There's 27 wild turkeys now

[Kaleva]

Not long ago I saw a couple of big Toms on the other side of town and there were no such birds in the group I was feeding at the time. Then I saw two Toms in my group. I'm pretty sure they are the same two birds.

I've read that in winter, the turkeys will split into three groups. The older males, the hens and the young males. All three make up the group I'm feeding. Lack of forage here in the winter may have necessitated them getting to gather all together.

I first was feeding them about 2 lbs, 12 oz. (I weighed it) of a mixture of oats and whole corn three times day but now feed them twice that amount three times a day and I think they are getting enough now. They don't come running down the hill like in a panic when I go out to feed them nor are they fighting amongst themselves while eating as they did when I was feeding them less.

At this rate, it's going to cost me about $80 a month and I'm okay with that. I was donating $25 a month to the Kamala Harris campaign so I'll use that now towards paying for the feed and I'm babysitting again for $4 an hour, four times a week(two weeks earlier then expected). Almost 3 days of a babysitting plus the money I had budgeted for the Harris campaign will cover the costs. Plus a woman in town has contacted my wife and said she's like to contribute to feeding the turkeys after Christmas. I'm pretty well known in town for the turkeys and people at the post office and store ask me about them most every time I go to there.