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The "Turkey Trailer" will allow for easy movement
of the turkeys to new ground as it can be pulled behind our
pickup truck. Here it's shown where it was constructed
(in our driveway) before it was relocated to the garden,
where the turkeys will forage on part of the land, while the
chickens forage in a different area of the garden over winter.
In early 2017, they moved to their "permanent" pastures up
on the hill next to the chickens. |
After having a clowder of rambunctious farm cats to keep us on our toes, and two flocks of heritage breed chickens - Plymouth Barred Rocks and Delawares - what could be the harm in adding some more animals? (Aside from the lack of time and energy we already had, the additional space they would take up, and the increasing feed bill of course.) For us, the next logical step was to get pigs (which we still don't have... baby steps); however, an offer came that we were unable to refuse when my in-laws didn't have a place to keep their two turkeys over winter.
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| Settling into their new home. |
So, in the Fall of 2016, we managed to construct a "Turkey Trailer" for the breeding pair of Bourbon Red Turkeys, who came to their new home at our place around four months of age. Like the other poultry around here, these turkeys are also a heritage breed, originating from Bourbon County, Kentucky in the late nineteenth century. Used as a commercial breed through the 1930s and 1940s, the Bourbon Red Turkey was replaced in the commercial market by broad breasted varieties. Although, not our first choice for a breed if we would have purchased them ourselves, they were our second choice of breed, and we're happy to have them make their new home with us. In the Summer of 2017, they gave us our first hatch.
Check out the below blog posts to keep up-to-date on what's going on with our Bourbon Red Turkeys. Also, make sure to visit
The American Haggard Housewife on Facebook for our day-to-day happenings.
