I then got the message I was waiting for, that I could re home her, so opted to collect her at the weekend. In preparation I bought some wood and made her some perches and also found out that turkey’s love to perch on straw bales. So, me being me of course had to get her one of those! Many phone calls later I managed to locate some for sale, and I have to say that squashing it into my Smart car was quite an amusing experience. So there I was, ready for her arrival and generally annoying people by telling anyone who’d listen how excited I was to be getting her!
Saturday morning soon arrived and after running around my garden a few times in an excited manner, I headed up to the shelter to collect my new friend. The shelter provided me with a dog crate in which to transport her, as there was no way she’d fit in one of my cat baskets! With help, I was able to clip one of her wings to prevent her from escaping and injuring herself and then we were on our way to her new home.
I took her out into the garden, in the crate and my chickens all ran for cover under the shrubs. I wasn’t sure how Tinsel would react to her new surroundings, so just opened the door of the crate and left her to it. I was pleased to see that she ventured out immediately, generally looking a little confused and calling, but not distressed. I stayed with her for about half an hour and she had a good look round and started happily pecking at the lawn and soon found the feed containers.
I headed back into the house and then things went a little pear shaped, she got very distressed and started running up and down along the fencing of her enclosure calling out for me. I immediately went back out and she ran over to me for reassurance. This continued for most of the morning until I was eventually able to leave her without her getting upset! (My chickens spent their morning hiding!)
By the afternoon she seemed much more settled and the chickens even cautiously ventured out for some dried meal worms. She seemed to enjoy me being outside pottering about. One of my cats, Lady showed a lot of interest in her and spent most of the afternoon sitting and watching her. Not in a hunter/prey way, but almost like she was just keeping an eye on her.
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