Aug 28, 2017 3 min read

I told you all a month or so ago about how I must give our pet turkey a greeting every morning before I leave for work. How he waits on the back porch every morning for me to come out the door. How he follows me down the sidewalk until I rub his face and neck and coo at him for a few minutes. It has become our morning tradition, and I’ll admit, we both enjoy it most days.

There are days that I simply don’t have time to stop and pet him. On those mornings that I am running late, he has taken to walking out in front of my car and standing there until I get out to pet him, or if I’m really late, I back up and drive around him. It was funny at first, but became a little irritating – and even a little scary – trying to ensure that I get around him without hitting him.

A couple of weeks ago the turkey apparently followed my husband down the sidewalk, anticipating the same kind of loving. Not aware of the rules, my husband brushed past him and climbed into his truck to head to the hayfield. (With appropriate days for the hayfield being so scarce, he was certainly in a hurry.) Roger was not put off by my husband’s brush off; he simply went and stood in front of the truck to await my husband as he does me.

Did I mention that my husband doesn’t know the rules of this game?

Hubster fired up the truck and began to coast down the driveway. He drove to the bottom barn to hook up a wagon. He told me that he never saw Roger, and never heard a sound that might indicate a problem. However, when he arrived at the bottom barn, he was surprised to see turkey feathers stuck to his running board.

He knew that he must have hit the turkey.

Back to the house to check on him he went. Roger was limping a little, and was light a few feathers, but was otherwise unscathed. Grateful that he didn’t have to tell our son that he had killed his pet, he continued on his way.

Roger stayed away from the house for a week or so, sleeping at the barn instead. I felt bad for the guy, so I did a little research on avian pain management. I discovered some over-the-counter medicines that are safe for use in turkeys, so I administered some for a few days. Soon enough, the limp was gone, and his feathers are growing back in.

And as you can probably guess, he’s back on the porch every morning for his rubdown. He is back to following me down the sidewalk if he feels like he has been shorted a few strokes. But he hasn’t stepped off the sidewalk into the driveway since his mishap.

I guess you can teach an old turkey new tricks?

This old bird can, but he certainly learned this one the hard way.