Around the Bend: Turkey love heralds spring's arrival

Posted on March 11, 2010 |

• Editorial

By Jessie Raymond

Not sure whether spring has arrived? Just ask a turkey. Judging from the way ours are acting, it’s been spring for weeks.

Mingling among our dozen or so free-range chickens, we have eight Slates and Bourbon Reds, two breeds of heritage turkeys. These old-fashioned breeds of turkey are heavier and tamer than the wild turkey and smarter than the genetically “improved” supermarket turkey, which in terms of adaptive intelligence ranks just above a cinder block. They let us know loud and clear when mating season — what we more politely refer to as “spring” — has arrived.

Permalink