This Turkey Farm Celebrates the Season With Birds of a Different Color
Flock to Gozzi's Turkey Farm in Guilford, Connecticut, and you won't find the neutral-hued turkeys we've all come to expect. Nope, the stars of Gozzi's Farm are much brighter — even neon! — than that.
The vibrant turkeys, which range in color from orange to pink to green, are a tradition at the farm that dates back generations. It was in 1940 that third-generation owner Bill Gozzi's grandmother started displaying the birds to amuse local children.
The bright idea really flew off. According to Gozzi, kids come by the busload on school trips, while senior citizens make the pilgrimage in vans. Visiting the turkeys is also an annual outing for many families, such as Christa Trudeau's. Trudeau has been going to the farm since she was 2 years old, never skipping a year. Now she brings her own children to see the birds.
"It's just so bizarre," Trudeau told Today.com. "It seems almost like a cartoon. It's like a fantasy, it seems so unrealistic. If you happened upon it and had never seen it, I imagine the first time you would see it, it would make no sense. But it's so silly, it makes you laugh."
Still, no matter how outlandishly delightful the turkeys – which were originally white – may be, the source of their coloring remains a family secret. But Gozzi does admit that it has nothing to do with genetics.
"Kids ask, 'Is it in the egg?' 'Is it in the feed?' We just let everybody use their own imagination," he said.
Some people do think they have the colorful turkeys figured out — general (though, unofficial) consensus on the Internet points to a non-toxic, vegetable-based dye that is applied to the turkeys' feathers. But maybe don't tell your kids – some things are meant to be a little bit magical.
[h/t Today.com
The vibrant turkeys, which range in color from orange to pink to green, are a tradition at the farm that dates back generations. It was in 1940 that third-generation owner Bill Gozzi's grandmother started displaying the birds to amuse local children.
The bright idea really flew off. According to Gozzi, kids come by the busload on school trips, while senior citizens make the pilgrimage in vans. Visiting the turkeys is also an annual outing for many families, such as Christa Trudeau's. Trudeau has been going to the farm since she was 2 years old, never skipping a year. Now she brings her own children to see the birds.
"It's just so bizarre," Trudeau told Today.com. "It seems almost like a cartoon. It's like a fantasy, it seems so unrealistic. If you happened upon it and had never seen it, I imagine the first time you would see it, it would make no sense. But it's so silly, it makes you laugh."
Still, no matter how outlandishly delightful the turkeys – which were originally white – may be, the source of their coloring remains a family secret. But Gozzi does admit that it has nothing to do with genetics.
"Kids ask, 'Is it in the egg?' 'Is it in the feed?' We just let everybody use their own imagination," he said.
Some people do think they have the colorful turkeys figured out — general (though, unofficial) consensus on the Internet points to a non-toxic, vegetable-based dye that is applied to the turkeys' feathers. But maybe don't tell your kids – some things are meant to be a little bit magical.
[h/t Today.com
From: Good Housekeeping US
By Zoe Miller
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