Turkey Talk for 2014

[Momhunter]

Over run with poults right now. Sales have really slowed down. I have 9 six week olds, 17 one week olds and 14 out of 20 hatched in the hatcher as of this morning. 6 of the royal palms are spoken for out of the youngest ones.

 

[Wasson6Pack]

Over run with poults right now. Sales have really slowed down. I have 9 six week olds, 17 one week olds and 14 out of 20 hatched in the hatcher as of this morning. 6 of the royal palms are spoken for out of the youngest ones.

What kinds are they? Do you sell peafowl too?

 

[SoProlix]

Good morning, y'all. Loving this thread. I am way behind in starting my first turkey adventure, day old BR poults are arriving just this week. Any chance they will be worth butchering come Thanksgiving this year? I'm cool with a small bird (or several), but will they be skinny? How big are your BRs at 21 weeks? Thanks for any input!

 

[Momhunter]

What kinds are they? Do you sell peafowl too?

I have two royal palm toms, a royal palm hen and two blue slate hens, so more of the mixed poults than pure royal palms. Yes I also have peafowl, trying to get my waiting list for them filled. Hopefully will have more for sale next week or the next.

 

[sonderah]

I have two royal palm toms, a royal palm hen and two blue slate hens, so more of the mixed poults than pure royal palms. Yes I also have peafowl, trying to get my waiting list for them filled. Hopefully will have more for sale next week or the next.

Man I wish u were close! I need some RP poults to raise for next year! I only had a few hatch, which I expected more, so the ones who did were pre sold. Now I have a new RP hen, and she was with different toms, so I have to wait awhile to hatch from her. I'm afraid I'm not goin to get any who r old enough to breed next year!

I am also hatching the mottled blues, from a Lavendar hen and RP Tom. Hoping to get to build another pen for them so I can hatch blue & Lavendar palms also next year!!!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Good morning, y'all. Loving this thread. I am way behind in starting my first turkey adventure, day old BR poults are arriving just this week. Any chance they will be worth butchering come Thanksgiving this year? I'm cool with a small bird (or several), but will they be skinny? How big are your BRs at 21 weeks? Thanks for any input!

Heritage birds are normally slaughtered around 9-10 months old. At 5-6 month old they won't be very filled out. Of my 5 hens and 2 toms, at 21 weeks I had one huge tom at 17.9 lbs live weight (he was always huge from day one, and still is), but my more normal tom was 13.5 lbs, and the hens ranged from 9.2 to 9.6 lbs, excluding the Royal Palm, which is naturally a smaller bird. (There are 3 Slates, 2 Black Spanish, and one Bronze that would be of similar size to your BR, assuming similar management). And at that age there was a lot of bone and little meat compared to at 9 months. So you could slaughter them early and still have a nice meal, but you'd lose a lot of their potential. At that age, the hens will probably have a higher proportion of their meat developed than the toms, even though the hens will be smaller overall.

Do you specifically want a BR for Thanksgiving, or just a home grown turkey? If you specifically want a BR, you might see if you can find someone who has some 3-5 month old started poults. You can't keep them with the day olds for a while. but they'd be ready for slaughter by the holidays. You'd need at least 2 to keep each other company. Alternatively, if you just want a home grown turkey, you could get a "day old" BBB or BBW to raise with the BRs from the beginning. They grow so fast, they're exactly ready to butcher at 21 weeks. Then you could keep the BRs for next year, as they aren't tough at 17 months, like a chicken would be. Also, they'd be old enough to breed in the spring, if you want to start your own flock, or sell any extras, etc.

 

[sonderah]

My Lavendar hen, & my RP Tom's babies have all hatched identical! Blue with yellow faces, which have turned into mottled blues. This last hatch I have one who hatched kid of blue, yellow, & brown!!! This one's wings r feathering out with stripes like my palms. The ONLY one like that out of like 30 poults I've hatched from them!!! He is the ONLY Tom I have, & they r penned, so nobody else could have gotten her. I'm so confused?!?!?

 

[SoProlix]

Heritage birds are normally slaughtered around 9-10 months old. At 5-6 month old they won't be very filled out. Of my 5 hens and 2 toms, at 21 weeks I had one huge tom at 17.9 lbs live weight (he was always huge from day one, and still is), but my more normal tom was 13.5 lbs, and the hens ranged from 9.2 to 9.6 lbs, excluding the Royal Palm, which is naturally a smaller bird. (There are 3 Slates, 2 Black Spanish, and one Bronze that would be of similar size to your BR, assuming similar management). And at that age there was a lot of bone and little meat compared to at 9 months. So you could slaughter them early and still have a nice meal, but you'd lose a lot of their potential. At that age, the hens will probably have a higher proportion of their meat developed than the toms, even though the hens will be smaller overall.

Do you specifically want a BR for Thanksgiving, or just a home grown turkey? If you specifically want a BR, you might see if you can find someone who has some 3-5 month old started poults. You can't keep them with the day olds for a while. but they'd be ready for slaughter by the holidays. You'd need at least 2 to keep each other company. Alternatively, if you just want a home grown turkey, you could get a "day old" BBB or BBW to raise with the BRs from the beginning. They grow so fast, they're exactly ready to butcher at 21 weeks. Then you could keep the BRs for next year, as they aren't tough at 17 months, like a chicken would be. Also, they'd be old enough to breed in the spring, if you want to start your own flock, or sell any extras, etc.

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. I would get some day old BBs if they were available locally, but the feed stores here aren't stocking them anymore. Definitely plan to breed the BRs for next year. Might just have to go store bought for one more year. Or have some home grown chickens instead.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
If you have the room, you can see if the feed store will order 10-15 for you, or order them from a hatchery yourself, and then take reservations for home grown Thanksgiving turkeys. Most hatcheries require a minimum of 15, although I have rarely seen a minimum of 10, for shipping. However, you can usually mix turkeys and chickens together in the same shipping box, with the typical chick minimum being 25, and each poult counting as 2 chicks (I don't know why, as they seem similar sized to me, but I guess tht subtle difference in size makes a huge difference in transport survival). Anyway, if you were thinking of ordering chicks from a hatchery that also has BB turkeys, you might be able to get your BB poult, and a lot of chicks, all at the same time.

 

[uphilljill]

I love watching poults sleep. So cute!