By Jerica Cadman
Poult.
What in the world is a poult?!
Most people think a baby bird of any kind is called a chick. I suppose that is correct in some respect, but many types of birds have special names for their babies. Or should I say… humans have special names for certain types of baby birds. The mother birds probably just make their birdie noises at their babies, and those are certainly all special!
A baby chicken is called a chick.
A baby duck is called a duckling.
A baby goose is called a gosling.
And a baby turkey… is called a poult!
Baby turkeys grow up into big turkeys, and that’s where we get our Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving starts with a poult.
Here at Shady Grove Ranch, we start thinking about Thanksgiving all the way back in March or so. It takes time to plan all the details out, you see. Because first the egg has to be incubated and hatched. We don’t do that at our farm (yet!), but the poults are shipped to us the very day they are hatched so we can get started on raising them in a healthy way. They actually travel through the US mail! I wonder what the postal workers think about all those chirping turkeys!
You would think that, being domestic birds, turkeys would be a lot like chickens, but they are not. They are much more curious… and much more mischievous! They are always finding ways to get into trouble, and they don’t even really mean to.
Once they’re big enough not to slip through the holes, we keep our turkeys in portable electric net fences, which gives them lots of space to roam on the pasture, while still keeping them safe from predators like coyotes and skunks.
Turkeys are omnivores, which comes from a Latin word meaning “all eater.” That means they eat all kinds of foods, just like you and me. They need some grains, some vegetables, and some meats. Yes, meats!
Unfortunately many large turkey producing farms do not feed meat to their turkeys, even though it can help them grow strong and stay healthy. But our turkeys get meat, at least sometimes! And they love it!
They love it so much, in fact, that one day, as Farmer Matt was bringing them some fresh meat, they got so excited about it that they started trying to climb over the fence. They kept pushing and shoving and scrambling so much that they accidentally knocked the fence right over, and quite a few turkeys went tumbling over! Farmer Matt had to catch all those silly turkeys and put them back inside where they would be safe. And he learned his lesson—from then on, when he brought them their dinner, he hid it behind his back!
Note to parents: Lest you be concerned about the validity of claims for “vegetarian fed” poultry… I’m not sure why that’s considered a perk in industry, particular for turkeys. Turkeys are considered to be “game birds” and need a higher shot of protein than other poultry during their growing months. Perhaps a lot of the meat by-products available for feeds are poultry-based, which of course would be a big no-no. Cannibalism is never ok for proper animal management. In case you were wondering where we get our supplemental meat for the turkeys, it’s always sourced from our own animals—usually pork. We save any reject or scraps just for turkey season—fresh and unspoiled, of course. Just thought you’d be interested in some insider information!
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