Wednesday 11 July 2012

The Farm is Expanding!!


Well, I certainly didn't think I'd say THAT this summer, and definitely not in the way it has.  My "plan " was to get my wooly sheep next year for sure, and bees shortly after that.  Hmm. Life doesn't always work out how you plan, does it?  I casually said to the family the other day, how I'd love to have geese again.  Our friend's parents, who live on a farm in Saskatchewan, raise African Geese, and we were chatting with them about possibly bringing out either some eggs for us to hatch, or some new goslings next time they came through town.

It wasn't even 5 hours later when we got a message that our neighbor wanted to speak with us.  "Oh No." We thought.  We already know he doesn't like our noisy rooster, Jagger.  We thought he was calling to complain or something.

Nothing like that at all.

Turns out, he has a friend who was looking for a home for some of his birds.  Story goes, that this guy's neighbor decided to put up a dog run right up next to his fence where he has kept several hundred (yes, HUNDRED) breeding turkeys and their families.  Long sad story short, turkeys stress very easily.  Poor guy came home to over 300 dead adult and baby turkeys.  He was absolutely heartbroken.  So rather than risk losing the rest of them, he put out the word.  And Our Neighbor suggested Us!  Unbelievable!  We thought he frowned upon our critters, but he says he knew we would be a great home for these birds.  Oh, wow.  Never underestimate someone, people.  You never know when they might surprise you.

So our new additions were delivered Sunday morning, after a 5 hour truck ride in the heat.  Yes, can you believe it??  He was so anxious to see them in a new, safe home that he delivered them, free of charge.  He just wanted to be sure his birds were going to be well cared for.

So, introductions:
There's Waldo, king pin of the turkeys.
Yes, as in "Where's Waldo", because, if you clap 2 or 3 times, he'll "gobble gobble" no matter where he is and you'll find him, and probably most of his ladies too.

Violet



Violet with her 3 babes...


Chuckie the mama duck with 3 4-week old ducklings


Jordie (big white guy), Lucy (pretty brown/white goose) ...

There are a few more, (okay, several) without names yet.

So, in total, there are 6 adults Royal Palm Turkeys, 20 poults (baby turkeys), 2 chinese geese and 6 ducks.  Whew.  They are used to free-ranging and take pretty good care of themselves.  We've set them up in the backyard, which was quite lonely and desolate up until Sunday and we will eventually build them a winter shelter.  As they've been wintered in 100 Mile House, they are used to much harsher winters than we get here.  So, we are sitting a lot, watching a lot and learning a lot about these new arrivals.  And loving every moment.


2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new flock! They're beautiful birds. Amazing the generosity in the farming community. We aren't yet on our farm and I was already offered chickens this morning.

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