Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Our young turkeys (or poults) have been really showing off this last week: displaying their beautiful tails and making that fantastic 'tch'-ing sound when they strut forwards with their wings dropped and do a little dance in front of the females. Turkeys make over twenty individual sounds (it's not all just 'gobble, gobble') and the males make a huge deal of the fact they are male and really show off for ages in front of the females.
These boys are of course still way too young to mate (they are only just over three months old) but it does not stop them competing with each other to look the biggest and best. Their heads and wattles (dangly bits under their throat) and snood (fleshy lump on top of their noses) become bright red when they are displaying like this. This is because they fill with blood and become very warm to the touch. When not showing off and displaying, these become blue again and the snood shrinks right back and becomes really small.
It is amazing to watch as you can actually see it happen in front of you. Mind you, we are not sure how impressed the female in the photo on the far right looks! She's not even really looking at the male is she????