A To-Do About Turkeys

There’s an old myth that if turkeys are left outside in the rain, they will look up at the sky and drown. While we know this isn’t true, there are some fun personality traits that love observing in the turkeys that live at Blackberry Farm. We asked our livestock manager what turkeys actually do in the rain and to share a little more about the toms and hens that live with us at the Farm!

We always keep a pair of adult turkeys around the Dairy Barn so that guests are able to get close to them and see what unique animals they are! For several years, Mr. Tom was our male (called a tom), and Ms. Turkey was our female (called a hen). Ms. Turkey is still with us, but Mr. Tom passed away of old age a couple of years ago. The tom who lives with us now is Tommy. In addition to our staple pair, we raise a group of turkeys every year. We've had several breeds over the years, but the two we like the best are Narragansett and the Heritage Bronze.

The turkeys are always curious about other animals, and Tommy likes to gather up the chickens as a part of his flock. You will almost always see Tommy showing off and strutting around the Dairy Barn. To draw attention to themselves, tom turkeys flex tiny muscles at the start of each feather to puff out their feathers, and they make a noise called "drumming." They also change the color of their snood and caruncle/wattle – these are the different fleshy structures around their face – by contracting blood vessels. The color depends on their mood. The skin is a pale color when they are relaxed and a dark red when they are showing off. Some parts of the skin around their face will turn blue when they're excited. The snood hangs down over the turkey's nose, and he can elongate it as another part of his strutting act. All of this strutting serves a few different purposes. It is used to attract females, intimidate other rival males, or draw predators away from hens and their broods. Females also have the ability to flex out their feathers and will occasionally do so to show dominance towards another female or to protect her babies, but it is much less common.

In the rain, turkeys will seek shelter to stay dry. If a tom is busy strutting, heavy rain will usually convince him to lay his feathers back down so that the water doesn't get to his skin. Ms. Turkey will usually sound an alarm call in the rain as she runs to shelter, almost as if she's telling the other birds where to go.

– Christen Waddell, Livestock Manager