Pringles hears all the turkey talk and decided to dedicate his next blog post to his good buddy Mr “T”.  People often ask what does the “T” stand for and it stands for Turkey of course!

Mr “T” is pretty popular with the ladies but he is no tall goose!  Instead of talking about who has more friends mom thinks I should give you some facts about turkeys. So here they go!

Turkeys change the color of their face when they are excited or when Mr T is trying to get your attention.

Mr “T”  is a Tom Turkey which means he is a male. Adult male turkeys are called toms and females are called hens. Very young birds are poults, while juvenile males are jakes and juvenile females are jennies. A group of turkeys is called a flock.

Mr "T" has over 5000 really colorful feathers and his gobble can be heard up a mile away!

Mr “T” is considered a Bronze Heritage Turkey.  These are a type of turkey that was domesticated to more resemble wild turkeys because factory farmed turkeys no longer carry any of the traits that makes turkeys so cool!

Turkeys see in color and have excellent daytime vision that is three times better than a human’s eyesight and covers 270 degrees, but they dont see as well at night.

Anyone who says turkeys are not sensitive, caring or form strong bonds with people have not met Mr “T” as he is definitely a lover not a fighter.

Mr T gets a hug, he was just a youngin when we took this picture

Wild turkeys have very powerful legs and can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Their top speed in flight is 55 miles per hour. Domestic birds, on the other hand, are bred to be heavier and cannot fly.

Mr. T will turn his tail towards you when he is trying to get your attention.

Turkeys can often be aged by the size of their spurs and the length of their beards.  Mr “T” is 2 years old, we know this because he had a very small beard and the tail feathers indicated he was a juvenile when we got him. We estimated his age and we track his birthdays of course!   He has since molted and now has a full adult fan tail.  The beard is actually a modified feather and its coarse like a horse tail. It can grow three to five inches a year!  Turkeys only live about 10 years, the oldest living turkey was 13.

Beard in hand

Turkeys have a variety of interesting parts not found on other birds like the beard.  One of the more interesting however is the snood.  The snood can be drawn up like a unicorn or flattened out and turned into a variety of colors.  The skin flap below his mouth is a dewlap while the bulbs of flesh are considered caruncles.

Snood in hand

By 1930 Wild Turkeys had been hunted to near extinction.  A massive population program was implemented and now the wild turkey hunting is regulated and the numbers are again thriving.

I asked Mr T for an interview and he only had one thing to say about Thanksgiving “Eat Tofu!”

Mr T gives us a quote

Well there you have it a turkey talk extravaganza!  While you are enjoying your meal Pringles will be hiding his egg somewhere you can’t find it!  So enjoy your time with your family and have safe travels!

HONK HONK!
Pringles

Goose in Charge!