turkey trouble

January 2011- We love living out in rural America.  Partly because we like wide open space and clear night skies.  But we also need space for our livestock and enjoy sharing our land with wildlife.  There are wild turkeys in this area that we catch a glimpse of from time to time.  And lately we've been seeing them up near the house very close to the porch.

 

At first it was cute and I thought if I went out to get milo or chicken feed from the shed it would scare them away.  So I resorted to provisions in the pantry...it needed cleaning out anyway!  I tossed them cornmeal, mixed nuts, dried cranberries, oatmeal, and an assortment of breakfast cereal.  I'm certain it is the most exotic diet they've ever had.  They liked it so much they decided to stay awhile...and then just made themselves at home.  There are two gobblers and a hen that think they need to be on our back porch all of the time. They have become quite tame and we can get within about 4 feet from them. 

I saw them on the porch one day and was tired of taking their photo from inside so I went around and walked right up to them to get these photos:

Then I wondered if they would come into the house if I opened the door.  They'd been standing there staring through the door and pecking at it for a few days.  So sure enough, I opened the door and they just walked right on in.  But I didn't let them stay, right back out they went.

Pecos said he wanted to rope them but they kept running away so he decided to trap them instead.  Casey got a plastic container from the shed with a stick propping it up and put bird seed under it.  I thought it looked like something out of a Looney Tunes coyote and roadrunner cartoon.  They ran the string under the door and waited, but the turkeys were non-interested in the birdseed; perhaps they were waiting for more gourmet items from the pantry.  I can't imagine the commotion it would have been if he actually caught one. 

 

 After a couple of weeks we'd had enough.  The turkeys have been shoo-ed off the porch and no more exotic pantry food for them.  They only get birdseed and chicken scratch far away from the porch.  Look at the nasty mess they left behind.  Turkey sandwich, anyone?