So, it is Spring time here at Farm Narnia! (Finally – really, who ever heard of 48 degree highs with nasty drizzle in May in Missouri?) We’ve been very bad bloggers, but it has been a busy time for us – lots of potential clients coming out to tour the property for weddings, wedding season has started up and our usual shenanigans have all combined to make for bloggers who fail to blog.
So, City Chick is grabbing a few minutes tonight to give the people who (might) be still holding out hope that we haven’t abandoned this blog altogether and hoping for some new installments. She hopes that all will be forgiven if she promises to start getting a few quick stories and pictures posted every couple of days.
So, last weekend we were enjoying some (FINALLY!) fine weather, sitting under the trees at the picnic table. This is one of our congregating spots to eat as we can accommodate about 10 people on this bench without smooshing together too much. Subway was being enjoyed by the Kuhs Crew as was the sunshine. The chickens were swarming, begging for treats. Kind people shared some bread in small little pieces and divided it amongst the masses. Those looking for a laugh would throw down a big chunk and watch as chicken after chicken would run and drop the chunk without time to eat it before the next chicken snagged it and took off an attempted to eat it. It is always good for a chuckle.
Now, as City Chick has observed, it is Spring time here at Farm Narnia. That means some of the critters are a little, shall we say, feistier right now than they are the rest of the year. Chickens are no exception to this rule and some of the hens are exhibiting “Rooster Rash” from the constant attentions of the boys. One rooster in particular, a Jersey Giant Splash, is particularly diligent in knocking off the other roosters (as he TOWERS over the other birds) but never seems to get much himself, was having a heck of a time regulating all the “action” going on near us. We laughed about it until we saw the turkeys . . .
A healthy turkey tom weighs in at about 40 pounds. The hens come in at about 30. These are not clever birds, generally speaking, however instincts usually steer them right and they manage to find enough food, water and generally keep out of trouble. We have several hens and a couple of toms and none of them seemed to ever do much. The toms strut about and “drum” quite a bit at each other, but that’s always seemed to be the extent of the action – none of the turkey eggs we’ve tried to incubate have ever actually developed, so we just figured they weren’t getting fertilized for whatever reason. They are not, as stated previously, particularly clever birds.
We have one turkey hen who is a lovely cross of some sort – she is white with beige and gold feathers – really, if she didn’t have that turkey head she’d be lovely enough to be a peahen. We see her . . . with a tom on top of her. Attempting to do the deed. Now . . . please picture this poor hen, with about 125% of her own body weight on her back. Because Mr. Tom Turkey apparently can’t figure out how to line it up and actually “do it”. Now – if these were the domesticated giant breasted white turkeys, this would be understandable – they are some genetically modified that they can’t reproduce naturally due to the size of the breast on the birds – it interferes with the action. However, these are heritage breed turkeys that haven’t been particularly modified. In fact, the tom in question rather looks like a very handsome wild turkey. But there he is, looking like he is giving this poor hen some strange version of a barefoot back massage and she’s just smashed to the ground and starting to pant in alarm. We laugh. There may or may not have been a few inappropriate jokes made. We keep waiting for the conclusion – the ducks and chickens are usually pretty quick about their business. And it goes on. And on. And on. He’s getting rather red in the face and she’s looking quite alarmed.
Farm Girl finally sends Terrific Twin A and Kuhs Cowboy to rescue the hen. She gratefully scuttles off to find her hen friends. Mr. Tom Turkey looks distinctly embarrassed in front of his buddies and quickly puffs up and begins to make his drum noise. He might not have managed to impress this hen, but there is always next time.
Kuhs Farm 