Talking Teds
Teddy standing (or should I say hanging) guard by the entrance to the vegie garden against the bush turkeys
A good friend of mine had a problem with a Bush Turkey (also called Scrub Turkeys, Bush Chooks and I am sure a number of other names not suitable for publication…) The Bush Turkey had decided to make a nest very close to his home, and he was not happy about that at all. After shooing the Turkey away numerous times, whereupon it, of course, returned every time, he pondered the problem…
For some reason unbeknownst to him, the thought entered his mind that he should put his big teddy bear; Ted, on top of the Turkey nest. He did, and law and behold, the Turkey did not return. Feeling a bit sorry for Ted, sitting out there in the weather, he pulled him off the nest after a while, and as soon as he had, the Turkey returned! As soon as Ted was placed back on the nest, the Turkey stayed away.
After he told me this story it stayed in my mind, and when we had a problem with Bush Turkeys coming into our garden and destroying our vegetables and fruits, I set out to get some teddies at the opp shop. I came home with 4 teddies (they sell at the opp shop at around 50 cents each) and we proceeded to tie them up on the fences and gates around the vegie garden.
We have not had Bush Turkey problems since….
My friend told me that people do not believe him when he tells his Bush Turkey story, but I can tell you, teddies seem to scare the Bush Chooks and have kept our vegie garden safe so far! Do make sure they stay out of reach of puppy dogs, since they also seem to make a wonderful playmate for them…
Author: Zaia Kendall
Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport (snow skiing) and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc (now PermEco Inc.) with Tom, and runs the “invisible structures”, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles and records and edits videos. She assists Tom in running the Kendall Permaculture Farm and supervising other volunteers. She is an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs percussion and marimba workshops, is the percussion leader for the Woodford Folk Festival People’s Orchestra and composes as well as plays music. She is passionate about community music and loves seeing people discover that they can play!
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This is indeed great news – thank you soooo much!
Is there something special about these teddies? I went to Vinnies and bought 2 old teds, but the turkeys here just walk right past them!
I don’t know, maybe they are not big enough to be intimidating? Taller than the bush turkey is probably good…
I tied them above turkey head height. I’ll look out for something bigger 🙂
Reblogged this on Grow food for health.