Indian Lake High School and Ohio Hi-Point FFA seniors Meya Karbowiak and Justin Zimmerman are making significant progress with their poultry project this year, raising 52 turkeys in the campus FFA Barn.
This year’s project is benefiting from a new water source, which has made daily care tasks such as feeding, watering, and maintaining the pens much easier for the students. The turkeys, which arrived as poults in July, have required careful management, including regular feeding, pen cleaning, and bedding maintenance.
Initially, Karbowiak and Zimmerman faced challenges with aggressive behavior among the turkeys. To address this, they have implemented protective fencing and separated the more aggressive birds into different enclosures.
The turkeys are set to remain in the FFA Barn until early November. At that time, half will be sold in anticipation of Thanksgiving, while the other half will be donated to a local food bank to support families in need during the holiday season.
Karbowiak and Zimmerman are using this experience to further their FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience projects, with the goal of earning State FFA Degrees in the future. More information on purchasing the turkeys will be provided later this fall.
