In 2012, we raised two turkeys. It was not planned, at the Railway feed store and they had a mess of baby turkeys they were trying to sell. They really wanted to sell them. They looked like they needed rescuing so we took two. As instructed, I 'talked' to them, on the way home, 'peep!', 'peep!', 'peep!' I fell in love with them immediately.
I named them Click and Clack after the Tappet Brothers' Good News Garage show out of Cambridge Massachusetts.
They were a breed meant to raise for meat. So they were only able to live that one spring/summer/fall. 'Meat birds' don't survive too well past that time frame, they just aren't genetically up for it, they grow too fast and eventually their legs can't support their bodies.
So they had the best lives they possibly could have. I took them out for walks, or just let them hang out with us in the yard. They liked the dogs. They made a sweet little gobble sound, and puttered around real slow, sometimes bursting into a little run with their wings flopping back and forth.
This was my first time raising birds other than chickens. They were so sweet, and well-behaved. They were very content. I loved them. In the back of my mind I knew they would have to be slaughtered, and then eaten. I gave them the best life, and grappled with this paradox, I loved these birds that we were eventually to eat.
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| The Great Turkey Nebula Imagination Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles |
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