TURKEY PECKING ORDER

Bourbon Reds take on parental responsibilities

 IT'S FAIR to say the trio of Bourbon Reds has gone through a roller coaster of emotions since they arrived on the farm last summer.

 There were of course others but those missing in action succumbed to a wily old fox and his mate who in turn succumbed to the gamekeeper's gun such is the circle of life up here in the Scottish Borders.

 Now the two stags Ant and Dec plus the last remaining hen, Little Boots, have a new challenge and that came with the arrival of nine young Norfolk Bronze turkey poults. I was prepared for a bit of frisk and feared the Reds might target the young'uns for a spot of bullying, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

 Ant, Dec & LB have assumed the role of grandees or elders who appear to supervise and monitor the little turks as you can see from this poorly shot video I made (sorry about the thumb folks!) I'm especially happy for LB who went all broody during the summer sitting on a collection of eggs - none of which hatched - but she kept up her vigil rarely venturing out or eating unless I put food right in front of her trance-like position.

 She was determined to be a mum and in the end I slipped a couple of hens eggs under her and she happily continued with her lonely vigil. But when they hatched I had to remove the young chicks as Little Boots suddenly seemed to lose interest. I wasn't sure how she would react to the arrival of the young turkeys but she seems to have found her maternal instincts again and has been mothering the nine since they arrived.

 This is great news for me as I was a little concerned the new arrivals might wander off

willy nilly and get lost.

 

LONELY VIGIL: Little Boots on her eggs

 But there's no chance of that happening at the moment because their every moves are being monitored by the elders.

 This means I won't personally have to supervise every outing made by the younger generation because the Reds will be doing it for me.

 I only hope the geese show a gentler side when they meet the newest arrivals to the farm. There's always been a great deal of tension and rivalry between the geese and the turkeys which I previously likened to the Crips and Bloods street gangs in America.

And fingers crossed the youngsters don't pick up any bad habits from their elders ... like ambushing and chasing the postman as he runs the daily gauntlet of feathers, beaks and bills!

FEATHERS FLY IN HOGMANAY BRAWL

JACK'S LAD:  His parents are from Cheshire & he has a 

wonderful temperament

Troublesome trio face a new era in 2014

 ALL hell broke out in the hen house on New Year's Eve forcing me to take the rather dramatic steps of evicting the troublemakers. I wondered if any of the landlords from some of the rougher hostelries around The Gorbels in Glasgow were encountering similar problems as Hogmanay loomed.
 The troublemakers were all cockerels and, while wonderful examples of the rare Scots Dumpys breed, I have now decided to take the dramatic step of putting them up for sale.
 I'm sure there will be breeders out there somewhere who need to introduce new stock. In their defence the lads were just following their natural instincts although, at barely six months old, I thought there might have been a couple more months left before their testosterone levels began to rise.

ADONIS: Stunning son of Horatio from Isle of Wight

 But it's as though Spring arrived three months early in the hen pen and Napoleon, the undisputed alpha male, was growing weary with the over amorous antics of the three young pretenders.
 His closest rival, Horatio, is currently lording it in his own pen with Thumberlina a pure white hen who I'm hopeful will produce white offspring which are extremely rare.
Adonis, a light-coloured cuckoo who will be featuring later this year in an epic TV drama, has developed quite a sweet nature so I was shocked by all the aggression he showed to the other cockerels during the New Year's Eve brawl.
 He is Horatio's son and is very stunning thanks to a massive red comb and a magnificent pair of wattles (the red dangly bits below his beak).
 Fighting him was Jack's Lad, an offspring from the dear departed Jumpin' Jack Flash who originated from an incubator in Cheshire. He has his father's magnificent poise and dark-coloured cuckoo feathering.

JESSIE: A late developer but a chip off the old block

 Last but not least is Jessie who also made an acting debut on the film set of the production which I'm told will take the UK by storm later this year.
 The funny thing is that Jessie was such a late developer I actually though he was a she and so the original name given was Jessica after the Olympic athlete. Virtually overnight her long legs disappeared into sturdy limbs at the same time as her delicate comb suddenly bloomed in to a full blown cockerel's with a large, strong body to match. Now, as the other hens can testify, Jessica is no more and has morphed in to a rather striking black rooster not unlike his dad, the sturdy and imposing Napoleon who came from Northampton.
 However Napoleon has made it quite clear there's no room for nepotism on his watch and no room for any other randy roosters either.
 And so to keep peace I'm putting my handsome cockerels on the market at £30 each. If there are any takers out there please let me know.