Turkey blog-Tatiana’s Epic Love Story-Misha

We found a suitable boyfriend for Tatiana on Craigslist. We named him Misha. I imagined their first meeting to be like them running to each other through a field of flowers and embracing in the middle. Then of course, they live out their long lives in love and bliss. That’s still the plan. Everyone hold that vision for Tatiana and Misha.

I was so excited to bring him home. I carried him down the hill to Tatiana and opened the door to his travel cage. She eagerly ran up to the cage to see the new arrival. I brought my iPad down to film their first meeting for posterity. He came out of the cage and they checked each other out. Then she attacked him. She pecked the sh&/#! out of his head and I had to remove her from the space.

We kept him in an outdoor enclosure separate from the pasture for the first several days so he could orient to his new life and get to know the rest of the mixed flock through the fence. We brought Tatiana in every day for short supervised visits. She continued to peck him and eventually he pecked her back, but in a subdued way. He is much bigger than her and could really hurt her if he wanted to. Mostly he submitted to her and she stopped. It was good strategy on his part.

He is a very calm and gentle bird. He provides a good balance for Tatiana whom I would describe as neither calm nor gentle.