Turkey Blog

It’s turkey time again. May is the month I pick up my poults from the market, having put in my order in March. It’s actually meant to be April when they’re ready, but for the last few years the deliveries have been delayed by a few weeks for whatever reason. They’re a little later than usual this year but they’ll grow quickly and be a fine size by the time we introduce them to the freezer.

I’ve ordered nine again – three whites, three blacks and three greys, like last year, as that seemed to be a good combination and has kept us going until this week when the last frozen turkey portion became a pie.

The whites are twice the size of the others.

Here are the whites and greys (bronzes)

I bought two brown chickens too, either for the table if they start crowing, or for laying if they don’t.

The black turkeys are the youngest and smallest

They seem happy enough in their super, duper poultry house. In fact, they look rather lost in it! They were in a state of bewilderment to start with but soon started pottering around and have found the food and water.

Settling in

So once again the stables are full of the strange popping noise that turkeys make and their little whistles. The gobbling won’t start from any males we have for several more months, not till they’re mature.

The chickens are very perky

I still hope to one day get some fancy Ardennes red turkeys since I think they’re splendid birds but these guys will do me nicely for now.

And here’s the smart one of the group – he or she was first to the food bowl!