Are you kidding me?  That did not just happen, did it?  Yup, that's what I was saying all afternoon on Monday...and this is what I was seeing - turkeys LOCKED INSIDE their house:

Our Narragansett turkeys have been living in the big brown brood box which has a door that swings open when you unlatch it.  When we climb into the house to fill feed and water the door swings open and the curious turkeys sometimes try to wander out.  We put a hook and eye latch on the inside of the door so that we can close it behind us when we enter the brood box, therefore avoiding any escapes while we're busy with the housekeeping.  So far it's been a great solution and as noted in an earlier post, the Narragansetts have been awesome to raise.  They are super well behaved and so sweet.  At least that's what I thought...

These little buggers caused me an afternoon of worry and work.  Come to find out, they are not just like well behaved children, but rather they are like the quietly mischievous kid in the back of the room!  You see, the turkeys are ready to be put out on pasture.  They have all of their feathers and are starting to fly around a lot.  They are getting more and more active every day.  When I was walking towards their house on Monday they were all fluttering around inside - flying up on the roost bar, flapping on top of the light, and flying into the chicken wire covered windows.  Just as I got within reach of the door, one particularly naughty turkey fluttered right at the window towards me and I heard the hook and eye latch spin and clank as he clumsily banged into it.  Then the door didn't open. 

No way...of all the possible odds, how did he manage to knock the hook right into place and lock the door from the inside out???  Now these are not the things you can read about under the heading "Common Problems in Turkeys" from your poultry guide book.  So there I went, back into the house for a coat hanger to try to unlatch the lock and free my hungry and thirsty babies.  After fishing through the wire window for what felt like hours, I finally gave up on that.  I ended up having to take all of the chicken wire off the window, reach in for the latch, and then repair the window.  Geesh!  Those darn turkeys got a long scolding from me, but after a few minutes looking into their innocent black eyes all I could do was laugh at the whole ridiculous situation! 

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