Turkeys for xmas 2007

[glenniedragon]

I know this seems a long way off yet, but I am seriously thinking of having a few fattened up for xmas. Any experience of Turkeys out there?
Is it best to hatch them out myself, or buy poults?
when to hatch/buy? I know I have to keep them apart from my chooks as they are more susceptible to some diseases but anything else? when and how should I cull them? So many questions I know and I'm sorry for mentioning next xmas already!

kind thoughts
Deb

[camillitech]

me too deb,

we've just polished off a £45!!! free range organic turkey that my mum bought us and when i saw the price tag i nearly fainted but i have to say it was the nicest bird i've ever eaten. got me thinkin' same as you so i'm watchin' this thread closely.

cheers paul

[thomas533]

There is a great artical in the Mother Earth News Archive about raising turkeys.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1998 ... iving_Bird

[glenniedragon]

Thanks for the article, a good starting point for me. They recommend culling at 24 weeks so that means hatching out the beginning of July, so far I've found out they are very similar to hatching chooks but with slightly higher humidity and for a week longer.
Possible plan so far.....
2nd week in June start off eggs in incubator
2nd week in July hatching
Cull week before Xmas

I've looked into prices of grower and finisher feed and there's not a lot of difference between the cost of my chook food. I'm still deciding whether to buy just 2-3 poults in july and avoid possible hatching nightmares...

kind thoughts
Deb

[glenniedragon]

Incubator is checked and ready to go, I've found a supplier who breeds Turkeys and sells Hatching eggs and young poults up to March/April...Still not sure which way to go- Hatching eggs are the same price as he charges for day olds, they get more expensive (add a pound on for each week) as they get older....

Just thought I'd let you know my progress...

kind thoughts
Deb

[Boots]

That's a bit odd then. Being a gambler I'd have to go with the day olds, at least you know what your starting with and your not dicing about with a change in temp/humidity.

[Chickpea]

It would have cost £55 for a goose in our local farm shop butchers. My sister said "Flipping heck! It's be cheaper to buy a live one!". Well, yes. That's sort of the point. How could it possibly be the other way round?

The funny thing is you can get two prepared goose breasts for £17, so I reckon that makes the drumsticks £20 each.

[glenniedragon]

Just watched Chicken Little, Dad chicken was going upstairs when he said, "ah, the old drumsticks are aching" really made me chuckle as I had just read your post Chickpea.....expensive aching drumsticks

not really on thread, but hay ho

kind thoughts
Deb

[Chickpea]

That's spooky - I was watching Chicken Little today as well.

It's rubbish, isn't it?

[glenniedragon]

It was an Xmas pressie for one of the offspring (not from us) its not bad- Fish is the best character, even though he doesn't speak!

Kind thoughts
Deb

[Sassinak]

I little tip that I figured out the hard way.

White turkeys are much easier to prepare. When you pluck them, if there are any immature feathers they show as black spots on bronze birds but they are white and unnoticeable with a white bird. Its a shame because the bronze are much more handsome to have around and if they are for my own use I would have bronze but not if they were for other people

[glenniedragon]

Thanks for the tip, is there much difference in the taste of the different turkeys? I know I have bought Bronze before, any recommendations?

kind thoughts
Deb

[Sassinak]

There doesn't seem to be a difference in flavour between breeds. Certainly not to the extent that there is with breeds of sheep. I think it comes down to the feed and conditions they are kept in. The main problem I had was keeping the size down - they were HUGE I had to take the legs off one individual to get him in the oven

[farmerdrea]

We get a couple of broad-breasted whites each year, as day-old poults and raise them to 6-8 months old before we eat them. We let them free range, as they love to eat grass, and they are very flavourful at that age. We keep them in the house in a small box on a hot pad (it's an electric pad meant for pets, but it's brilliant doubling as a brooder for small poultry - on it now we have a couple of ducklings who had a negligent mum) till they are feathered out, feeding them on chick crumbles, then they go to a smaller cage in an outdoor shed when the nights get warm enough (around 10C), then graduate to free ranging at about 10 weeks of age. They are as happy as can be, foraging, eating grass, bugs, etc., and now have discovered where we feed the cats, and try to come in the laundry porch at every opportunity to steal cat food!

8 months is about as old as they can get, as they are bred to grow so big that by that age, the toms can barely walk. Sad, really, but they have good life here and make very good eating.

We also raise wild turkeys (white factor of bronze turkeys, the kind that run wild in the US) for eating, but they are much smaller bird, so don't make all those lovely leftovers.

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

[madasafish]

6 eggs in incubator on Monday: due end July ... hopefully on menu for Xmas and Easter...