Lola’s Memorial

ROYAL PALM TURKEY

• From: Napa, California

• Adopted 2023

• Crossed the Rainbow Bridge: Aug 22, 2023

Heaven gained a very feisty and sassy Royal Palm Turkey yesterday.

After three days of hoping and praying, that she would improve, it became more evident that there was an injury to her spine and she would not get better. I spent about an hour with her at the vet. She perked up when she saw me.

Despite not being able to get up, she pecked my watch and started to preen herself. As a baby, when she stayed inside with me, she would preen herself and leave feathers all over my pillow. I had no idea that turkeys did so much preening! But then again, we never had a bird in the house.

I really couldn't sleep with a turkey on my pillow. So, I would watch her fall asleep after making a feathery mess.

And just when I thought she was totally asleep, Lola would wake up angry. She would wake up and peck my face. She always aimed at my eyes and her pecks were so painful! It was so bad that Vince got me a face shield to wear.

Eventually, Lola outgrew her house crate and we moved her to be outside to live with the others. Julia, our 5 year old Broad Breasted Bronze Turkey and Isabelle, our 9 year old Midget White Turkey, were not thrilled about the newest little one. It took some time to get all three to get along.

One day, Lola flew across the room and landed on Julia. It was so funny to me, but Julia was P I SS ED. As Lola grew, she became a bully to the ducks. I found her stomping on an elderly duck and ripping her feathers out.

I promptly took her out of the pen and isolated her into another pen. I yelled at her and told her that she was in time out. After about 10 minutes, Lola was beside herself and very upset about being alone. I returned her to be with the others, and she never did it again.

When Lola reached full size, her right leg rotated even more so. This was something that we knew would be possible when we rescued her. Lola had corrective surgery to help keep her ankles from painfully knocking into each other.

The surgery was a success and she was just getting more freedom to be outside.

I can fill my thoughts of could of..should of..would of, but that would swallow me into an endless pit of grief and sorrow. So, instead, I will be grateful for Lola being in our lives.

She was such a naughty and sassy girl. She loved pecking at volunteers' fingers. She loved anything shiny, like nail polish and rings. A volunteer even changed her glittery polish for something more plain because of Lola. But Lola knew the volunteers had rings under their gloves and would still peck at them.

She would peck at my ring (and a part of my finger). I will not miss that, but I will miss our spunky and sassy girl.

Fly free Lola

Lola’s Story

Apparently, 2023 is turning up to be the 'Year of the Turkey' for us. Just days into the new year, we took in Jasmine, a young Royal Palm turkey from Napa, California. And now in March, we now have another turkey and she also happens to be a Royal Palm Turkey! Her name is Lola and she's about 6 to 8 weeks old.

Her previous owner bought her from a breeder, when she was about 2 weeks old. He noticed that out of the bunch that he had purchased, there was one who stumbled and walked with a limp. He decided to rehome her and listed her for free on a FB page.

We answered the post and set up a plan to retrieve her with the help of our Ranch friends in Los Angeles. Lola definitely has something wrong with her legs, but she is able to walk. We're looking forward to taking her to the vet and we'll see if we can help Lola!