Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Is it a Chirkey then?

My hen turkeys couldn't wait for Trevor to arrive so they made do with sitting on some chicken eggs. I left them to have a go. After helping with this morning's pheasant hatch (3,900 chicks), I came home to find one more chick had hatched - a Buff Orpington chick - and turkey hen was the new mom.


They seem to understand each other's peeps and chirruping noises. The chick is robust enough, and mom seems careful not to tread on it. If the chick is well-mothered and survives, chalk another one up for interspecies bonding.

I have a second turkey hen sat on four eggs -


Well, technically, she's sat on a blind chicken that's sat on four eggs but the 'Mom Sandwich' (pat pending) is keeping the eggs warm and the hens happy, so again I'll let it play out. Nature always knows better than me.
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9 comments:

  1. BilboWaggins23 June 2013 at 00:35

    Aw, bless ...

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  2. Tamar@StarvingofftheLand23 June 2013 at 05:58

    We had the reverse -- a Buff Orpington hen who hatched a turkey. It worked, but only just. I hope it works better your way!

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    1. Jennifer Montero23 June 2013 at 07:15

      I remember that! It's definitely less Godzilla-esque your way around.

      These turkeys are hypermaternal; turkey mom keeps pulling the small white ceramic food and water dishes under her, along with the chick. I think maybe she thinks they're eggs.

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  3. alke24 June 2013 at 10:13

    I would say, it's a tucken ;-)

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    1. Jennifer Montero25 June 2013 at 10:00

      Alke - I think you're probably right as I've heard the three bird roast called a turkduckin. We're just missing the duck part (don't tell my husband or there will be one in the garden faster than I can boil a kettle!). Think that can be the little chicks name. Tucken.

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  4. Seester24 June 2013 at 20:55

    If you could squeeze a piglet between that turkey and that blind chicken, you could name the baby chick Double-Down
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Down_(sandwich)
    Would the baby chick imprint on a pig?
    How about on two types of cheese?

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    1. Jennifer Montero25 June 2013 at 10:07

      Seester - Is it wrong that I think the double down looks really tasty? I stopped reading at 'nutritional analysis' so as not to ruin the moment.

      Oh yeah, chicks will imprint on absolutely anything, including a pig. Cheese? I don't know about inanimate objects. Though in 'Fly Away Home' geese imprinted on a small airplane. Of course, that flew so seemed animate. Maybe if I put a fake cheese made of wire next to a cheese with a terrycloth covering...wait I've drifted off into monkey experiments again....

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  5. Unknown25 June 2013 at 07:41

    Darling Husband won't allow me to keep chickens so I have to make do w the neighbor's. Stewpot (rooster) greets me each day and Cogburn (confused or drunk rooster, IDK which) greets me each evening. So apparently I have fowl friends, just not on property. I hope you enjoy the chicks Jenn. I'm sending envy from the sub-arctic

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    1. Jennifer Montero25 June 2013 at 10:08

      Janice - Offer to keep meat chickens. A 12 week turnaround crop, so it's only chickens for 3 months of the year. How can he argue with a compromise like that?!

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