Tales of the Village - Talking Turkey

@boiboing (13153)
Northampton, England
November 26, 2015 6:52am CST
In our village we have a lot of people who keep pets. Walking around each evening we stop to say hello to passing dogs, stroke the odd cat and chatter to the guinea pigs. But my favourite unusual pet is called Roastie and he's a very large, 4 or 5 year old male turkey. Roastie and his brother Stuffing (he lives in the next village) were bought to fatten up for Christmas but the family who had them got so attached to their boys that they couldn't bring themselves to eat them. Hence they became family pets. As I climb the hill to the high point of our walk around the village I often hear Roastie singing to himself or calling out to visitors. A turkey's gobble gobble is a bizarrely melodic sound but not one that most of us are used to hearing. I didn't know he was a pet when I first noticed him and I was very relieved when January came to find he was still singing for all his worth. His 'mum' has posted on our village Facebook page that nobody should worry about poor Roastie - he's not going to be eaten and she's also told me I'm welcome to pop round and say hello some time but somehow I'm a little too shy to rock up at a strangers home crying "Oy, show us your turkey".
18 people like this
18 responses
• United Kingdom
27 Nov 15
What fun and what a great little true story. I'm with @MALUSE though, I think a turkey sounds like it has a bad sore throat rather than singing. Or it is being strangled!
2 people like this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Nov 15
Obviously you have never heard ME sing or you would know my benchmark is pretty low.
1 person likes this
@Lucky15 (37374)
• Philippines
27 Nov 15
I have been chased by turkey... I am have scared aftet that
2 people like this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Nov 15
I am not surprised. They are big and quite intimidating.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223802)
• Chile
26 Nov 15
It seems that it is much easier to buy a bird (or piece of meat) that is already defeathered or deboned than to eat an animal that you saw alive.
2 people like this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
Absolutely true.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472078)
• Switzerland
26 Nov 15
Be careful, turkeys can be very aggressive, even worse than the swans. Have a look at this video
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2 people like this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
She was right to be wary.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
26 Nov 15
I have to wonder how they work as actual pets, do they have affection towards their family? and those names still make me giggle
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
It's unlikely they'll curl up on your lap or bring you your slippers but they make good guard dogs(turkeys).
2 people like this
• Centralia, Missouri
26 Nov 15
@boiboing ah, they make noise when people come around, or they try to run things off?
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
@Jessicalynnt To be honest, I don't know. I've not been brave enough to go and investigate yet. Mostly I think he likes to have his say when people walk into his garden.
2 people like this
• United States
27 Nov 15
My neighbors where I used to live had big birds as pets too. One was a female turkey, one was a peacock. I knew how to make them "talk", such a riot.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Nov 15
My parents used to get visited by a peacock on a regular basis. He was an impressive beast.
2 people like this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Nov 15
@ElizabethWallace I am far too nice and animal loving to even attempt such a thing.
• United States
27 Nov 15
@boiboing Can you make him vocalize? It is fun to torment them verbally.
1 person likes this
@suzzy3 (8341)
26 Nov 15
That is a wonderful story , I don't think I could kill an animal either.
@suzzy3 (8341)
26 Nov 15
@boiboing It is getting to know the animal , how can you eat something you have fallen in love with.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
I think too many people don't make the connection between a slab of meat and the animal from which it came. Nobody should eat something that they couldn't imagine killing.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
@suzzy3 I used to know a man who kept sheep. His family had friends who also kept sheep. Each year the families ate the other families' sheep. That way they never had to eat their own but they always knew they'd had good lives. I just prefer not to eat meat.
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90721)
• Philippines
27 Nov 15
I am so afraid of a turkey with that big back spread like a wide fan . As turkey chases a person and pecks that's why .
@SIMPLYD (90721)
• Philippines
27 Nov 15
@boiboing Yes , for some people only . We don't have roasted turkey for occasions though . It's lechon (roasted pig ) that is popular here though .
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Nov 15
Do you have them in your country?
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (51407)
• Canada
26 Nov 15
That is quite the parade of pets that you see walking around.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
Some days it really slows us down. I am in love with a spaniel black lab cross called Bruce whose dad sits outside the pub with him and a young Siamese on the other side of the village won our hearts too.
2 people like this
@valmnz (17097)
• New Zealand
26 Nov 15
Delightful story, oh my, what names for the two of them. Did Stuffing survive as well?
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
Yes indeed. Both are doing well.
1 person likes this
• United States
26 Nov 15
I love the names of those Toms! I'll let the wild one live, I don't care for the taste of wild turkey (even the liquid kind)!
• United States
27 Nov 15
@boiboing Wild Turkey is a brand of Bourbon.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
That's a whisky or similar?
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
26 Nov 15
Why do Roastie and Stuffing live in different locations? if they belonged to the same family I wonder why they didn't keep them together. One year we kept some geese to fatten up for Christmas - we did eat them but I didn't enjoy them even though I didn't get fond of them - nasty birds.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
Roasting and Stuffing have human mothers who are sisters. Each of the families has a pet turkey. They live in neighbouring villages.
2 people like this
@Drosophila (16571)
• Ireland
26 Nov 15
Lol.. maybe you can bring the turkey some lettuce? btw, what do they eat anyways?
@Drosophila (16571)
• Ireland
26 Nov 15
@boiboing Now that's a dodgy picture, not only you'd rock up at a stranger's home but with "turkey candy" too.. all you need is a creeper van. xD
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
@Drosophila That's not a phrase I'd ever heard before joining MyLot. I think this place is corrupting my innocence.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
I have no idea. I would guess grains.
1 person likes this
@Traceyjayne (1784)
• United Kingdom
26 Nov 15
how lovely. I'm sure if I had a turkey as a pet I wouldn't want to eat him either.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
They get pretty big and you'd need a large garden. I can imagine one would intimidate any pet cats.
1 person likes this
@wiLLmaH (8802)
• Singapore, Singapore
26 Nov 15
That's a pretty strange pet. :)
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
He is quite a celebrity turkey.
1 person likes this
@marlina (154130)
• Canada
26 Nov 15
Never hear of someone having a turkey for a pet before.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
It's the only case I know of.
@amnabas (14683)
• Karachi, Pakistan
26 Nov 15
I dont know much about turjey but what i came to know is turkey is corelated with thangsgiving is it?
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
26 Nov 15
Thanksgiving in the USA and Christmas in the UK.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
27 Nov 15
I think wild meat is so much better for you because it eats out of nature and isn't feed with tons of hormones to make him fat. We raise chicken here to eat and to give eggs. I know these animals need to be prepared differently and that is fine with me. I never cooked a wild turkey before but I bet it is delicious. If we had them here on the islands I wouldn't mind eating one of them. We have wild pig here on the islands and at times my boy friend goes with his friends to hunt one down and kill it. As long as I don't have to kill it, clean it and get rid of the guts I am fine with this one.