They're pretty!

Whatcha got growing in your greenhouse? ;)

Wow, those are some good pictures, Ken. We have wild turkeys on our place, but I don't think I could get good pictures of them like you did. They did come up and try to eat the lettuce I had growing in a container on my front deck back in better weather, but when my dog came to the window to see what we were watching, the turkeys took off.

We had wild Turkeys for awhile... at least until the Bobcats took them one by one.

Those are really nice pictures. The birds look very healthy. Maybe they'll stick around. When the males put on their show you can post some more photos. ;-)

Please, please, please forgive me for this comment! Salt & Pepper anyone?? Sorry, but I have only had wild turkey once and I remember the flavour well - I loved it.

DL

Beautiful!

I'm alergic to domestic turkey, but not the wild ones. Lots of turkeys around here, but I can't pull my bow anymore.

Ken,

Do you harvest any?

Great pictures!!

jt

Last year, there were only six hens. This year 13. Didn't see a single male. I feed the regular small wild birds, but this was unexpected. They aren't very afraid either. Once I shot the photos, I went into the greenhouse where I keep all my 50 pound bags of bird seed now, and grabbed a big bucket full to toss out to them. They moved slowly and they didn't seem threatened. Once I put out the seeds at the end of the narrow walkway, some came back to look for their favorite seeds. The seeds are a mix of millet, sunflower, and other favorites, and even some cracked corn. When I first looked out, they were out by the next door neighbors green shed (in the background right). They do fly, and have big wings They jumped the fence and started to look for anything good to eat in my now bare garden. At the present time, I can't grow anyting in the greenhouse as its just too expensive to heat and its way too cold. The late afternoon was overcast and nearly sundown when I shot these picures. I use a program similar to Photoshop to correct the initial blue color of the snow. Thats one way to get truer color if you have white (snow) in a photo and it looks off color. Around here there isn't a whole lot of woods. The mounded wall of dirt behind my property has some three story million dollar homes that are barely visable, and a half mile away is a highway in one direction, and very little woods in the other direction. I think that last years six turkeys had doubled, as some of this years were much smaller in size than others. Not sure how wild turkey tastes, but some people have remarked its not very good eating. The temps yesterday were almost in the 40's, so these guys were looking for something to eat.

> Last year, there were only six hens. This year 13. Didn't see a single male.

Perhaps some of the young hens were actually "jakes"?

Possible, but aren't the males a bit more colorful with bigger tail feathers? I bet next year the amount of wild turkeys here will double again. Maybe someday they will allow a bit of hunting?

They are actually pretty creatures, I usually don't find turkeys very pretty, LOL. I've seen a few wild turkeys around but more pheasant. They troll the corn fields trying to find a bit and since they all look quite fat, I guess they are eating good. Lori

I saw your post early on the herb forum, Ken. I thought that you should feed them sage, thyme, parsley, & corn. That way you won't have to season them come Thanksgiving! LOL!

Love the Pics

We've eaten wild turkey and they are good. The meat is reddish. Most of the turkey is a throw away and only the breast has enough meat to be worth the time. They don't have the huge breasts or legs turkeys breed for market.

Loved those photos, Ken!
Sometimes the ducks from the pond in the cemetery across the street come marching over to visit our yard, but those turkeys are magnificient creatures!

Z

Yes, I do have a pair of mallard duks that come by here. My dad would put a bird bath out on the patio and fill it with water and drop some bread in there. They ducks would hop in and squat down while pecking at the soggy bread.

Booberry, Yey, thats what I call a 'preseasoned' turkey, perfect for roasting! I sent a friend of mine a photo too, and he called to ask me to save him a drumstick.

I sure miss having enough land to keep some birds. The coons would probably get them all anyways.

When my dau was a toddler we bought ducklings at the place below and to her delight they would follow her around. We had some white geese that would keep the strawberry patch weeded.

Ken,

I would like to know more about your orchard bee colony. Pictures?

jt

Here is a link that might be useful: McMurray Hatchery

Te orchard mason bee is bought and sold in paper tubes about 6 inches long. I have three different sized nesting places for them. One is a 4x4 inch wood block with 5/16 inch holes drilled into it. The other two are round containers packed with the 6 inch cardboard tubes. The tubes have thin plastic liners and these usually get replaced once they have been used. Its obvious when looking at the holes, if bees have a nest, as the holes are plugged up with mud (hence the 'mason' term). Last summer, after they nested again, I removed and replaced the tubes that appeared to have been used and had residue of mud at the openings. Suggest you type in 'orchard mason bee' as a search on the internet. You will find many links for the nesting boxes and Knox is the supplier for the bees. These bees are more common on the east coast and there is a similar type for the west coast. My bees for this year, are in my fridge in the cardboard tubes, and will be put outside when its a bit warmer. They come back to life at about 50 degree day temps.

> My bees for this year, are in my fridge in the cardboard tubes, and will be put outside when its a bit warmer.

Just what I wanted to know! They would be very happy spending the winter with my giant mealworms and fermenting veggies in the 45° fridge I expect.

Actually, the reason they are no in the fridge is because they just arrived two days ago from Knox. I already had a small colony and wanted to expand it. My bee houses are outside all the time and are facing south. One is on a pole and the other is attached to the side of my shed, just above that blue tarp, and to the left in the first picture. Next month, I will place these tubes into the nesting box out there already. The bees in the fridge are in hibernation right now, but will wake up once day temps reach 50 degrees or higher. They only last about a month and then go back and lay eggs in the tubes, along with filling them with food for the hatching bees. They seal up the openings once they are filled. The bees dig through the mud opening after hatching and will do their work.

Ken, if you have a few wild turkeys now, trust me, your state will soon allow turkey hunting.

We have a zillion of the blasted things, Dad had 52 of them at his birdfeeder last week. They are everywhere and seem like they will soon outnumber our white tail deer, which are the current scourge of the state. I even hit a turkey with my Jeep, he left a nice dent over my windshield. A decade ago we didn't have any at all, they started with some "plants" and now they are everywhere! They're very adaptable and quite tolerant to weather conditions and habitat, their population grows by leaps and bounds.

Annie

Yes, the population more than doubled in one year in this small flock. I don't think my area will ever allow hunting these, as its just to well populated. I'm only 15 miles from Boston, and the nearest woods of any amount is across the road from my house. Breakheart reservation is only about 15 acres at most, and there used to be a few deer there, but in the last couple of years there has not been any damages in my garden. About 3 years ago, a car hit and killed a deer which landed on my next door neighbors driveway.

One lone hen turkey is out back since 8 am this morning. Its sitting under an evergreen tree to protect it from rain. Seems quite comfortable as the mailman even came by and dropped off the mail only 8 feet from it. I think the rest of the flock are somewhere else around here. This one hen has plenty of bird food to eat and water to drink from my heated birdbath. The rest should come by soon, or is she lost?

The hen turkey has still been nearby my back door its more than two days now. She seems to like to squat next to my greenhouse and I was ony 2 feet from her today while flling the bird feeders. She was not afraid. She seems to like the thin branches of the blueberry bushes above her. Maybe she will stay around and raise a family here?

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This is currently "mating" season in our area of the country for turkeys Ksrogers.

The hen very well may be looking for a place to make her nest.

This is why during the spring turkey season where I am (which is the month of May) you are not allowed to harvest hens - only Toms, as the Hens are nesting / raising little ones.

She was gone most of the morning today, but returned this afternoon. I put out more bird seeds. Se lets me come just a couple of feet from her, and isnt afraid. Need to get some of their favorite food. No nest yet, she just squats down on the leaves and has the greenhouse on one side and the blueberry bushes above her for a little protection. Has chosen that same spot for 3 days now. VT just released a lot of wild turkeys a few weeks ago, said a worker from Cabot cheese who was visiting here.

Great pic's. We have lots and lots of turkeys in this area too but here on our property I have only seen on female. There is a housing development about 15 miles from here and they are so thick ...I mean like hundreds of the critters and such a messy nuisance....

That big bird flew up on the top of my glass greenhouse this evening. I guess its quite safe up there as not many other preditory animals can get to her by attempting to climb glass panes.

We don't see many wild turkeys here in the Sacramento Valley like there are up in the foothills, but we do have lots of quail and pheasant. This is the time of year that they mate and set up housekeeping in their nests. The Quail like to nest in our burn pile to be safe from the local red fox and neighborhood cats. Last year, our local quail family hatched out about 25 chicks. By summer's end, they were down to only eight. We keep our 3 cats indoors all of the time (the fox can really rip up a cat) but there are about 6 cats that live near that are let outside. We see Mr. Pheasant strutting around our field and yard calling to the ladies. The hens like to nest in the long grass in the fields. We don't see them much but we can sometimes hear them calling or walking about looking for seeds early in the morning.

The turkey didn't return there today. I was temped to go out and get some cracked corn and oats, but decided to wait a bit longer. It may be that she is planning the family elsewhere and just got the free food with nothing one bothering her. If all goes well, she might get her babies to come by, but by that time, I may not even have bird seeds put outside anymore. I usually take down the feeders the end of May when bugs are active. Saw a pheasant many years ago, but they have sinced moved on due to less woods and more houses.

The hen turkey has been coming back every day to feed and preen. She seems to enjoy being next to my greenhouse where she sees her reflection in the glass. She stays around a few hours and then its off to her roosting night spot. Not sure if he has been making a nest yet, but with her activity here, she doesn't seem to be caring much about nest building. Wish I knew where she hides.

Turkeys love love sunflower seed hearts, Ken. I have a pair of Bourbon Reds. The female is nesting right now and she is very busy sitting. They are lots of fun to have around. The sounds of baby turkeys is really a soothing sound to me. Cant wait till they hatch, they take 28 days to come out of the shell.

ML

Have not seen 'mom' for several days now. Suspect that she is elsewhere in a safer location up in a tree and working on nest building. A few weeks now, we hear coyotes howling outside at night. Went out and bought a bag of 'critter' food which is gray stripe sunflower, and whole corn kernals. I know that she has no fear of people nearby. Was only 2-3 feet from her when I was photographing and putting down some seeds.

Dear Ken,
As things change, they stay the same. Thanks for this years photos of your wild turkeys. For those that might look upon turkeys with some distain, we have none in So. Calif. and it is really neat to see Ken's photos. Jim

The hens (both of them now) have left the area to nest someplace, I think. The last time there was an appearance was last week Tuesday, and the two hens were a bit pushy towards each other when eating the bird seeds. They do like a nice bird bath set low so they can stand and drink. I have a heated one that was being filled every couple of days, as it drys out fast. Yesterday it was 93 degrees, today its only in the low 50's.

Yesterday there were te two hen turkeys out back. One took a nice dust bath in my very dry garden soil. I put out some bird seeds for them as they waited nearby. They were here for a few hours picking and preening too. I guess they are not laying eggs nearby, maybe the tom never got to them yet. I've not seen any toms at all. The seeds and bird bath get taken away the end of May. Birds are already heading elsewhere for food, as feeders are not emptying as fast as they used to.

Was out in the back yard this afternoon spraying my trees and heard the familar call of the hen turkey nearby. She was in the next door neighbors back yard and had brought her family with her. Seven cute, very young turkeys followed her everwhere she went. They must only be a few days old The babies were staying close to mom and she was squatting down with all of them under her breast. Only problem was, she decided it was a nice place to stay, but the neighbors dog uses that same area when he is outside. I lured her to the fence with some black oil sunflower seeds and let her and the babies out of the yard through the gate. She still knows me and was not a bit afraid.

Wow, I envy you! Thank you for sharing this experience - I look forward to the next installment. :-)

Wish I had my camera with me. The babies were peeping all the time mom was eating sunflower seeds. I expected her to feed her young, as they were not interested in that kind of food yet. I hope she brings them around again as I would love a photo of the babies to post here.

Oh that is TOO COOL! We're feeding the deer around here and hardly ever do we get to see turkeys! I have seen them one time on our place. Maybe one day we'll get to feed them as well! We sure do enjoy feeding the deer and watching them! They're coming in around 2-3 a.m. in the mornings now.

How cool. Since so much of wildlife has so little space anymore, it is great that we can help them along a bit. Hope to see pics.

This has been a highly unusual and interesting thread. I'm glad it has gone on for this long. It's great that the brood of little turkeys has been successful. We have been hoping for that.

Thanks, Ken.

Jim

After seeing 20+ of them feeding two years ago, I figured the population will increase quite a bit. Every hen finds an area where she is safe and will raise her young seperate from her sisters. It was almost as if she came by with the babies to show them off. She let out her familar call when she first saw me out back. This morning the bird seeds I put out last night were totally gone.