Our Turkey Family

In July the show began!

A wild turkey hen and her six poults started grazing our lawn. She was very alert and protective when they were so small. This little flock was well traveled - regularly making the circuit between our acreage and those of our neighbors, all about half a mile apart.

As the summer progressed, our poults grew into jakes and jennys. And one of their number disappeared. Did our big, local fox get it?

At a certain point, their father started tagging along. Now mother had a bigger job - keeping him from picking on the young ones. She was aggressive!

When their offspring were big enough, the hen no longer worried about protecting them.

But they still run as a flock. There is rarely a day where we don't see this parade at least once. And some days we see them nearly every time we glance outdoors - in all different directions!

No, that is not road-kill! But in September we noticed the number dropped by one more. A week later I found it out beyond our shed. Since it hadn't been eaten by whatever killed it, we are guessing it was the weakest of the flock and had been picked off by its own family. Sad...

It was great having these free tick-eaters given to us the very summer that Dad had his first bull's eye rashes and was being treated for acute Lyme disease. Now our turkey family is eating well from the crab tree and grape arbor.