Twenty-five little Bourbon Red poults arrived today. The breeder brought them from Roseburg to Cave Junction. Milan picked them up at the Chevron this morning.
Of course, the first and most important point about raising any kind of animal is to BE PREPARED. How many people have you watched get puppies, kitties or even horses because they they thought they were "cute" and would "be fun", without having the slightest concept of how to care for and train them? Easter bunnies are probably the worst (seriously: how many actually go to educated owners that will really care for them well?), although getting a horse without any education in horse husbandry is potentially a lot more dangerous for the unprepared-to-deal-with-a-large-animal-that-can-kill-you-as-the-result-of-poor-training owner. I've seen that first hand, too.
Well, enough of the rant. It's just that a big part of our farming ethos is to give all animals that sojourn here the best life possible. They die to feed us, but while they live, we want them to live well. When they die, we want to administer a quick, as-humane-as-we-can-make-it death. We nurse the sick ones and give special treatment to poults/chicks that look a little weak or stressed. We mourn over every one that, despite us doing all that we know how for it, gives up its tiny life before its time.
So, to be prepared for the turkeys arrival, we spent the weekend doing the "trailer shuffle". We brought the turkey trailer out of its winter mothballs, parked it in the yard where we can check on the little fuzz balls several times a day, cleaned it out and set it up for the new arrivals.
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| The turkey trailer, an old stock trailer we converted to be a safe big-bird house on wheels. |
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Inside, we set up a refrigerator box with dry shavings, a heat lamp, a generous watering can (with another radiant heater hanging off it), turkey starter feed (28% protein!), and a few little perches, or as Milan called them, "turkey jungle gyms". The poults will live here for the first few weeks.
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| A refrigerator box is a good first home for 25 Bourbon Red turkey poults. |
And here come the poults!
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| The poults arrived in 2 boxes. The boxes had 1" diameter holes punched up both sides for ventilation. |
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| Filling the food tray. Milan has it set up on a rack so the birds don't get as much dirt into their food. |
Milan dunked every one's little beak into the water and made sure they drank before letting them go in the box.
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| Jack, now 3 years old, watched intently as we placed the poults in their new home. |
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| Bourbon Red and Narragansett poults at a couple days old, checking out their new digs at Sojourn Farms. |
We are raising Bourbon Reds, but we took orders for others in the area that wanted to raise their own turkeys. They requested Narragansetts so we have a few of them, too. They are the darker poults you see in the photo.
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| It's great to be able to teach Jack about animals! |
So far, so good! The whole rafter (that's the turkey word for "flock", I found out!) looks to be in good shape. Let us know if you want one for Thanksgiving!
