You may recall that I wrote a few weeks back about our turkey troubles, in terms of the birds flying right out of the portable yard we had set up for them. We thought perhaps the turkeys were going to cooperate with being free-range birds, and in terms of sticking around our property, they absolutely did that when we were letting them out during the day.
They seemed to be anxious to keep their house “in range” at all times, although they wouldn’t go back inside on their own, they wanted to be able to see it. So they weren’t straying far and it was great seeing how well they forage! They found shady shelter under the pine tree circle in the backyard when it was really hot out, and they enjoyed climbing the dirt hill back by the barn.
The problems arose when we were trying to get them to go inside at night. They wouldn’t. They decided that they wanted to roost next to the chicken coop, and that was that. The problem with doing that is, of course, they are out in the open and vulnerable to predators, of which there are many in our area: raccoons, possums, skunks, coyotes, and dogs that sometimes get loose from the neighbors. So we were herding them back into their coop using our ATV quad, and it worked great for the first few days. But then, one night last week, they decided to OCCUPY THE CHICKEN COOP. Well, not inside of it, mind you, but around it, and they weren’t leaving. So, try as we might persuade them with a few sharp revs of the ATV engine – they wouldn’t budge. We had to carry them one by one back up the hill to their own coop. Their non-violent sit-in protest took a turn at that point, and they did their best to inflict as much damage on us as possible. So there we were, trying to carry turkeys one by one in the dark up the hill, and keep those who we had placed into the coop contained as we opened the door to add more.
It took nearly an hour to gather up the turkeys, and we both got quite scratched up during the process – so much that we are both likely going to have permanent scarring.
We’ve taken to calling these turkeys “jerkeys” at times, after all of the trouble they’ve put us through! The one consolation is that they are going to be delicious. Right now they are in their portable coop being moved around on a daily basis to a new “salad bar,” but they are not allowed to run rampant all over the property. This is still a recognized pastured poultry method – we’re doing the best we can, under the circumstances.
We made the decision that evening that we will not raise turkeys after this year. It is simply not worth all of the time, effort, and money we have put into them so far, and we’re not even halfway through raising them. If we did raise any, we will raise a couple simply for ourselves. This has been a hard and expensive lesson. That’s the reality of farming sometimes. We think it’s important to share the range of experiences we have here, so that customers can better understand what goes into raising their food, and those who might be thinking about starting a small farm can get an idea of what to expect. Fellow farmers can read something like this and have a feeling of “Yep. Been there, done that!” and know that they aren’t alone. And it gives me an outlet to vent. Win-win all around, if you ask me! 🙂
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