Best feed for taste?

[Coop Deville]

Just purchased my first poult ever last week. My goal is to raise a good-tasting turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Any particular feed or additives that might make my backyard turkey taste comparable to the store-boughts?

 

[Scottingitup]

A home grown turkey is going to taste better than a store bought! To really make it exceptional let it range or give it a constant supply of vegetation treats and bugs (weeds, grass, etc)

 

[frank53061]

Just purchased my first poult ever last week. My goal is to raise a good-tasting turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Any particular feed or additives that might make my backyard turkey taste comparable to the store-boughts?

That Home grown Turkey will not tast any thing like a store bought Turkey it will tast much better and also depends on what breed.
If you bought a Double brested white breed you will have the large white brest if you have the heritege breed you will porbably have more dark meat and smaller brest and more flavor.
As Scottingitup stated the more range of food you allow them to eat also helps with the tast of the bird.

 

[Frosty]

Lock it up so it doesn't have room to move and make sure it eats nothing besides commercial feed, but why would you want it to taste like a commercial bird? In my opinion, that defeats the purpose of raising your own.

That being said, it likely won't have as much flavor anyhow because it'll still be really young when Thanksgiving gets here (usual age for a lot of us is 5 - 6 months old for BB turkeys). Is it Broad Breasted? If it's a heritage turkey it won't have much meat at that age either.

 

[Coop Deville]

My concern is that if the meat is too gamey or different tasting, the wife and kids won't be too enthused about my small backyard flock.

 

[Frosty]

i have never had one taste gamey, just more like the difference between beef and veal. They simply have more flavor. I lock them up for the last week or so and feed them grain and apples. I have had a lot of folks tell me that they would never eat a store bought bird again.

 

[Coop Deville]

Thanks for all of the advice. Since my bird won't be up to full size on Thanksgiving, should I hold it until Christmas? I figure he/she will be 15 or 16 weeks old at Thanksgiving -- too small for butchering?

 

[Frosty]

Should be ok (if it's Broad Breasted and not heritage), just feed plenty of protein and keep feed available. Mine go for longer so I restrict feed to avoid potential leg problems. Especially since I often decide to keep one around, so don't want them to be too big.

 

[Coop Deville]

Much obliged for the advice. Thank you.