Make Way for Poults

Or....it takes a turkey village to raise a turkey baby.

By all accounts, this has been a great year for wild turkeys. Did you know that turkey chicks are called poults? And that a group of turkeys is called a rafter? That's according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. For the past few mornings, we've had some very early morning visitors - two or three hens and at least 10 poults.

Yes, they do fly -- once the poults are old enough to fly (a couple weeks old), they sleep in trees.

They eat seeds, acorns, and insects....much like other birds. Note the one scrunched down....the poults are underneath her....when she stood up, they scurried out like the children in the Nutcracker coming out of the giant skirt.

You can hear the hens talking to the poults in a low, soft tone -- probably telling them to gather up and come along. Hmmm. Blogger won't let me upload the video right now.....I'll try again later.