LilMtnCbn
07-02-2004, 07:05 AM
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/19287-print.shtml
Mother turkey who is in for a big surprise
CAMERON SIMPSON July 02 2004
THEY could have been mistaken for little bustards, the bird sometimes known as
the Australian turkey.
But thanks to Doreen, a broody female Scots turkey, two "abandoned" baby
ostriches can look the world in the face after she put in for their adoption.
Doreen not only took the family on, but was the surrogate mother after hopping
into a bucket of their gigantic eggs which was on display for children at a
country park near Dunbar, East Lothian .
The fowl hatched the park's first pair of baby ostriches, to the surprise of
the keepers, after refusing to budge for five weeks from the eggs. Doreen even
starved herself during her mission to protect the ostrich eggs and lost almost
a third of her weight.
Keepers say the two-year-old turkey had been left so frustrated by her own eggs
being taken away and hatched in an incubator that she pounced on the enormous
eggs they had collected from a field full of ostriches.
The turkey was in a furious fit of broody rage that even led to her crushing
smaller birds by jumping on top of them as they tried to hatch their own eggs.
Grant Bell, manager of the East Links Country Park, said Doreen had calmed down
since the arrival of her two ostrich babies, Dee and Dexter. He said: "She'd
been terribly broody and had been pestering some of the hens as they were
trying to nest. She was even caught sitting on top of some poor bantams as they
sat in their nests.
"We'd just been into the ostrich field and brought back some of the eggs in a
bucket to let some of the kids visiting the park have a look.
"But we found later that Doreen had jumped into the bucket and was sitting on
the eggs. So we thought we'd just let her be with them."
He added: "We weren't really expecting much because ostriches aren't usually
able to hatch their eggs because of the cold climate."
However, after they hatched, the young birds were taken under a heat lamp.
"She's still wandering through once or twice a day to find them, but I think
she'll get a shock in a few weeks when they're twice her size." The ostrich,
the world's largest bird, weighs in at an average of 160lb, and grows to more
than 13ft.
The young pair, now a week old, eventually will be released among the other
giant birds in the park.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
Mother turkey who is in for a big surprise
CAMERON SIMPSON July 02 2004
THEY could have been mistaken for little bustards, the bird sometimes known as
the Australian turkey.
But thanks to Doreen, a broody female Scots turkey, two "abandoned" baby
ostriches can look the world in the face after she put in for their adoption.
Doreen not only took the family on, but was the surrogate mother after hopping
into a bucket of their gigantic eggs which was on display for children at a
country park near Dunbar, East Lothian .
The fowl hatched the park's first pair of baby ostriches, to the surprise of
the keepers, after refusing to budge for five weeks from the eggs. Doreen even
starved herself during her mission to protect the ostrich eggs and lost almost
a third of her weight.
Keepers say the two-year-old turkey had been left so frustrated by her own eggs
being taken away and hatched in an incubator that she pounced on the enormous
eggs they had collected from a field full of ostriches.
The turkey was in a furious fit of broody rage that even led to her crushing
smaller birds by jumping on top of them as they tried to hatch their own eggs.
Grant Bell, manager of the East Links Country Park, said Doreen had calmed down
since the arrival of her two ostrich babies, Dee and Dexter. He said: "She'd
been terribly broody and had been pestering some of the hens as they were
trying to nest. She was even caught sitting on top of some poor bantams as they
sat in their nests.
"We'd just been into the ostrich field and brought back some of the eggs in a
bucket to let some of the kids visiting the park have a look.
"But we found later that Doreen had jumped into the bucket and was sitting on
the eggs. So we thought we'd just let her be with them."
He added: "We weren't really expecting much because ostriches aren't usually
able to hatch their eggs because of the cold climate."
However, after they hatched, the young birds were taken under a heat lamp.
"She's still wandering through once or twice a day to find them, but I think
she'll get a shock in a few weeks when they're twice her size." The ostrich,
the world's largest bird, weighs in at an average of 160lb, and grows to more
than 13ft.
The young pair, now a week old, eventually will be released among the other
giant birds in the park.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
