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12 weeks. They’re BBW, so I can’t tell who is a boy. One is almost 2 pounds lighter, so I’ve guessed that one is a girl.

Is it normal for turkeys to insist on roosting too high to jump down? Mine get up almost 4 feet above a concrete floor in the shed, then wait in the morning for me to lift them down to get the floor. Come to think of it, they also do this on a 3-foot-high brick wall in the backyard. I think I’m...

Absolutely 100% agree. Our meaties get a lot of affection, but always with the knowledge that they will be dinner someday.

At the final weigh in last night, Mercedes beat out Abbott and went to processing first. Here are the weight results: Live weight: 17 pounds, 11 ounces Carcass weight: 13 pounds, 8 ounces Giblets weight: 13 ounces A little over 3 pounds lost, about 20%, from live to processed total weight. He...

Had to go back and check — they hatched around April 20th. They were slower growing than my Cornish cross at first, but now they are putting on almost 2 pounds per week. our turkey feeding schema: 30% protein starter weeks 1-9 Allow free range starting at week 4 Add scratch bowl at week 6 Lower...

He will be the best thanksgiving dinner you ever have! Somehow the more you love them, the more you appreciate the food they provide.

All right! Abbott weighed 16 pounds on Wednesday evening. I weighed him early because I was gone Friday. So by all predictions he’ll be ready for his big moment tomorrow. :celebrateLove my meat birdies!:love I’ll take time today to think through my setup and give him a peaceful sendoff.

So to get a 12 lb dressed, you start with 15-17 live weight? We’re about 2/3 of the way there! Yay! I’d love to smoke a turkey, but have no idea how to smoke something big without a special smoker. (The electric one I have always blows the breaker no matter where we plug it in.) I just have one...

Thank you — that is excellent advice.

Time for an update — week 8.5 Today the poults decided to pre-season themselves by taking turns dust bathing in a garlic patch (RIP, garlic!) and sneaking into the garden to stuff themselves with tomatoes. They are very on-board with this Thanksgiving thing! So I went ahead and weighed them...

Wow, these guys can be brutal. Two of them ganged up on Martin Greenbird: Just in the time it took to get this photo, Mercedes Turkey and Abbott got into a scrap! :barnieGuess I have to let them work it out. :( I wonder if this is really why turkeys are bald.

Whoops — picture of two of them

Three weeks old now. I haven’t been weighing them. These little ones are a lot more active than the Cornish were. They will not hold still on the scale.

My methods won’t really change, but I’ll have to make some equipment adjustments. I don’t have a restraining cone big enough, so I’ll have to either hang them by the feet or use a towel straitjacket. The scalder is big enough, and the ice bath will either be the usual 5-gallon bucket or an ice...

Well, we sold 6 poults and kept 4: Mercedes and Greenbird, and the 2 biggest ones. Their new habit is to fly out of the brooder aiming for a lap! Fun now, but not so much in a few weeks. What I’m starting to do now is little massages in the brooder. Hopefully the more they’re handled, the less...

These are the broad breasted white turkey 10-pack from tractor supply. The are supposed to be from Hoover hatchery but shipped out of St Paul MN. All 10 arrived alive — though most were very lethargic. But I Broiler Boosted the water and gave a couple hours of close attention and all survived...

I guess this is a bad time to mention I just got some black silkie eggs.... or maybe those just fall under the chicken category. :D

Well, these guys are being raised as food... They will get very big very fast. It’s just that around here meat birds get the royal treatment as much as possible. We like to give “spoiling our dinner” a whole new meaning. ;)

Martin Greenbird and Mercedes Turkey. My first time with turkeys since my parents had them. So excited!