I have struggled with putting my words together for this post. However, I do believe that it is important to share this … to show that homesteading is not full of good times only. Homesteading is physically hard work. It can also be emotionally hard.
In dealing with this, my emotions have been all over the place.
Sad
Death is sad. Yes, even with animals that you are raising for meat.
Frustrated
What could I have done differently?
Anxious
I financially invested in these turkeys and their food, shelter and fencing.
Let me start at the beginning. In April, we purchased (from a hatchery) a male and female turkey, both one day old. Within 24 hours they were dead! What happened?!?!? Sad, yet determined to not give up, we searched, found, and purchased another male and female turkey, this time from a feed store two hours away.
We set them up in a brooder and they thrived. They quickly outgrew the brooder and successfully moved to their outside home that Handy Hubby constructed for them. Mr. and Mrs. Turkey were happy together. Both were growing and seemed healthy. They were always side by side.
A few days after I posted Part 2 of Raising Turkeys, Mrs. died. When my daughter went to feed them that afternoon, she saw her…in the turkey house…dead. I am not sure what happened to her, but I am guessing it was from the heat (it was a very hot day). What was odd though, is that Mrs. wouldn’t go in the turkey house by herself. Every night we had to pick her up and put her in the coop. Mr. would then go in by himself. How did she get inside the coop? Why didn’t she go out? Did she hurt herself? No blood or anything out of the ordinary was visible. Hubby properly buried Mrs. Turkey and we tried to move on, but…
What happened next was a nightmare! Mr. was noticeably, and understandably upset. After all, he was grieving. He paced and gobbled/whistled constantly. His face and neck turned red, a sign of anger and/or stress. Then he quickly turned aggressive. He wouldn’t go inside the turkey house at night. He wouldn’t let us near him. We put some lavender inside his house, hoping the calming scent would help him to relax. We put a basketball in the fenced area, hoping he would take his aggressions out on it. Our efforts were not working. He then tried to fly/lunge toward my daughters and me. It got to the point where I approached the area with a broom (to protect myself in needed) while feeding and watering him. Then I wouldn’t go near him at all. I was scared of him! The only one he didn’t try to attack was Hubby.
As hard as it was to watch him mourn for Mrs. Turkey, I also mourned. I mourned for the peaceful life of watching and tending to my pleasant turkeys. After a few weeks, Mr. Turkey calmed down. I am able to go into his area without a broom, although I am still cautious of him.
So what helped him?
I truly believe what helped Mr. Turkey is his new friend…a new animal to LL Farm…a three month old cow. They seem to communicate with each other. (In the picture above, the cow seems to have her head tilted to show that she is listening to the turkey.)
Sometimes I see them lying next to each other, sometimes standing together.
It goes to prove that having friend can help you through the tough times in life.
To see more of our homesteading adventures, check out my blog at LL Farm.
11 Comments
Awww….. that’s so sad, but so sweet. Poor Mr. Turkey.
xo
I bought 10 White Cochins for the first time in the spring. (usually get buffs). They are beautiful birds. I went out one AM and 2 of them were dead in the chicken house. I felt like crying! Their heads and necks seemed to be wet with saliva. What happened? no blood at all. possums? Asked at the feed store and they didn’t know either. So sad to lose hens or whatever you’re raising.
I feel for you as the first chickens I had were nearly wiped out 20+, by red-tail hawks. they still fly overhead and get one now and then but that is nature if you go with free range. We had one named snickers as they were all candy bar names based on plumage. Snickers was in the yard and a hawk swooped in on him and I could not get there in time and he was dead and partly devoured. I left him out there and waited until next day same time when I legally peppered the hawks ass with light shot when he returned to eat again. Never came back for 2 years. Got ducks and chickens killed them. Hope your turkey survives the calfs departure some day. Maybe keeping one of each for the buddy system is worth the cost. Buy a 6 month old hen.
Okay this is to ?? Cute-Sad… I never comment but this is the saddest and cutest story ever HONESTLY a great kids farm book.. I get your sadness, we got 6 chicks and now were down to only two. I got so upset I had raised them and a Raccoon got into our window of the coop 3 different times no matter how we fixed it. One ran off to the hills LOL We finally got it fixed right!! GOOD LUCK and give Mr. Turkey my condolences
I understand that turkeys the same as chickens, being a flock animal, need others of their kind. I have seen advice for setting up laying hens, to always have several, as they will not thrive. I think your turkey having lost the only other member of his flock was very lost and upset.
I had a bronze turkey for over 10 years. lived with the chickens and was very friendly, never left the unfenced yard. sad when he went but try chickens with him.
We found 6 of our chickens dead, over a week. The culprit was a black rat snake. Could that be what killed your .Mrs turkey?
I wonder if that’s why Mrs didn’t want to go into the shelter by herself, if a snake was there.
I also believe that the cow helped the turkey with the loss of Mrs. Turkey, great story glad you told it. Ellen from Georgia
It’s amazing how critters can make an impression on us that will stay forever. My husband and I grew up with dogs… never chickens. However when we bought a house a few years ago that had a coop, my husband decided to get chickens in the spring. I said no… but the battle was lost before it began. We picked up 6 day old chicks that were to supply us with eggs, that I (unfortunately) fell in love with and gave them names. One turned out to be a “surprise” child, that grew into a handsome rooster and one was accident prone that spent 3 1/2 of her 4 years in the house with us living in a pak and play and laying eggs as she should. Over the course of three years, we lost 4 of the girls due to natural causes that we placed in hand made boxes and burried on the the slope facing the coop We took in two rescue chickens to keep BB our rooster company and all seemed to be fine for awhile. We then lost our little one who had lived in the house with us while I held her and talked to her and told her I knew she had to leave… It had been hard with the other girls, but Bridgitte was special. A year later we lost BB and it was just as hard. He was a character that when he was on duty, you stayed away, but when the girls were all being looked after, he would let us hold and snuggle him and you could feel the stress he had go away. We now have the 2 rescued hens along with a rescue rooster that as much as I say will not have the same effect on us as the others did that arrived when a day old, is hard for even us to believe. They “do” have their own personalities and will forever be part of our lives…. past, present and in the future with memories of not only the eggs they gave us, but the unconditional love, laughter they brought into our lives….
Friends can help so much. Sorry for your loss.