Friday Facts - Turkeys

Since there is a certain holiday coming up that is more or less all about the Turkey I thought I'd share some interesting trivia I came across about the strange bird that is so tasty. 


Without turkeys, Big Bird would be naked. Big Bird, of Sesame Street fame, is actually dressed in turkey feathers. Although he is not a turkey, his costume is made of nearly 4,000 white turkey feathers, which have been dyed bright yellow.

In England, during the 1700's, turkeys were walked to market in large herds. Turkey farmers often covered the birds' feet with little booties to protect them on the long journey to the London market.

Ben Franklin thought the North American wild turkey should be the national bird.

Only the adult male turkey makes the gobbler, gobble sound.

Some say that turkey name came from the sound turkeys make when they are afraid - "turk, turk, turk."

Some fun farm thoughts:

As a child we had turkeys. There was one unreasonable cuss who would chase me back into the yard when I wanted to go to the barn  or out to see the other animals. Some days I'd get halfway to my destination and here that Tom would come gobbling like crazy and running that swaying gait all two-legged creatures have. My heart would pump, I'd screech, and take off for the house as fast as my chubby legs would take me. Luckily he never did get a hold of me. 

One year when our children were growing up, my husband brought home a half dozen turkeys. We ended up with only two surviving. The white one was called Christmas and the brown one was Thanksgiving. Their friends thought the names were funny until our kids went to school and said we ate Thanksgiving for Thanksgiving and Christmas for Christmas.  


Source: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/turkey/history.cfm