Butchered a turkey hen last night, and...

[jossanne]

Last night a turkey was accidentally killed at my house, so we did a quick butchering job. I've posted about these turkeys a few times, and some of you may remember me asking questions about them a month or two ago when they were given to me - 4 bronze and a royal palm.

I posted pictures on here , and the general concensus was the turkeys were standard, not broad-breasted. They were all the same age, and not much thicker than the royal palm at that stage. They were about 4 months old in the pictures.

Last night when we butchered the hen, she dressed out at 16 pounds. She was about 5 months old. So do you think a standard bronze female would butcher out that big??? Or is this a broad-breasted that just wasn't fed well to start, so she didn't grow much until she came to my house?

If it is a broad-breasted, is it worth it to even try to keep the other two females? My male turkey is a royal palm. Could they live a healthy life and reproduce next year?

Thanks!

 

[Poupoulles]

Is there any way you have a pic of the carcass? I am about to butcher few from my flock and I wonder how they will turn out. I have some bronzes that are all kinds of different sizes, so I wonder...

 

[jossanne]

Yep, will get one later this evening and post it.

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Our BB tom weighs 23# (2 weeks ago) and I was wondering how much he would weigh when dressed out.?? We are watching him to make sure he doesn't keel over before we are ready to hand him over to our neighbors. We cant eat him, got too attached.

 

[jossanne]

I just read that turkeys dress out at 60-70% of their live weight.

 

[sandspoultry]

So do you think a standard bronze female would butcher out that big??? Or is this a broad-breasted that just wasn't fed well to start, so she didn't grow much until she came to my house?

If it is a broad-breasted, is it worth it to even try to keep the other two females? My male turkey is a royal palm. Could they live a healthy life and reproduce next year?

No I do not think a Standard bronze would dress out that big at that age. Chances of the other 2 hens living a long healthy life and reproducing are not very good if they are BB. If you are wanting to raise turkeys then I would suggest getting another Royal Palm to go with your tom turkey.
Sharon​

 

[jossanne]

Cooked her and ate part of her today, and boy was she good! Big, full white breast, so it's 100% without a doubt, a broad-breasted. I don't think I tasted much difference between this free-range turkey and a grocery store bird, but it was sure nice to know the happy life she lived and that we processed the meat ourselves. Well, I did it almost all by myself - my husband sliced open the back of his thumb on the first cut he made. He got 4 stitches that evening.

I'm very proud to know that I can butcher a turkey without his help... Yay, go me!

We'll butcher the other two girls next Wednesday, and find a home for the royal palm, since he won't have any turkey friends at my house until next spring. I don't want to raise royal palms, even though he's beautiful and a very nice boy.

So here's what the others look like now...

And here's the butchered bird all dressed out...
With my 11yo daughter

 

[fowler_chick]

judging by the size of the cat in the back round in the 2nd pic, thoses turkeys are huge!!

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
LOL The cat is only around 4 months old, and not very big yet. Don't judge by her...

 

[MandyH]

Quick question: Did you rest or brine the turkey, and if so for how long. I've got turkeys comin out of my ears and I know I have excess toms and I WANT to try to process one, but I just don't think I can do it. They are such sweet souls, and all 60 of them follow me EVERYWHERE I go on this farm.