Thursday, December 6, 2012

Got Turkeys?


Well, I've got turkeys and these crazy birds are driving me nuts today. I brought in my feeder last night only to find it had been emptied. Then today we heard a thunk upstairs and I knew they were back. Again, they picked the feeder clean. There must have been 15 of them out there today. There were some by the feeder, some walking on the railing, some on the deck, a couple on the ground, even a few up on the roof. In other words -- a whole rafter or gang of turkeys -- whatever you want to call them. They're making me cuckoo!

We have a really aggressive squirrel who rules the feeder these days. All this summer she chased away little birds and Stellar's Jays, which are about twice her size. She had no fear and was constantly chasing them down the deck railing, or even hopping off the deck to go after them more viciously. It's a shame she's not as determined to do that with the turkeys. They're eating all her seeds, but I guess they're just too big for her to chase off. I took the feeder down and placed it closer to my bedroom door. So far, the turkeys haven't found it. The squirrel has, and I just saw her nibbling away with a nervous look on her face. She's been such a bully all summer and fall, so she really needs to get tougher with those turkeys.


Speaking of big, fat, stupid birds -- do you have turkey for Christmas dinner, or do you have something like ham or prime rib? When I was a kid, we always had turkey for Thanksgiving, ham at Christmas, and then ham again at Easter. My husband's family always had turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but ham for Easter. It's been an ongoing argument with me and Rick lately. To me, it's just not Christmas without ham. For him, it's the same way without turkey. Normally, I'd put my foot down and get my way, but I think we're going to go with turkey for Christmas dinner. The reason being, we used the dark meat and leftover scraps from our Thanksgiving turkey to make chili. It was delicious! So, I'm kind of leaning towards getting a larger turkey so we can do that again. Rick makes a really good chili, and the turkey was perfect in it.

However, if these wild turkeys keep it up -- they just might end up on someone's platter!

4 comments:

  1. I'm sorry but I love those turkeys. And eat them...now they're like characters in a story. I'd feel guilty. Nope I think I'll be having a ham on Christmas day.

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  2. There's got to be a story here somewhere Rena! I'd put the feeder up higher so they can't reach it. In the winter time the deer eat from ours. I don't think a squirrel could be a match for a turkey. I like turkey and ham. But, either way you can't go wrong.

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  3. Oh goodness -- sorry, Kim! ;) I've never had wild turkey, although a lot of people hunt them around here. Fortunately, that's not allowed in our subdivision. I think the turkeys are well aware of this. I do love having them around. It's just frustrating when they empty the feeder in a few moments flat. I love seeing the little chicks when they're out, too.

    Janet -- I've moved the feeder around so much because of the bears. I've had a lot destroyed by them. I guess I really shouldn't complain about the turkeys and squirrels because all they do is eat the seeds. The bears mangle everything, even bend steel! LOL! I have the feeder rod on my deck railing and it sticks out so the feeder is actually hanging over the deck, over the lawn. I had it the other way around, but then I just had a huge mess on the deck. I take it in at night because of the bears and raccoons. MT Fish & Wildlife says the bears are still active right now, so I've been trying to remember to bring it in before it gets dark.

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  4. Sounds like you have some pesky birds there!

    We to beef for Christmas - usually a roast.

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