I can’t beat Michael and Marisa’s recent disaster but all of my disasters here, and here, here, and here, and here combined dwarf their’s, particularly since many of mine involve loss of life. I had five turkeys that were well on their way to the Thanksgiving table. They were free range in the yard and they seemed to stick close by so we didn’t worry about them very much. But one morning just one of them showed up for feeding so I got a little concerned. I sent the kids around the neighborhood asking if anyone had seen four renegade white turkeys roaming around (We see wild turkeys all the time). No one had seen them so I got very apprehensive. Our single turkey stuck very close to the house acting lonesome.
One afternoon I went out onto the deck of our house and looked over our pasture. In the middle of the pasture I saw a white blotch. I hadn’t noticed it from ground level because the grass was tall. My heart sank. I walked down into the pasture to a pile of feathers. OH! NO! It was not just one pile of feathers but feathers strewn all over the 4 acre pasture. How could one fox get four turkeys and spread out those feathers so strategically? Our turkeys were all gone.
No one felt the lose more than the remaining turkey. He turned to us for companionship. I was building the veranda on the front of the house at the time and he would stay right by me and brush up against me as I walked around sawing and nailing boards. He kept going up to the glass storm door. I thought he actually wanted to go inside the house but then I realized he was looking at his reflection in the glass. I felt so bad for him. It was the first time I got really attached to a bird so it was tough when Thanksgiving rolled around. The whole episode made us particularly thankful at our Thanksgiving feast.
My coworkers from Turkey (yes, the country) admire my turkey in front of the almost competed veranda.
Full grown.
He was a big one!
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
7 comments:
It's never a pleasant thing to find any of your animals like that...even when we raise livestock for the table, they are given a good life. But, predators are always out there ready to pounce; so many in the attack had to be disheartening. But, the one turkey left did provide nicely for your family. Much better than going to the grocery store to buy the "anonymous" turkey with the anonymous lifestyle before processing.
I hope we can soon get to the point of processing our own chickens, etc. It takes bravery!
Lana
We lost a small flock of chickens a few years ago and I still haven't had the heart to try again. I would like to have some turkeys though. We have raised our own beef, so a couple of turkeys would round out the freezer :)
I would think it odd, too. Perhaps it was more than one fox.
It looks like you had a wonderful meal from the one you had left. What a blessing.
Will you raise more this year?
4 at one time is a big loss. I haven't lost any animals to a predator yet and I very thankful and observant. The neighbor's dog got one of her lambs and she is still upset.
Hi, my name is Anne and I came over from Farm Life Lessons. I have small hobby farm and I know how hard it can be to lose the animals under your care, so my sympathies for your losses. I'm getting ready to branch into meat animals for the first time and I'm trying to gather the courage I need from reading the experiences of others who have btdt! Look forward to exploring your blog some more.
Love for you to hop over to mine sometime to say hi!
http://bringingboryahome.blogspot.com
Terrible loss. I live in an area that is the closest thing to the country you can get in Salt Lake County Utah. Really we live in the city, just around folks that have horses, cows and chickens. Even here in the "city" we still have to worry about predators. We have to protect our little chicken flock from foxes, raccoons and skunks along with the neighborhood dogs. I guess that is the price we have to pay to raise our own animals.
Sad! A few months ago we had our first predator experience. I heard what sound like a baby screaming/crying outside. The ladies were calling for help! Feathers everywhere, two boston terriers had dug under our suburban fence and were in the process of eating our easter egger as she was pinned beneath them. Sickening.
After throwing the dogs up and over the fence back to where they belong, and tending the hens, the 3 that were attacked are now starting to lay again and you'd never know anything happened. I am thankful we got lucky.
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