Ode to Bramble

This is Bramble in the garden this summer. She is one of our three Bourbon Red Turkey mommas. She is really a wonder. This year she hatched two clutches back to back...and she's paying for it now. Suddenly she is molting and looks like hell. But in this picture she looks pretty - as far as turkey mommas go.

But, the babies - called poults- are doing great. The six that she most recently hatched and lively and fun. They are in the flippy-flier stage now.

Two males from her first clutch are huge jakes - they will be mature toms soon. We call one The Ostrich because he is so tall. He might just give our flock sire, TurkZilla, a run for his money.

When the sun gets warm enough we let Bramble and her poults run around in the garden until they get tired or cold. They'll need protection from the cold weather until they are about 4 months old. Even tho they don't need to sit under her anymore, they still need their momma.

Thanks, Bramble, for all your hard work!