Bubble (on the left) and Baby Turkey (on the right) are our two turkeys. They are our pets, not our Christmas dinner. Anyway, I got home the other day to find Ming had left me a note to say BT was in trouble so I went out and found BT’s feather’s everywhere so I assumed he’d been killed. Bubble and I looked everywhere and (just in case you don’t think birds grieve) I have never seen Bubble so distraught. He kept twitching and looking to the left and right constantly. He couldn’t fluff himself up into his usual showoffy pose and he was frantic but in the end I couldn’t find BT and was about to give up until I saw him. He was staggering around in the adjacent paddock, his back raw with wounds so, as soon as Ming got home from milking, I told him BT needed to be put down because I couldn’t stand to see him suffering. But Ming rallied him and put him into the pen with water and grain where BT ate, drank and walked around. I had a closer look at his wounds and realized that, apart from all of his back feathers being torn out, his wounds were fairly superficial.
Not sure if a fox did this or one of our dogs (who usually leave the turkeys alone).
Long story short, BT is now at the local vet’s and on antibiotics and is recovering well.
And the irony? I will be buying a frozen turkey for Christmas lunch that will cost a hell of a lot less than keeping Baby Turkey alive at the vet’s.
jmgoyder 
A pet is a pet…hope he recovers!…Diane
Me too and I hope the vet bill isn’t too astronomical!
You have turkeys too?? Perhaps YOU are the Bird Whisperer??
Oh Diana – Baby Turkey has been at the vet’s for 2 days – what is this gonna cost? Argh!
You have a big heart for sure! I hope it’s not too costly. xo
makes me want to go find the critter that did this and smack him good!!!!!!! bad! bad! don’t hurt the animals you bad critters!
I think it may have been Jack our Irish terrier – there were no witnesses.
Now that is an irony… have chicken instead…
Yes but I love turkey meat!
You can’t eat your friends. Glad BT is on the mend.
Poor baby!
LOL — love the Bird Whisperer.
Poor Baby Turkey! I hope he’ll be okay. Sending healing thoughts his way.
The vet seems to like him!
Aww, but you did say he was NOT a Christmas Turkey anyway. So glad he’s on the mend. 🙂
sad. Hope he ends up okay. So sorry.
Vets are so bloody expensive……………hope baby turkey is ok…………..just don’t tell him you are having turkey for Christmas lunch…………lol
I won’t breathe a word.
I’m glad Baby Turkey’s going to be all right. I can hardly even watch when one of the squirrels who come to our feeders gets mange. Enjoy your turkey dinner–since it’s a turkey you’ve never met. Pets are special.
I am often gobsmacked at how the chickens and other big birds can survive some pretty terrible wounds,.. glad you found him in time.. I honestly think wild domestic dogs cause a lot of havoc,, foxes would not have left him like that.. c
Yes – I am pretty sure it was Jack, our Irish terrier.
Just think you missed a good opportunity to have a free turkey for Christmas. 😉
I hope Baby Turkey recovers.
Poor chap. The chickens we’ve lost have always been to domestic dogs 😦
if I were a bird I would want you as my mother
Thank goodness BT is on the mend.
I couldn’t bear to eat a pet, especially one with a name and personality.
I’d make a lousy farmer (or farmer’s wife).
Faced with an astronomical vet bill myself, I feel you’re pain. But our pets…<3
The irony is definitely rich but a pet is a pet, poor guy. We have a lot of wild turkeys here and they do have feelings, the moms watch over their little ones when they cross the road. It’s adorable.
Your dogs …. are lethal weapons. If you had to put BT down, would you have him for Christmas dinner???? That’s why I could never survive as a farmer.
That could have been a lot worse – hope that he is now recovering from the trauma.
Attachment comes with a price, doesn’t it? I guess that’s why I don’t attach to pets well. I don’t know — so much like my dad, I guess. Kudos to you, friend.
Sorry to hear this but glad he is on the mend. i understand the irony. We were forever setting traps for the mice at the farm where I worked but when we found babies in the folds of a tent we nurtured them and put the nest in a safer place. ha! I am curious what Bubble and Baby Turkey’s behaviour will be like when they are re-united.Bubble might think BT has gone to market.
Poor Baby Turkey! I hope he survives and heals well. The feathers will grow back. We do what we have to do for our pets. It’s only money.
A few years ago a fox badly mauled one of our Muscovy Ducks (and killed three others!) She didn’t eat for several days and I regularly dipped her bill into water as she seemed to be in shock but she came out of it after a few days and evenually recovered although she was a bit light on feathers in a couple of places.
I love the irony but I love your soft heart more.
I have seen this in my poultry, Julie, and it is amazing what they can recover from! I usually clean their wounds with Betadine solution and keep them sequestered in a clean and safe area. I don’t know how they do it, and I won’t go into the gory details, but they heal really fast and can close up some horrendously BIG holes in their skin. Poor BT! Hope he comes home soon! xo, Lynda
Julie, There is no depth to the amount of caring you have for those around you both Human or Pet, I am truly amazed by you. Take care, Bill