June 11, 2022

What We Decided To Do With the Abandoned Duck Yard

In my last blog post, I showed you our new duck yard and told you why it was abandoned. In this blog post, I'm going to show you what we decided to do with it. It's going to be the future home of . . .

TURKEYS!

Those are four, 2-week-old Jersey Buff turkey poults. Dan has wanted turkeys ever since we first got chickens, but the conversation never got beyond where to put them. When he was saying building the duck yard was a waste of time, I suggested turkeys. We looked at our choices on craigslist and chose these.

Information on the breed isn't consistent from website to website. Apparently, the modern Buff turkey was developed in the 1940s; the original strain having been neglected to near extinction after it was used to develop the popular Bourbon Red. The original strain of Buff turkeys was accepted into the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection in 1874, but the modern strain isn't recognized. It is recognized by the Livestock Conservancy as a heritage breed, however, being listed on their watch list.

So, what makes it a heritage breed? According to the Livestock Conservancy, a heritage turkey can mate naturally, has a long outdoor productive lifespan, and a slow growth rate. These are exactly the traits that make heritage breeds perfect for homesteading.

Our new poults are still young enough to need a regular light bulb on, to keep warm. Once they finish feathering out, we'll relocate them to a small area in the duck yard turkey yard, and expand is as they grow. Hopefully, we've got at least one male and one female in the lot! Straight run ought to mean 50/50, but in our experience, it usually seems to favor males.

So, at long last, we have turkeys! Rather providential, and very welcome.

© June 2022 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

20 comments:

tpals said...

Awww, I won't tell you how many times I've been tempted to find a female turkey to keep my wild tom company. But we aren't allowed to keep them in town and I can skate by with pointing out he can fly out of the pen any time he wants.

daisy g said...

What a wonderful addition to the homestead! Looking forward to watching them come of age.

Have a great weekend!

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

Congratulations! I used to follow the Heritage breeds when I first got my acreage and I had plans but unfortunately I had a "brick wall" for a husband....he was not an animal lover of any kind....how did I miss that? LOL!
I'll look forward to watching them grow.

Ed said...

I assume they will be a meat source?

Leigh said...

Tpals, I can kind of understand restrictions in towns. Our neighbor (two doors down) has a turkey and we can hear it gobble from two country yards away. In a more populated area it might be pretty annoying! (They also have non-Muscovy ducks which quack a lot. We can hear them too, which our next door neighbor was surprised to learn we had ducks at all).

Daisy, Dan's especially happy. It will be fun to get to know their personalities. :)

Sam, thanks! Aw, it's too bad your husband didn't have all the same interests as you. That sometimes happens! I'm really happy to perpetuate heritage breeds.

Ed, primarily, yes. But they are also supposed to lay really good eggs. We'll see!

Renee Nefe said...

One door closes, another one opens! I hope you get a brooding pair. Or at least a great Thanksgiving dinner. ;)

Leigh said...

Renee, we should at least get that! But a brooding pair is especially important. :)

Cederq said...

Have you plans in place if you have all Toms? Happened one time to me, but roosters... good eating tho. Are they flyers?

Chris said...

Oh Leigh, they are so cute! I like to call baby poultry, fluffy bums, lol. You've had quite the adventure with the ducks though. I was saddened to hear of the one-eyed duck saga. Chickens can be like miniature velociraptors sometimes. But I do think you made the best out of a bad situation, and hope all your new poultry additions will add to the homestead.

Leigh said...

Kevin, if we have all toms we still need to find a hen! I'm guessing Dan will be the one to choose the flock sire; he's the poultry wrangler.

I read that, yes, they are flyers. So that's another thing we'll have to deal with when it happens. If they decide they like the chicken yard best too, oh well. I also read they get along well in mixed poultry yards, so at least that's something.

Chris, yes, sadly, chickens can be vicious. My observation is that it's usually the lowest in the chicken pecking order that becomes meanest with newcomers.

I suppose all we humans can do, in the end, is make the best of it. We certainly can't control animals in terms of their personalities and behavior. At best, it's trying to protect them, even from themselves!

Retired Knitter said...

Well believe it or not - these are the first baby turkey chics I have ever seen. Of course, I am not a farmer of any type. Baby anything always seems to be cute. Looking forward to seeing how they grow.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Leigh - Other than wild turkeys and the "white" domesticated turkeys, I had no idea that other kinds of turkeys existed until I read Storey's book on poultry. My gast was flabbered (flabbergasted) when I read about all of the different varieties of turkeys. I, too, am super excited to see them grow!

(Of note, if you are interested in seeing pictures of Heritage Breeds, I strongly recommend the book "Rare Breeds: Endangered Farm Animals in Photographs" (Dowling and Alderson). It was published in the early 1990's (and therefore, should be cheap as a used book) and is somewhat U.K. focused, but has lovely pictures and descriptions of heritage breeds. More US based, "Links To The Past, Bridge To The Future: Colonial Williamsburg's Animals" discusses how animals (some heritage breeds) were used in Colonial America.)

Jenn Jilks said...

That was a good idea!

Leigh said...

TB, thanks for the book recommendations. I love the history of these things. It's amazing how many old heritage breeds there are for various species.

Jenn, thanks!

Nancy In Boise said...

Congrats!

Henny Penny said...

What a neat idea and what cute little turkeys. Oh Leigh, you and your Dan have the perfect homestead. You've done so much. Congratulations!

Leigh said...

Thanks, Nancy!

Henny, let's just say it's a work in progress. :)

Ed said...

Funny, I wrote that dead serious and I never thought about the possibility of eating turkey eggs. I guess because I have never seen them referred to as edible though I'm sure they are just like any other egg I have eaten, and I've eaten quite a few. Amazing home minds can limit how we think at times by constraining how we view things.

Leigh said...

Ed, very true. For us, it's been a journey of learning how to think differently about things, and I have to say it's been mostly by experience.

I used to read a blog (many years ago) and I remember the gal saying that her kids liked turkey eggs better than chicken eggs. I don't remember much else from her blog, but that stuck with me all of these years.

Nina said...

When I was considering turkeys to go with my chooks, I got warnings about Blackhead disease, so decided against it. I'm glad that isn't an issue in your area. Turkeys are interesting birds for sure. My friend had some and they were hilarious to watch, but the tom was a bit protective.