Tales of the Village - Talking Turkey
By Boingboing
@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
@crystalvisions (440)
• 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
@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
@LadyDuck (472078)
• Switzerland
26 Nov 15
Be careful, turkeys can be very aggressive, even worse than the swans. Have a look at this video
Skip navigation UploadSign inSearch Loading... Close Yeah, keep it Undo Close Watch QueueQueueWatch QueueQueue Loading... Watch Queue Queue __count__/__total__ Loading... Find out whyClose David Clark SubscribeSubscribedUnsubscribe7575 Loading... Loading.
2 people like 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
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• 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
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• 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
@ElizabethWallace I am far too nice and animal loving to even attempt such a thing.
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
27 Nov 15
@boiboing Can you make him vocalize? It is fun to torment them verbally.
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 .
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• 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)!
@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
@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
@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.
@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.