morning all! well....another eventful couple of weeks....
i had a pen with 4 turkeys. 2 toms-both 2 years old. coexisted peacefully since hatch. and 2 hens. all 4 actually 2 years old and coexisted peacefully since hatch. no squabbling, no flying out......i get home from work last tuesday and the one tom has subjected the other to an EPIC beating. like just epic....he has been separated now since that evening, on antibiotics, polysporin bathing daily to make sure the damage to his head and snood don't get infected, had to hand feed because his face was so swelled up from the beating that he couldn't open his eyes, just massive scabs everywhere....aspirin for the swelling and pain....last night he was finally feeling better and actually roosted on the stall wall. and this morning he was exploring the barn again! i can't put him back with his own "flock" now, so i gave him the younger royal palms that are growing out and about 4 months old now, for his own flock. so far so good. but wow. i have a feeling i'll be processing turkeys for the freezer soon. they've been posted up for sale for months....and no takers (well, lots of people want them for christmas dinner but i'm not paying 15$/turkey for processing!!!!) so we'll put them in our freezer. i'm going to keep the red palms and royal palms a breeding quad or trio of each. otherwise everyone else goes. sometime. argh! birds.
And i'd been wrestling with hens eating eggs, so i threw the "culprits" out to the outside coop where they free range hoping they'd lose interest. well, i'm getting 5 eggs a day from 5 hens out there. rooster was lonely because i took away his girls, so i threw him in with a pen of grow out pullets. and guess who IMMEDIATELY started breaking eggs? The stupid rooster was the one breaking the eggs all along! argh! he's my only barred rock boy...so he will also be finding himself freezer camped soon i think.
@Jaye i need a recipe for pickled eggs from you

i think the pickled quail eggs were yours this summer. OMG good!
can't believe how close christmas is now! trying to finish up the last of the christmas shopping....argh! ironically with canada post striking we have had better and more consistent mail delivery than ever! ha ha.