60,000 turkeys

Twenty thousand poults, hatched Tuesday morning, arrived here around 6:30 Tuesday night! 
Add that to the 18,000ish that will go to market next week, and the 19,000ish that are about 8 weeks old, and we have almost 60,000 turkeys on our farm right now.  We are full!
As usual, I got to help unload.
I managed to bring my camera out while we unloaded, but there are only pictures of the beginning and end of the process because I had to work in the middle!

The truck backed up to the building.  It left Wilmer, Minnesota at 1:30 and made it to our place almost 5 hours later.

Inside the building, the skidloader and two of my favorite, tall, long-armed boys waited for the poults.  My 17 year old brother (the skinny, gangly, monkey armed, blondie) and hubby loaded them into the bucket of the Bobcat.

They come in these crates, which hold 100 poults.  The crates are divided into fourths, so the people who pack them only have to count to 25 at a time.  It’s really hard to count all those wiggly little poults!

The skid loader backed down the building to where I was waiting with Beth, the Brooder Lady.

The boys unloaded the skidloader for us, and Beth and I “dumped” the poults into their new homes.  It’s not a terribly hard job, but it is 90 degrees in the barn, which makes it about 3x harder than it would be if it were 60 degrees like it was outside!  The boys got to go back to the front of the building to reload the skidloader in the cool, fresh air, so I don’t think they understand how hot it really gets!  (This is what Beth and I do the whole time we’re unloading…complain about the heat.)

Within ONE HOUR, we had the poults in their new homes, and the door to the barn closed.  They found their food and water right away, and I went inside to find my own. :)