Our Turkey...

Here was something new for us... in all of our years here, we have never come across a wild turkey in our yard! This little girl came and visited us every day...

She originally started coming by to partake in any chicken scratch that was left on the ground by the chicken coop. I must say, my hens were all a bit perplexed by this strange, new "chicken" that kept coming around!

 Our little gobbler continued to get more and more brave. She wandered all the way up to our patio a few times, but the most entertaining time was when she decided to check out our portable chicken run. This is simply a cage that we use to let the hens "graze" safely when we can't be out there with them. The turkey examined it...

 ...and then went right on inside! We joked that if we had a string tied to that little door, we could've caught ourselves a wild turkey!

We were all quite used to this old gal hanging around (she came every day for about a week), but on one particular day, Abbey (our dog) happened to spot her go inside the cage JUST as I spotted Abbey. Chaos immediately ensued with the dog CHARGING toward the cage, me YELLING at the top of my lungs for her to stop (the dog is mostly deaf), and the turkey bouncing around in that cage trying to figure out how to get OUT! It was highly stressful, let me assure you! Alas, the dog was called off, the turkey escaped, and I'm sad to report that we have not seen hide nor hair... or feather... of her since. I suppose she decided our property has a little too much excitement for her... that, or else she met a coyote somewhere in her journeys.