Turkeys' first day out

Last Saturday we opened up the turkey coop and let them come out so they could wander around a bit. The had a wonderful day outside. The chickens seem very accepting of the turkeys, as well.

Everyone got along and the chickens had the turkey food. Seriously, the chickens loved having access to the turkey's high protein feed. They weren't shy about it either. Now, as soon as the chickens are let out, they make a beeline to the turkey coop and barge on in.

Saturday night, when my son went to go tuck the big girls in, he couldn't find the turkeys.  Mild panic happened, until we realized that the turkeys followed the chickens into the big coop for the night. This was surprising to me.  I thought it would be a while before the turkeys felt really comfortable with the chickens.

The next day, after letting everyone out, everyone started working through the pecking order again.  One of the wynadotte's tried to start a fight with one of the turkeys, and it earned her a turkey wing slap down.  Wow, is about all I can say.  I heard that wing come down with a crack. The wynadotte was still holding her ground, but the turkey earned her respect.

Now everyone is coexisting peacefully.  The turkeys are still following the ladies back into the coop for the night.  Most every morning we carry the turkeys back to their own coop, so they have access to their food and waterers with deeper troughs on them.

However, last night we corralled the turkeys into their coop for the night and they started crying.  After I made sure they had enough to eat for the night, I opened their coop and let them back out.  The stared up at me like, "What now?" I said "Go to the big big coop" and walked away. They followed me, walking like gangly puppies, over to the big coop, up the stairs, and into the big coop. They were happy as could be and settled in for the night. Silly birds! You could almost hear the "Oh boy! Oh boy!"

The months that flew by ... And now we are in to June

Where did April go?  Oh, that's right, I was busy baby chick wrangling.

April is this sort of haze of baby chicks, incubator alarms going off, turkey calls, and tending to all sorts of chicken-related chores.

We've hatched out quite a few baby chicks in April, and was able to see them off to their new owners. All "totes adorbs" and sassy in their own little way.

And now May is one-third done with. We are almost halfway done with June. Where is the time going?

Since May started we've experienced some really nice weather days. However, since I last posted an entry, we've experienced more cold, windy, rainy days than should be legal. The wood stove is still running in the evenings.  Sometimes we get it going in the morning. Depends on the temperature inside the house. Yes, that's right.  In *June* we are running the woodstove.

So, a chicken and turkey update. ...

Well, the turkey's have grown significantly, and are out in the open air coop.  They are happy to be outside but are eager to start spreading their wings, so to speak.  We are thinking that this weekend we will let them venture out on their own for a bit.  We will need to keep the big ladies in their coop for a while.  They know each other's smell but I'm not quite ready for a face-to-face meeting.

Believe it or not, the fat babies grew up and had a fabulous life.  They are already in their permanent home in the freezer.

They were processed last week. Thirty birds in two batches. We are happy to have it taken care of so soon in the season.  Sounds like we are ahead of everyone else too.  One person we were speaking with said her birds were nowhere near ready to be harvested.

We still have a mess of chicks.  They are going on two months of age now, and loving life out in the little coop. Bit by bit, they are all going to their new homes.  And that's okay.

My son is all done with school for the year. It's amazing how fast the school year went.  He was sad to see the year end.  However he is greatly looking forward to Y camp, and being a middleschooler next year. I'm still wrapping my mind around him being in middle school.

I've been doing a little bit of knitting.  Bits and pieces, here and there.  For a while I was cranking out a few dishcloths. Then I made a couple bookmarks.

Currently I'm working on a vanilla sock using this yarn. The sock is my purse knitting.  I've been knitting it a few rounds a day.

 

I have about an inch and a half more to go before I can place the scrap yarn for the afterthought heel.

The Pamuya Shawl. Cascade heritage yarn.  It's deep stash yarn and I have long since lost the ball bands.  I'm cranking along slowly.  This is my second attempt at the pattern.  I need to be focused when I work on it.

 

A mood scarf. A different color for each day, for the month of June.  I need to take a picture from today.  This photo is a few days old.

On the garden front, I *finally* got the garden in this past weekend.  Then the next day we had hard rain and I'm not sure if my seeds washed away. I should know within the  next week if the seeds stayed or not.

No reading has been happening, sorry to say. I haven't been in the mood, which is odd, because we have had so many rainy days.

Now that summer is in full swing things are going to be busy, busy around the homestead. I'm enjoying the little bit of down time before the garden starts sprouting (fingers crossed) and all the other things that will be occupying my time. Thanks to some "found" free time, I've written my first blog entry in a few months, I won't be quite so hesitant about writing again and trying to think of ALL that stuff that's been going on.  Now would be a time to mention my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook social media, I think.  I post photos a lot more frequently than I blog, lately. I didn't mean to, it just happened. The buttons to my other social media is on the right side of the blog.

Well, I guess that's the jist of the last couple months. :-) Let's get in touch again, sooner than later, okay?