On Monday, Jenny’s poults will be three weeks old, which is difficult to believe! I swear it seems like they just hatched!
"We're growing fast!" (click any image to enlarge)
This week they’re quickly losing their fluffy chick appearance as their feathers have continued to grow in, most notably their tail and body feathers.
From the front the poults haven't changed much
Looking at the poults from the front, they still look like chicks, but from behind they’re almost feathered in.
From the back, they don't look much like chicks any more!
The biggest change this week though is behavioral.
The poults are now regularly seen launching themselves up on to the top of the old dog house in the pen, or onto the roost.
"Me first!"
Some of the most agile poults can freely fly between the two…look out Jenny!
It's amazing how well they can fly at this age
There are still a few occasional stumbles on landings, but overall, as their wing feathers lengthen, their flying skills are rapidly improving.
"Wheeeeeeeeee"
None of the poults have any fear of heights, and seem enjoy making a game of jump to the roost…
"Move over, here I come!"
and fly back down.
"Look out below!"
Of course, when you have feathers, it’s important to take care of them, and all of the poults seem to be getting their feather-maintenance routines down.
Jenny's actually been finding some time to preen in the sunshine
Preening of course is essential to keeping one’s feathers in shape, and all of the poults spent much more of their time preening this week.
As soon as the sun comes out, the poults start preening
On warm afternoons they’re also seen enjoying a dust bath…
Poults competing in synchronized dust bathing
alternated with a little sunbathing.
After a cold, foggy morning, synchronized sunbathing is popular in the afternoon
Late in the day, as all 16 of the poults settle in for the night under Jenny, it’s becoming very apparent that there’s barely enough of Jenny to go around, as you’ll see at the end of this week’s video.
Yet again, we’ve had a persistent bobcat prowling the perimeter of the pen. After being dragged out of bed at dawn on more than one occasion this last week by Jenny’s alarm call, and screeching poults, we’ve now positioned our portable electric fence around the outside of the turkey pen. It makes it somewhat more challenging for us to get in and out of the pen, but now that Bob can’t easily walk right up to the edge of the pen, he seems to finally be keeping his distance.
"We don't like Bobcats, they're scary!"
I wonder what the poults will be up to next Fowl Friday!?
I never tire of seeing the little ones, but they are growing fast. Are some of them promised to other farmers?
Most are not promised yet. We are looking for homes for more than half of them. We didn’t quite expect Jenny to be so successful! 😉
I love the synchronized dust bathing; too funny!
It was a little odd seeing almost every poult in the pen yesterday afternoon dust bathing at the same time. They seem to sunbathe at the same time, and all want to eat, or sleep, at the time time too! It’s like a watching a big game of ‘Simon Says’ 😛
What a difference. Seems like I was just reading about when her first batch (clutch?) of eggs were broken. They sure are cute and amazing how fast the time has gone already.
Every time I raise chicks I’m always flabbergasted at how fast they grow. Of course, judging by how much they’re eating at the moment, I’m guessing they may double in size by next week 😉
I think I liked the sleeeepy eyelids the best, after the final scene or course.
Where is Jake in all of this? Will you re-introduce him to the group, at some point?
Jake is just on the other side of the fence from the poults. He’s usually standing in the corner looking all puffed up. The poults are still too small to have Jake back in the pen with them, but once they’re large enough not to get stepped on, we’ll reintroduce Jake. The poults will have the advantage that they can fly up out of the way if they need to. Jake doesn’t really fly much anymore.
Clare,
I’m reading poults and thinking chickens, guess it was a long day. These turkeys will be big before you know what happened. Hope old Bob finds another place to hang out.
I think we’ll always have one bobcat or another around here. I don’t mind, and I like seeing them, but when they charge up alongside the pen it usually causes pandemonium. So long as Bob respects the electric fence, everyone seems happy…well, except maybe Bob 😛
The synchronized sunbathing is simply priceless!
They really do seem to enjoy soaking up a few rays of sunshine in the afternoon. Sunbathing though must be hard work, as it usually leads to a round of napping!
Love these turkey updates. What are your plans for them?
We’ll keep a few of the birds, probably no more than six, and find other farms locally for the rest. If we kept them all, we’d have to build another large pen, and that would probably postpone our plans for goats. We’d really like to add some dairy goats soon 😉
They are the cutest things…so happy to see them and Jenny….our robin is back for her third try…animals and nature sure have such tenacity…
Good luck Donna, I hope your robin hatches out a full clutch!
How adorable! I know you’re getting a lot of joy seeing these young ones grow.
It’s fun to enjoy them while they’re small…which didn’t seem to be for very long! I’m just happy they’re all active and healthy, and eating us out of house and home (but that’s a good thing). 🙂
Growing feathers would be itchy I think!
“Oh there’s that bi-ped with her big black boots sitting in our play pen again…”
I think growing feathers are itchy, hence the protracted rounds of preening this week. You noticed I retired the flip flops 😉 Boots have been much more appropriate this week. Growing poults are…well…messy 😛
I am reminded of an old song, about too many children on the bed, they all rolled over and one fell out. Too cute! I love how they climb all over you when you sit in the pen, and I also love that they are all still healthy and strong. Your Fowl Friday posts are a treat that I look forward to.
I was singing that song in my head a few days ago when I was watching a few peeps get pushed off the roost by their siblings. ‘There were five in the bed, and the little one said…roll over…’ 😛
These tiny turkeys are adorable, Clare! I love their little bare ‘armpits’, so cute as they stretch up. They must be all girls for all the feather preening…can you tell boys from girls at this stage? So awesome to see them all gathered around their Mum in the last bit of the video. One more question? Will you let let all jump up on your legs after another month or two?
I think we are just starting to see a hint of who some of the future Toms will be. We had some chest-bumping, and neck wrestling late yesterday between a particularly vocal bronze poult, and a bourbon red. It’s amazing to see that behavior when they’re not even three weeks old, but even our roosters, as chicks, seemed to be able to pick each other out of a lineup. Frodo and Siegfried used to charge each other in the brooder box too. By about 5 weeks we’ll probably have a slightly better idea who the boys are.
As for allowing them to use me as a jungle-gym, that won’t happen for much longer. At the moment I’m just really trying to get them to be, and stay, as fearless of humans as possible. Hen-raised poults that don’t get much interaction with people can grow up to be almost impossible to handle. If I don’t spend much time in the pen for a day, it’s amazing how quickly they start to become more wary of me, so it’s important to keep working with them. It’s especially important for those that will be moving on to new homes, I really want them to not be skittish of people. Most people think of turkeys as food, but turkeys actually can also make fabulous pets if they’re acclimated to humans when they’re young.
Just love the little ones. So cute and I love looking at the video and photos.
They are adorable! Your photos are so perfect in showing how cute and real they are…and your captions made me laugh.
I wonder if Jenny thinks her babies are as cute as we do? 🙂 I’m so glad this group has been successful. Their feathers are beautiful!
Wonderful video – they look like teenagers getting ready for a big night out. Perhaps you should put a mirror in there 🙂
Clare what are you feeding them on they are huge! I just wish the sound on my computer was working just now as I just had to imagine the noise there must have been coming from that pen. Glad to hear that the Bobcat is keeping his distance now.
I know Rosie. they have grown fast, haven’t they? We’re just feeding them your standard turkey-starter ration for the first 8 weeks, with just a few shredded greens, but they’re eating machines! They’ll be fully feathered and the size of Jenny before we know it! 😛
They’re getting so big so quickly! It’s really amazing how quickly they’re growing, they look like they’re hitting gangly teenager stage now.