INCOMING: Two… er… three… things?
Today we received a text that two baby chicks were at the Seattle Animal Shelter and needed foster care and medical care. So we met them at the vet’s office this evening to bring them home for care. Meanwhile, this cute Rhode Island Red hen was also there, recovering from a very bad raccoon attack. Her entire rear was eaten away, all the way down to the bone. But the vets were able to stitch her back up and she has recovered well. Her owners couldn’t afford her care, so they surrendered her to the vet. The vets cared for her with their own time and money and nursed her back to health. Whenever I’m at the vet to pick up chickens, there’s always an extra one. “Since you’re already taking two anyway… what do you think?” I’m a sucker, so she came home with us. She will probably be a forever family member, but we’ll make sure she fits in with the flock first. I figure she and Carol and Janet all basically look the same, so they only really count as one chicken anyway, right?
Anyway, back to the baby chicks. Here they are. As soon as I saw the dark one, I said “that looks like a turkey, are you sure it’s a hen?” Everybody was sure they were both chickens, but I kept asking “what makes you think it’s a chicken.” It just looked like a turkey to me. The white one looked like it could be a chicken though. I left slightly confused.
At home I found clarity. This is most definitely a turkey, not a chicken. But I still wasn’t sure about the white one. Then I found this photo online…
It’s a turkey. And it looks EXACTLY like the “white baby chick” we now have, see?
So both of these new baby chicks are actually baby turkeys. Cool! They’re really messed up, but hopefully they can recover. The larger, dark one has a slightly twisted leg. The smaller, white one has a partially missing toe. Both are missing tons of feathers and they were starving. They ate like monsters and then sat on the couch with me for a little quality time.
Here we are snuggling and getting acquainted. Baby turkeys are pretty awesome. We’re happy to help them grow up strong and healthy if we can, but we’ll sure be sad to see them go.
Please, if you’re anywhere near Seattle, pass this post along to anyone who may be interested in two turkeys for pets. “FOR PETS” is a key factor. We can deliver them anywhere within 30 miles of Seattle.
P.S. We also saw these guys at the vet and were very restrained in not bringing them home. Birds only, preferably ducks. But chickens and I guess turkeys and the occasional goose and injured pigeon are okay too.
UPDATE: Well now I’m not so sure that white one is a turkey. The similar photo we found could have been misidentified. Guess we’ll know soon enough. No doubt on the other one being a turkey though.
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