R.I.P. Harry

 

I am sad to announce that Gyunay's favorite animal in the world, our turkey Harry, died Friday night. 

He died in his sleep, tucked in the coop peacefully, with no prior signs of illness.  He was just over 2 years old.  Obviously, Gyunay was devasted.  I already miss the fun noises Harry would make every morning as I let him out of the coop.  Rest in peace, Harry.

 

Poultry Parade

 

In the last two days, we've let the poultry roam about the yard.  Notice that the white chicken in front of Harry the Turkey is a rooster.  What a size difference!

Harry tends to just walk slowly around the yard.  He looks regal and truly impressive.  The chickens are more interested in scratching for bugs and other goodies.

None of the poultry is fond of Maple, but they aren't too worried about her, either.  She doesn't bark or chase them.  She is more interested in finding out what they're eating.  She desperately wants to eat the chicken scraps that I feed them daily.  Acorn is perturbed when I let the chickens out, since she knows that they belong in their yard.  After looking at me questioningly, she just went into the house.  If she doesn't see it, she doesn't have to deal with it.  

Poultry

Yesterday, I let the poultry out into the third yard for some supervised exploration.

They are really pretty birds.

This is one of the Polish roosters (there are 2 like this one).

Here are two roosters (white ones), and one of the ISA browns is tucked behind our two Wyandottes.  

And, of course, Harry likes to walk slowly around looking majestic.  

Lastly, here is Lavender, Malachi's lavender orpington.  To the left of her is Belle, one of our home-grown barnyard mixes.  She is now at the bottom of the pecking order, after being quite bratty near the top for several years.  She's our only blue-egg layer left.

All together, we have Harry the turkey, 2 black Astrolop hens, 1 lavender orpington hen, 3 sapphire gem hens, 1 buff orpington hen, 1 barnyard special hen, 3 ISA brown pullets, 2 Wyandotte pullets, 3 mystery cockerels, and 3 Polish (2 cockerels, 1 pullet).  The pullets will probably start laying in August, and soon we will need to cull some roosters.

 

Animal Updates

 Our menagerie is doing fairly well.  We are finally getting eggs again.  We did lose both barred rock hens due to their own stupidity, so we only have 12 hens now.  Most of the chickens have re-grown their feathers.  

Lavendar is once again a very pretty chicken.

Harry is doing very well.  Gyunay still loves him and is constantly interested in him.

And little Acorn is doing very well.  We are working on housebreaking her, and on getting her used to a leash.  Panther still avoids her, but he will come into the basement and hang out most days.  Midnight is as independent as ever, but she still loves her belly rubs.  Buddy Bean loves this colder weather, and he is still quirky.  

Field Trip

 First, here's a group shot of those of us who made it to the wedding:

Now, onto the field trip.  I haven't been able to take the kids many places this fall, which is a shame, because it's been particularly beautiful lately.  I can't manage the zoo yet, and to be honest, I haven't even managed a Walmart trip since July.  I'm just too easily tired.  However, our homeschool group planned a field trip to Salato Wild Life Center for this week, and I thought I could manage that.

Emry got to join us, since it was during his fall break.

Most of the time, this was my view, since the turtle tank was across from my bench:

But I did go out and walk some of the exhibits.  We took a friend and met several families there, so the kids had lots of people to stick with.

Gyunay was particularly interested in the turkey:

It does look a lot like Harry, albeit not as big.

So we made a successful field trip.  We learned about quail and saw bison.  We also had a picnic lunch accompanied by the inquisitive goose you saw at the top of the post.  And then I came home and watched Halloween Wars on the couch.  

Also, I had my filter removed Wednesday, so one less doctor to revisit now!

Turkey Gender Reveal and Hands-on History

 We have spent weeks trying to figure out for sure what gender our turkey is, so when we eventually determined that he's a boy, Lydia decided that it was time for a gender reveal cake:

Also last week, we had a hands-on history day with our homeschool group.  We taught the kids how to wash clothes, grind corn, and play with hoops. It was a hit, especially the corn grinding.

I have tons of corn leftover, so Gyunay and Emry enjoyed grinding some more here:

Our "Barnyard"

 I haven't been on here to mention that my friends came and got me for a lovely birthday party on my birthday.  They thoroughly spoiled me, and we had a great time together.  This was the beautiful cake one of them made for the occasion:

It was a lavender lemon cake.  Another friend made a cherry cheese pie.  I'm telling you, I was treated royally.  

Around here, lots of flowers look amazing:

The bunny is as quirky as ever:

I'm now pretty certain that "Harriet" is "Harry".  He gobbles, and only male turkeys gobble.

Midnight has been a love bug:

And this guy is now king of the coop.  Nathaniel dispatched the other rooster yesterday.

Chickens and Harriet

 Gyunay and I went to visit the poultry yesterday morning.  It was a beautiful day.

Harriet puffed up for us:

We joke that she's a mini emu; she's so huge!  Her neck and waddles turn gray, red, and pink for no apparent reason.

Here is a close up of a Mexican sunflower:

And look!  A tiny egg:

This means that at least one of our pullets is now laying.  We are excited.

Visiting the Animals

 I finally made it across my yard on Wednesday to see my turkey!

She's so huge!  You can see some chickens in the background.  They are full-grown, but Harriet is a sight to behold!

After saying hi to Harriet and the chickens, Midnight yoweled at me until I petted her in the mulch.

She got lots of belly rubs.

I haven't seen her, either, because she doesn't come in the house.  It looks like she forgives me for being absent, though.

Malachi took the garage photos for me.  Panther comes into the house daily and gets lots of cuddles.

Beauties and the Birds

 It has come to my attention that I haven't posted any pictures of my turkey recently?

She's a sweet bird, and she makes lots of fun noises.  She's so huge next to the chickens.  

I also got some first day of school pictures for the 3 that go to public school:

Last weekend, 4 of the kids and I went into visit family.  Lydia and I had a bridal shower to attend, and the kids had a lot of fun with cousins.

My sister-in-law sat with us at the shower, and it was nice to visit with her and Nathaniel's cousin.

Later, I handed the girls my phone in the van and told them to take some selfies.  They are so beautiful!

And here are a few more chicken and turkey pictures:

The young rooster to the right of Harriet (our turkey) is no where near the size of her!  Just look at her feet!  I don't know if she will get any bigger or not.  I think she may.  She's actually younger than the rooster, and he's not fully grown.