Vision Farms Blog
The Turkey Hens Are Setting!
It's hard to believe, but Spring is upon us! As everywhere in Western Colorado, Spring has hit our farm early. The forsythia and daffodils have been blooming for a couple of weeks now, the fruit trees are blooming one right after the other, the lilacs are budding up, and the turkeys are setting on their nests!
It's exciting to see them start setting, because 28 days later we get to have little turkey poults running around. It is amazing to me, the sacrifice a mamma bird goes through to hatch her eggs. 28 days (for turkeys) of sitting in the exact same spot, staring at the wall, getting up for only very short periods of time to get a little food and water, and then getting back onto her eggs before they get cold. It is a lot of devotion, that God has put into the family of birds, enabling them to procreate and carry on. What a blessing to watch them and see their diligence, doing whatever it takes to bring about the next generation.
These turkeys are a heritage breed called Midget Whites. Heritage breed turkeys are just like wild turkeys, in that they are able to breed naturally. The broad-breasted breeds which are the types you find in the grocery store at Thanksgiving time, are not able to breed naturally, but have to be artificially inseminated. Other advantages of the heritage breeds are that they are much better at foraging for themselves, are a lot hardier, especially as babies, and their meat is very rich and delicious!
If all goes well, we will have a limited number of these turkeys to offer for your 2017 Thanksgiving table! Stay tuned!!