Turkey blog-Tatiana’s Epic Love Story-Puberty

Tatiana continued to follow me incessantly any time I went outside. I suggested that she rethink things and that I am actually an apex predator. I thought the ducks could be better companions for her. Perhaps she would like the ducks better if they used power tools. I have a cordless drill and Tatiana is fascinated by it. She has no fear of the sound it makes and gets right in there and pecks at my screws and pecks at the drill.

I was having a hard time getting anything done so I thought perhaps I should be a little scarier. I tried a few different things and ended up with the intro to “Hooked on a feeling” the song that starts off with “Ooga Chaka, ooga ooga, etc” I had recently watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” again and it was stuck in my head.

So when she got too far up in my business I would chant Ooga Chaka and puff my arms out and spin around and chase her away. It worked at first and she would leave me alone for a moment.

One of the things that differentiates “Heritage” turkeys from the double breasted commercial variety is their ability to reproduce naturally. Commercial turkeys are not able to reproduce without artificial insemination. I have plenty of thoughts about the commercial turkey industry but will save that for a day when I’m feeling overly elated and need a good dose of depression to cool down with.

Natural breeding still has its pitfalls and sometimes hens can get injured. A good breeding hen will do a behavior called “ getting down”. She will lay down on the ground in a stable position so the Tom can mate her without falling off. Not all hens will do this. It is a desired trait.

Perhaps my Ooga chaka-ing inspired Tatiana to display this behavior towards me. I will never know. Something made her decide that I would be an appropriate mate for her. She drove me crazy helping with projects but now it was really a situation! The minute I came outside she would run or fly from wherever she was to be near me. She chirped and pecked at me for attention. Any time I tried to walk anywhere she ran in front of me and “got down”. When I went inside my house she sat outside my gate and cried until I came back out. My dog would bark at her by the gate and she completely ignored him. He’s a big scary dog when someone is at the gate. He gave up barking at her. He was like, “So Rowan, there’s a sexy lady turkey outside for you, what should I tell her?”

Tell her that she’s very pretty and some more turkeys are coming to live with her in the spring who will grow up to be good companions and an appropriate mate for her. My dog just looked at me like…do you really think that’s going to work ?