Turkeys taught not to fear bangs

A TURKEY farm is using a novel way to protect its animals on the approach to Bonfire Night — by setting off its own fireworks as a form of conditioning.

Copas Traditional Turkeys in Cookham is owned and run by the Copas family, major landowners in the Henley area.

In response to the sound of “noisy” fireworks many pets, wildlife and livestock will run scared or act out in panic.

Turkeys are no exception and, due to their size and razor-sharp talons, they can become a danger to their fellow turkeys if they become seriously distressed.

Tom C Copas, fourth-generation farmer of the Copas family, described how Copas Turkeys has its own technique for protecting its birds against the ruckus. It sets off its own fireworks, which acts as a kind of exposure therapy for the turkeys.

By setting off its own in a more measured way, the farm’s turkeys can get accustomed to the fireworks prior to the slew of private displays on the major celebration nights of the year.

Mr Copas said: “In general, turkeys can be quite easily spooked. When they get spooked, it sets off a chain reaction and they all jump, flap and twitch.”

The turkeys, in their panic, will land on top of each other, causing further panic and injury.

The effect is especially bad at night-time, when the light flashes across the dark sky.

Mr Copas said: “When it’s dark and a light flashes, it makes them jump, which makes the others go, ‘What was that?’ and they panic.” At this time in their life cycle, this panic chain reaction is particularly problematic. They are being fattened for Christmas and putting on a lot of weight.

Mr Copas said: “Come the beginning of November, these birds are basically full adult size and their talons are rather long.

“Now they’re big heavy birds with long talons, so when they get spooked, jump up and land on each other, they cause each other quite a lot of damage.

“We obviously don’t want this [stress and injury] for the turkeys.”

Worse, these injuries might not be spotted by the farm until close to Christmas, which is bad for business.

“You’re putting a lot of work down the pan,” said Mr Copas. “People don’t want a turkey that has all been scratched to pieces.”

To prevent this, workers “train” the turkeys not to panic when fireworks go off by exposing them to fireworks in a more controlled way.

During the run-up to Bonfire Night, the farm lets off its own fireworks, during the day at first.

That way, the turkeys are less likely to panic from the onslaught of loud noises combined with bright flashes of light. “Initially they’re getting used to the bang,” said Mr Copas. “Then we let fireworks off in the evening to create more of a flash.

“The idea is that, come Bonfire Night, they’re all prepared because they’ve seen fireworks before, so they’re not that bothered by them.”

The farm has always done this, Mr Copas added, since it began in 1957 under Tom Copas Snr.

“You don’t want to risk not doing it,” he said. “You never know when the nearest firework display might be, because a lot are in private gardens.

“It’s the same as how we are preventing our predators and foxes getting in that scare our turkeys.”