The turkeys were 4 weeks old on Friday. In some ways it doesn’t seem possible that we have had them for a month already and in others it feels like they have been here for ever! Everything feels right in the world at Treway when we have turkeys on the ground.

As you can see they are extremely inquisitive and will fly up onto you as you bend down to fill the feeders up. They do seem to particularly enjoy perching on shoulders, they are a little like small plump parrots!

Last week we opened up the next section of shed for the turkeys as they had grown out of their ‘brooding shed’. They are absolutely loving exploring their new surroundings especially as the new shed is bedded up with straw rather than shavings. So they are enjoying scratching around for hidden bits of grain.

The heat lamps have now just about been turned off as we prepare the turkeys to head outside in the coming weeks. Like any changes with the turkeys the heaters had to be turned off gradually, one more each day but back on at night to keep them cosy. Right now they just have a couple on at night as the nights are quite chilly!

Did you know that we feed our turkeys grit and oyster shell? Turkeys like all poultry don’t have any teeth to breakdown their food. They will consume grit which they store in their gizzard (a muscular part of the stomach). When the turkey moves the grit in the gizzard grinds their food down into smaller digestable particles.

In a couple of weeks we will split the flock into two groups and move half out into the other shed. Once settled everyone will be released into the paddock to free range. There is no better sight than birds enjoying the great outdoors as nature intended.

We have been absolutely blown away by the number of super organised folk who have already placed their Christmas order. With over 60 booked in the last week! Please don’t panic to order, we have plenty of turkeys to go around for the time being!!