We got Turkeys!

Hubby calls chickens a "gateway" animal, meaning once you have them you will most likely add more animals.  When the chicks were little we had a brooder set up for them (a safe cage with a heat lamp).  Now they are huge and in the chicken coop, the brooder is sitting empty.  On Sat, we were in town running errands, and someone made us an offer to buy the rest of their turkey poults.  Knowing we had everything we would need already set up at the house we jumped on the deal.  We now have 8 Spanish Black turkey poults in the brooder.

  Most commercial turkeys are non reproducing.  The have been bred for certain benefits that are not found naturally.   The hens need to be artificially inseminated to continue the breed.   If you want a huge turkey and don't mind buying new poults each year then its not a big deal.  However if you want a female and a male to produce their own offsprings you need to have a heritage breed.  Black Spanish are just that.  They are capable of reproducing on their own which is what we are looking for.  I figure we should be guaranteed a pair out of the 8 we brought home.  The others can be butchered in the fall for our freezer.  They are so little!  They wont get nearly as fat as the commercial breeds, but that is ok with us.