Butchered a turkey hen last night, and...

[jossanne]

We rested the bird in the refrigerator for 5 days before baking. I wasn't sure how well I'd do with butchering, and it helped that this one was, um... kinda hit by a very slow moving vehicle. We didn't have to kill her.

I don't know how she died, because the car was going only 1 or 2mph in my driveway, and it came to rest with the tire on her right wing feathers. My husband didn't even know he'd hit her, and came inside for a few minutes. I think she had a heart attack?!?!? My son heard her other wing flapping and came to get us, and right as we got out to her she expired.

There was no bruising on her skin or meat, and no obvious sign of trauma to her anywhere. DH slit her throat right away, and we were able to bleed her out quite well while we waited for the scalding pot to come up to temperature. She dressed out beautifully.

It will be different actually killing them next week, but now that I know that they're not the standard birds I've been looking forward to, and that they won't live long, healthy lives, I think it will be easier to process them.

Good luck to you!

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

that is a BB bronze, not standard. A standard bronze hen will not get that big in 5 months. A standard bronze hen will dress like that at 8 months to a year old, but with out that huge breast.

If the other two look like her then they are BB to, so they will live but not a great life like a heritage bird would. i think your RP tom will not be big enough to mate with the hens ?? But you never know !!

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Quote:
60 of them?!

Thats a lot of turkeys. I love mine too. Unfortunately we have a BB Tom that we just love and he is soon ready for the table.

I wont do it tho. A neighbor will take him, do the deed and all. Now we have others that I think I will eat.

jossanne,, how hard was it to pluck and how did you do it? My DH will only skin them. He does his wild turkeys that he harvest the same way. He usually just saves the breast. This fall I'm going to make him keep the legs and thighs and make turkey soup/broth and can it for our winter meals.
BYW It looks good!!

 

[MissPrissy]

If that is a BB Bronze she wasn't fed out well or had a stunted growth. At 5 months my BB Bronzes are over 50lbs. Last years Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas turkey was closer to 70 lbs. There are photos on the forum.

My standard bronze hens weigh in at 15 - 20 lbs.

Your photo looks like my Standard hens. My BB bronze hens are monsters with very wide set legs. The legs are also much thicker.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

the one way to tell a BB from a standard is the leg BB have shorter legs, but if you don't have anything to compare to its not much help, but yours are BB's they are to wide to be standard

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Quote:

I had no idea that they get that big!! How do you fit them in the pan? Mine weighs about 25# now at 5mos. and I thought that was big.

 

[MissPrissy]

We made a pan. The photos are here on the forum. They were awesome birds.

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
I got these turkeys a month ago from the previous owner because his dogs had been killing his birds, and he didn't want to lose the rest of them to the dogs too. I didn't know the owner, but my parents did, and my mom said he was trying to raise them as cheaply as possible. She thought he'd been feeding them the same thing as he was feeding his goats. He wasn't planning to butcher until November, because he said they were still "bony" when he gave them to me.

I got 3 bronze females, 1 bronze male and the royal palm male. The male died two weeks ago, and I thought it was an infection from injuries received when he was attacked by the guy's dogs before I got him. He started limping, then laid down and didn't get up for days before he died. When I looked him over, before he died, he had a wing joint protruding from his skin in his right wing. We hadn't noticed that before, as he wouldn't let us look him over closely.

Anyway, now I'm thinking he went down on his legs and died as a result. I had weighed him a week before, and he was about 26 pounds, which isn't huge. But if he was starting to gain weight quickly on the turkey feed I was giving, maybe his stunted legs wouldn't hold him and his heart gave out? I dunno...