Sit back and relax: responsible parenting

YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) We have two remarkably successful parents in our neighborhood.

Mister and Missus Turkey started showing up in the area a few months ago with a couple of poults, as they’re called, in tow. Then came a few more poults, then even more. Soon they were making the rounds with ten baby turkeys following them.

Wild turkeys mate in late spring (April-May) and lay 10 to 12 eggs. The eggs hatch in about 28 days. The poults start flying in three or four weeks. They will stay with their mother for around four months. Our rafter (that’s the term for a flock of turkeys) has been making regular visits to our backyard bird feeder. It’s been a delight watching the poults grow from little fluffballs into young adults.

Now as everyone knows, the reason animals have large litters is because the life expectancy for infants in the wild is…not good. In many species, including turkeys, around 3/4 of newborns won’t live to see their first birthday. The attrition starts the day the infants arrive – or before if something that eats eggs shows up. In addition to predators the young can be taken by disease, accidents, and that most vicious of killers, the automobile.

And yet, here it is almost time for the youngsters to leave their parents, and all ten of the poults are still here. Whether by luck, experience, or both, Mommy and Daddy Turkey have beaten the odds.

Congratulations to the mom and dad for making it this far, and good luck, little ones.