Turkeys enjoying the nice weather

Everyday as I come and go, the turkeys call out to me, "gobble, gobble, gobble." Let's just say, I'm not the farmer in the dell, so I usually just go about my business during the cold days. My hubby is a USDA certified poultry broker, not me. The turkeys were fun last summer and fall, when they were small and had free range of the back yard under our watchful eyes. You could pet them and hold them. Sometimes they would fly up and sit with join me and a cat on a lazy summer day. Now they are much too big for that.

Since it got up to 62 degrees today, I took time to visit and photograph our free range turkeys after work today. They love the attention and are very friendly. We have eighteen out of the original twenty that we got last summer, when they were newly hatched. The turkeys are spoiled, and not one got butchered. The hens will be laying soon, and hatching their eggs.

This is our first attempt at breeding turkeys. Year before last we raised about 75 free range turkeys only to have them processed at the Central Illinois Poultry Processing Plant in Arthur, Illinois. We sold them all to the local organic store and direct to customers.

We also raise free range chickens. We cannot keep up with the demand for farm fresh eggs! All the chickens on hand now are probably safe from the butcher. Once Spring arrives we will raise white rock chickens again, as we have for the last few years having about 50 at a time three times a year. They are raised specifically for meat and sold to the local country club, organic store and direct to the public. Hi-ho the dairy-o, the farmer in the dell!