All trussed up for Grandpa's birthday,but not dinner

strutting their stuff.........the cool Smother's brothers came to court our cool "babes"



of course the resident toms are not to happy with the new guys............and wow are they handsome..........



Where did these guys come from ??? Are they wild ones or did some one dump them (turkeys eat a lot....so it would not surprise me, and some people think if you dump something in the country, the critters will do great...NOT!!!! Just a few years ago I rescued a pair of starving ducks, I'll write a story about duck,duck since I finally loaded his picture in, he was one amazing duck.).......
(a very poor picture I know, but alas, the only one we have of duck duck)


One thing I know the feed store owners just grin as everyone buys those little poults, CA CHING CA CHING>.........., after the first year of raising our own turkeys, I decided that first home grown turkey dinner was worth it's weight in gold...........



We have raised turkeys off and on over the years, they really do taste so much better, and I like to have them around............even hubby kind of enjoys them, that is unless we try to have a conversation outside, the Toms always hear you and try to "talk" above you...........



Two years ago I purchased a couple of young poults for "dinner" and was begged to add a couple more to my "cart" at a tremendous bargain....what a softie I am...so with the bronze I brought home a pair of spanish lace, a blue and a plain white....these last ones were the smaller breeds and were to mature at only 10 lbs.........they are 20 for sure...but they ended up being permanent residents, the spanish lace are truly gorgeous..............



Evidently the gals were so gorgeous the new guys have decided to take up permanent residence here, hey the chuck "wagon" is open so why not..........



Now to the trussing of one of the new guys.............



These guys were no where to be found this a.m. until later I heard a turkey "fest" going on outside and went to see what was going on........the home boys were having no more gal chasin'....

only 1 new guy was to be seen and one wing was not setting right...........so I rounded up our guys and went to see what about the smothers brothers, one was hiding in brush, I never could get to it, or stir it out, becoming sopping wet in the process...........the other one I couldn't locate, and so went about finishing chores.



Since it was Grandpa's birthday, we had decided to go to town, Grandma had to finish some purchases to complete his birthday gift...........



Chores done, soggy Grandma headed to the house for a hot shower,,,,,,,,



WHAT'S this ??????????? here was one of the Smother's brothers up on the front porch, the one with the crooked wing.............so Grandma captures him.............yep just as I suspected the last tip of his wing was bone broken............



Grandpa come help me hold this buzzard so we can truss him up before we go out for dinner..........

I know this looks odd, but it works...........I had some horses vet wrap and as long as you don't stretch it, it makes a great critter bandage, that is easy to remove, stick well and is secure...the white is one of Grandpa's old t shirts , I set the wing,made it secure, stuck Tommy in the tshirt, made that snug, then wrapped more vet wrap on the outside to hold the wings together so Tommy wouldn't flop it around....yep this works.......... been here dun that before,

We had a Canadian goose show up with a broken wing and I set it, put him in a secure place, like we just did for Tommy, actually he has a room mate in what I am calling the infirmary at present. Little black (a little black cochin banty hen, was nearly mauled to death by some of the bigger old biddies...chickens do that to each other,,,sad,,,, and while she is recovering nicely I think she was glad for some company in this big pen........ right now Tommy is not a happy camper, but he will adjust... The goose healed well stayed here 'till the following spring and when the spring migrations of geese were passing overhead, our little trooper must have heard his loved one as off into the blue he went...............

We had a t bone steak for Grandpa's birthday, nobody we knew....................