Our Poultry Adventure

On the road again, from Newkirk, NM, to Clarendon, TX. Texas welcomed us with a sign saying we were entering the Central Time Zone--so we lost an hour today. Clarendon is a typical small Texas town, but surprisingly named for the Clarendonian geologic period, part of the Miocene, evidently because of fossils found near here.

We went first to Greenbelt Lake (Sandy Beach Park and Kincaid Park both have RV sites with hookups), just north of town, but it turned out that they wanted us to pay entry fees for two days, plus camping fees, just to stay overnight, so we headed back to town. Just as we were leaving town headed east on US 287, we spotted Yankie's RV Park, E-Z In, E-Z Out. It's nothing fancy, but full hookups for $18 and very convenient to the highway. The folks here are very friendly. They aren't busy, so we were able to pull through and stayed hooked up (we'll drive out through the site in front of us). There's shade and 50 amps, both very welcome in the Texas heat and humidity!

After dinner, we headed out on our walk up the dirt road next to the park, stopping to take pictures of the horses in the pasture next to us for Sam (he's fascinated with horses right now, Julie says). We walked past a flock of goats and sheep who looked at us curiously. We turned the corner from Thurman Ave. onto Cooke and soon saw a sign that said "Turkey Crossing." Our curiosity was whetted, so when we heard the sound of chickens, geese, and turkeys, we looked to see a large flock of birds walking around free in the yard. Ken took out the camera to take a photo of the sight, and a man appeared and greeted us.

He seemed happy for the opportunity to talk about his passion. It turned out that he and his wife (Bill and Gerry Taylor) collect rare and exotic poultry. He pointed out the various birds and told us their names and where they were from. One unusual type was a Naked Neck Chicken--which looked like just what you'd expect. We also saw many wild turkeys. It's illegal in Texas to confine wild turkeys, but they hang around here and roost in the trees of their own volition, so the game warden has said it's okay if the birds are tame and choose to stay, since they could leave anytime they want to. The birds have plenty of space, but Bill and Gerry said they usually stay within eight acres or so.

At one point, Bill went inside and brought out a pretty little spotted chicken, which he said has lived in the house since it was born. Both he and Gerry are clearly very fond of these birds. They order the chicks from catalogs. They have no commercial interest. The birds live out their lives until they die of old age (or get picked off by dogs or hawks). Bill and Gerry don't sell eggs. Many of the birds are past egg laying age, and in the winter, there are only enough eggs for the two of them to eat. In the summer, when they have extras, they give them to their neighbors. The neighbors in turn repay the favor by bringing their extra produce by and tossing it in the yard for the chickens to eat.

It was very interesting to see the turkeys flying up into the trees to roost. One turkey, a Bourbon Red, is a beautiful, large domestic tom. It watches the wild toms fly up into the trees and has tried to follow them, but can't fly, so eventually it goes into the chicken house, where its mate has retired earlier. The tom turkeys roost separately from the mothers and young, but close enough to keep an eye on them.

It was very interesting to get to know these friendly folks and to hear the stories of all their birds. Gerry insisted on giving us some eggs--one dozen..and an 18 pack! When I said one carton would be plenty, they said, oh no, they'll last for a month, since they're so fresh--laid yesterday or today. They invited us to come back anytime we were in Clarendon.

By the time we left these happy poultry lovers, it was growing dark. We continued on our way to walk around the long block. At one point, the map said the road we were on went through to Thurman, but actually getting to Thurman would have required walking though high weeds and crossing a fence, so we turned around. Finally we did find our way home, happy to have made it safely.