A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[OneMountainAcres]

Molpet & BookEm...cuties all!

I'm NOT IMAGINING my girls have more neck & head feathers. Long time neighbor brought it up. She innocently asked me where Annie got all those feathers on her neck. She doesn't remember seeing that many on her neck before either. I need to get pictures.

I LOVE when they get those. It gives them a very elegant look. Pebbles has always been my flashy girl, both in color and thick neck feathers

Wow...30#'s is alotta turkey!

X2! I'm curious to see how much this guy we butcher on Sunday will weigh. His dad dressed out at 20 lbs and this guy is getting pretty good sized. I've been reverting to him as the smaller turkey when taking to my mom though I'm starting to wonder if he'll actualy be that much smaller lol

 

[rjohns39]

Hi all! Hope everyone is well! Butchered my two meat turkeys today! My big boy is 30lbs! My moms going to flip when I bring it too her. Have to buy her a bigger roasting pan to go with it lol.

Make sure you rest the bird in the fridge for 3-5 days before cooking.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

He's huge! Will he be okay till thanksgiving? My husband is leaving tomorrow to head home so I had to butcher him today.

 

[rjohns39]

keep him in the fridge and yes.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Was it a BB? They can get huge!

It was supposed to be a heritage mix but he was pure white and huge. Him and a female. Shes like 15lbs.

 

[duluthralphie]

I LOVE when they get those. It gives them a very elegant look. Pebbles has always been my flashy girl, both in color and thick neck feathers



X2! I'm curious to see how much this guy we butcher on Sunday will weigh. His dad dressed out at 20 lbs and this guy is getting pretty good sized. I've been reverting to him as the smaller turkey when taking to my mom though I'm starting to wonder if he'll actualy be that much smaller lol

I am hoping for 12-15 each,,,,I hope...

 

[sfgwife]

Ok i gots questions tonight...

Lookin at porters for birds because we want heritages for dinners and not bb. They have the breeders choice and then the “mutt” choice.

Anyone ever gotten their mutt grab bag? (If they have ever offered it before now). Did you like what you got? What might we expect if we did get this as far as varieties? Or would you have rather gone with the breeders choice of nonmutty babies?

Then. On the breeders choice. Were you happy with it? Or would you have rather picked specific varieties (like from another hatchery or local breeder). I have just seen a lot of great things about porters birds more than other places to order from is why i am askin bout porters. Yea we do have favs for the colors and tempermemts from reading but not actual experience with others from the bronzes.

And. They ship in may... about how many pounds of bird could we expect by thanksgivin from a may bird? Or is it best to let them grow til the next year for thanksgivin meal birds being that they are heritages? I am thinkin i kinda know this one.... in march we got a bronze hen and right now she is a regular meal sized bird not one for loads of family to eat on. But since we have only had the heritage bronze and bb whites didnt know if other heritage varieties grow quicker.

And on another note....Say we got a hen and tom that were the same variety and wanted breed true but kept a varied bumch of birds together like i see some of you doin.... How long do you have to keep just those separate from others to make sure they will breed true to their individual variety?

Last thing... i know someone in here has said guinea tastes great. How do you cook it? At what age? Do you also eat their eggs? How do the eggs compare to turkey or chicken? I think this one was either @memphis or @R2elk but not positive?

Thanks everyone!

 

[R2elk]

And on another note....Say we got a hen and tom that were the same variety and wanted breed true but kept a varied bumch of birds together like i see some of you doin.... How long do you have to keep just those separate from others to make sure they will breed true to their individual variety?

Last thing... i know someone in here has said guinea tastes great. How do you cook it? At what age? Do you also eat their eggs? How do the eggs compare to turkey or chicken? I think this one was either @memphis or @R2elk but not positive?

If you are just wanting the birds to eat, the mutt choice will be fine. It is my experience that the crosses often grow faster and get bigger than the pure breeds.

If you end up with pair that you want to breed (not likely that any in the Mutt package will breed true) as long as the tom that you want to breed her to is the only tom that you keep, it does not matter how many other hens there are as to whether she will breed true. But if you are keeping other toms and you want to make sure that she is not being bred to other toms, I would separate them from the rest around the start of February. Here, heavy pre-breeding strutting starts in January with breeding starting in mid February and egg laying beginning in mid March.

Guineas are absolutely delicious. I just cook them the same way I would any other similar sized fowl. An adult standard guinea will dress out at about 2 1/2 lbs. The last one I ate, I stuffed and roasted it. Any time after they are nearly adult sized (about 6 months) is when I process them. Unfortunately I haven't had any spares to eat in a very long time since people just keep buying them. A neighbor made noodle soup with one I gave her and said that her family raved about how flavorful the soup was.

The guinea eggs like turkey eggs are excellent for baking or custards. Two guinea eggs typically equal one chicken egg. One person said he liked the guinea eggs better because the yolk to albumen ratio in a guinea egg is much higher than in a chicken egg. With a guinea egg half the size of a chicken egg, the yolk is still nearly the same size as the chicken egg yolk is. I like them hard boiled and pickled with beets since the hard boiled egg is a nice size to just pop in your mouth.

 

[sfgwife]

Thank you!

We arent positive as to just eatin or eatin a d breeding. We see and hear of a lot of people wantin turkeys round these parts but they are hard to come by most of the time. So that is why the possible breeding for others as well. Just a thought right now really on the breeding. But a def yes for eatin.

 

[memphis]

R2elk....now I'm curious to taste a guinea.