Adorable Poults!

Here are my new turkeys, my first personal animal project here at the ranch! Not only is there a fantastic market for turkeys, but they are supposed to be exceptionally personable and much smarter than chickens (not saying much!). Since I get to keep some of the females to start a small breeding flock, I get to name them and get attached - Yay! In this pic you can see the six bourbon red poults, and the one (darker) bourbon red/royal palm cross. They are so cute, but very skittish for now. My mom claims that they are rather ugly, but she clearly doesn't have good taste in baby poultry! One of the smallest of the burbon reds was mysteriously dead several mornings ago, but all the rest are doing great! In fact, one of the youngest ones is so full of energy and mischief that I've had to chase her around the farm twice. She snuck out a crack in the wall into the goat stall and made her escape, ending up in the hay barn the first adventure and over by the hen house the second. Not sure where she was headed or what she was searching for (maybe mom?), but she appeared to be strolling around and peeping rather aimlessly. She led me on quite a chase, showing off her swimming skills and getting me muddy half way up the thighs.

Here are the two new-borns (new-hatches?). In this pic they're two days old. I've named them Clarice and Fava, though I can't tell them apart yet! I like how the one up front is looking over her shoulder all pin-up style :) They're much more gawky than the chicks and less heart-meltingly cute, but have a great deal of character. They were so exhausted when I pulled them out of their box after their ride from Grand Junction but not sure about their surroundings and actually fell asleep standing up! Neither seemed overly steady to begin with, but pretty soon their heads started drooping until their beaks were resting on the straw. Their little butts were up in the air, swaying and twitching while they fought with their heavy eyelids. Ridiculous looking! Finally, one after the other they lost the battle and their knees gave way, plunking them onto their bellies for a good sleep.

It was a great weekend showing my new home off to my parents and getting a lot of wonderful food out of the bargain! I thought I had eaten enough in those two brunches and two dinners to last me the week, but I was so hungry today I had two lunches! I'm cooking up spagetti squash from last year's garden and an old laying hen who was no longer laying eggs and pecking holes in everyone else's - what a nasty old bird! Eight hours in the crock pot made her pretty fantastic though! Much more flavorful than the cornish crosses. I've got two more old hens in the "prison" cage in the hen house for suspected egg eating. They haven't laid any eggs in the three days they've been in there, so that's also cause for culling them I suppose. I'll have to get out my broom and scalding pot tomorrow!

I just looked over because I heard Cecil smacking his lips, apparently in the middle of a very vivid dream. He's all curled up in a ball with his eyes rolling around and his face twitching like crazy! Must be tired from wrestling that big vole he brought me this morning! You'd think I'd be saturated with animal care out here, but I still desperately miss sharing life with a dog, especially this dog. Her death seemed so irrationally early and pointless, but if she was still here I wouldn't be at Rock Bottom and would perhaps be headed in a very different direction. If there's a plan behind all this stuff, I hope there's also a chance she'll be back to share in another chapter of my life.