilliant blues and reds and purples I had ever seen. He did that both times that man came over. We came to the conclusion that he was telling the man that those were his girls and to back off! It was so funny, though.
I just love hearing farm stories.
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. Maori proverb |
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countrygal56
True Blue Farmgirl
221 Posts
Barbara
Dickson
Tennessee
USA
221 Posts |
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Barnyard Buddies: Can anyone help me with Mildred McGobbleSticks? |
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Can anyone help me with Mildred McGobbleSticks?
