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!