After a while of seeking the perfect mate for Pecky Becky with no luck, I decided to place a classified ad on her behalf looking for a gentle turkey hen to be her forever companion. I was thrilled to get a response from Farmer John who had a few sweetgrass hens in the mood for love. Sweetgrass are a smaller sized breed of heritage turkey, just like Pecky Becky who is a Royal Palm. They are apparently very good egg layers in the spring and are super friendly birds. Sweetgrass turkeys are very resilient and cold hardy. They also do very well free ranging. This all sounded perfect and so we headed out to bring home the newest member of our farm family. We are very pleased to introduce "Miss Augusta" (aka Gus) to Gael Glen Farm.
Gus fell in straight away with our flock of ducks. They all enjoyed rooting around in the mud and muck.
Initially Pecky Becky was not sure what to make of Gus. They kept their distance and watched each other from afar.
After a few hours, though, Gus started following Pecky Becky around like her shadow. Even better, Gus followed Pecky Becky right into the coop at bed time making our evening chores a breeze. It seems, so far, like a match made in poultry heaven. I did make sure to clip Miss Augusta's wings before introducing her to our flock in the sincere hope of avoiding having her meet the same fate as Pecky Becky's last turkey BFF.
And so, I think it might be safe for the boys and I to add "poultry matchmaker" to our list of abilities. I really hope having a new "special friend" sparks joy in Pecky Becky's little turkey soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment