The Finest Fowl Photos

Most Beautiful Coop: Pamela and Eric Wettering, Tower, Minn.

Best Movable Coop: Jacob Fetzer, Covelo, Calif.

Ducks, Guineas and a Wild Turkey

Tomas, a wild turkey. By Glenda Dennis, Springfield, Ore. “Tomas came waddling out of the woods one day and stood next to me as I was weeding the flowers. The next morning, he was waiting for me. He followed me around the yard and hung out with the chickens. Over the next two weeks, he began showing a definite preference for me. He would chase the cats if they came near me. One day, he decided he did not like my husband. He would fluff up, his head would turn red and the knob above his beak would swell and become 8 inches long. Then he began to bump my husband with his chest in a way that said, ‘move along.’ We decided he had to go. The Fish and Game Department was sympathetic and suggested we take him to a place far from people. It wasn’t hard to catch him, but it took three of us to stuff him into a big, plastic garbage can. When we let him go, he ate a bit of corn that we left for him, looked around and seemed to be satisfied.”

Best Movable Coops

The Fetzer vineyard “troops” and their houses. By Jacob Fetzer, Covelo, Calif. “The Rhode Island Red chickens play a very important role at the Fetzer vineyard.uring the springtime, cutworms can cause vineyard damage by eating the new, vulnerable shoots. So, if we see that an area has cutworm damage, we call on the “troops.” During a single day, a chicken can eat hundreds — sometimes thousands — of these cutworms. We also have found that by putting the chickens with the sheep and cows, our animals live in cleaner pastures and are less likely to have intestinal worms.”