We are now the proud owner of Turkeys. You see my hubby had the idea  that it would be good to raise, breed and produce our own Turkeys, I must agree. At least we know they have been treated well prior to consumption. So One day in January hubby goes out and brings back 2 hens and 1 tom, we name them Sydney, Betty and Beryl, these were purchased from the village we live in.

Pictured Sydney and Beryl

Shortly after, Betty and Beryl started laying eggs, we knew to collect the eggs and store them, and to give them back when we had about 20 (so our neighbours kept telling us). At 17 eggs we just couldn't wait anymore and poor old Beryl was ever so broody, so we made her a little home away from the other pair and counted the days.

From day 28 we kept a close watch as we were not sure when the poults (baby Turkey's) would hatch.

In the morning Thursday 23rd April our daughter was doing her rounds and heard tweeting from Beryl's house, upon investigation the poults had started to arrive. I was still trying to learn as much as I could off the internet.

We left the poults with Beryl, however by the time the second and third had arrived, dear old Beryl had stepped on the first and it had died. We decided to take the next 5 that had hatched that day, as we were worried that the same would happen to them, we placed them in a box, we watered them and gave them cooked egg yolk for dinner. During the night, several more eggs had hatched, unfortunately they to had died.

We were left with another 5 eggs that had not hatched; so we waited another 5 days though they never did.

During this time dear old Betty (the other hen) had been producing eggs, so we had been storing these to return to her at a later time.

We lost 2 of the poults we had taken, the other 3 seemed well. They were eating and drinking and would huddle together nicely. At 5 days old we lost another, we were ever so sad, especially as it had been doing so well.

So Beryl has 2 remaining, 1 hen and 1 tom.

The Tom(male, bottom) the hen(female on top) is using him as a pillow,(little does she know he is not a goose or duck) the tom has a slightly deeper colour to him than the female

Romeo at 2 days old                        Juliet at 2 days old

We felt that the safest place for them was in our bedroom, however as I am sharing this with you, my hubby is making a protected house for them, so they will soon be out of our room and we will not have to live in a sauna.

The 2 remaining are now 11 days old and are in excellent shape, it has been a true experience watching the poults grow. They are now trying quite often to jump out of the box, however just can't make it. They love to have a look round and are very nosey. Hubby is making a new home using Perspex so they can see out; this will also house the new poults when they arrive.

I can't wait to give Beryl her poults back, though I am unsure that she will know who they are. Once all the eggs had been removed, we struggled to get Beryl to leave her new home, she just wanted to sit. We have learnt quite a lot recently about Turkeys and their poults, so fingers are crossed that we can save a few more of Betty's poults, the eggs have been with Betty for 6 days now so we will keep watching and hopefully in a few weeks we will have a few more to add to our collection. We will keep you posted.... due around 28th May fingers crossed.

Well last night May 6^th, the poults spent their first night in the hew house that hubby had made. It wasn’t quite finished as we had been invited out and had spent most the day eating, drinking and listening to music with our very good Bulgarian friends, who might I add do not speak English. Not to worry though as we communicate well.

So how was the first night?

Yes they are in their new house, however it is still in our room, so all night the poults, (who we have named Romeo and Juliet) walked around pecking for food quite happily. Romeo had just settled down so I turned the light off in our room. At this point, Juliet caught a glimpse of her reflection and jumped around the house like she was on a trampoline, she was causing such a fracas that Romeo got a bit nervy and joined her. Hubby was asleep and I had lay watching the pair, watching me. Eventually I fell asleep with the noise of the bird’s jumping around growing fainter. When I woke this morning, Romeo and Juliet had snuggled together and you just knew they had been jumping around all night they looked shattered. I went in for another peek at 10:45 am and they are still sleeping, however they did raise their head when they heard my voice.

Juliet is the one closer to the camera and Romeo at the back.

Hubby has decided it’s time to make a bigger area outside where they will be able to grow and raise their own poults; we have decided that Romeo and Juliet will be stock animals and can live out their lives producing their own poults. So they won’t see a plate any time soon….

May 8th

I watched Romeo and Juliette, again watching me. Its so funny, they see their reflection and they are off running around flapping their wings, when they do i whistle to them and it calms them down. Last night they settled much better so much that I thought they had died, they looked like ragdolls all lifeless. I put my hand in the house and up they both popped, to my relief.

Betty is doing well and has settled nicely on the eggs. We go in everyday and lift her off her nest as she will not leave it or her eggs.

Turkey hens have been known to die on the nest rather than leave the eggs to feed.