Heritage & Exhibition Turkey Thread

[Jmanvanatta]

see i like turkeys but i cant get any animals that are just gonna eat food so i wanna know if they are worth it to breed and eat the eggs?

 

[mstarr]

I have a question about cooking a heritage turkey. I just processed my 1 1/2 yr old Bourbon Red hen. Is this turkey old enough that it would be better cooked in a pressure cooker like I do my older chickens, or can I roast it in the oven and at what temperature? Thanks, ahead of time for any shared info!

 

[wasteaway]

We cooked a 2-3 year old Tom that weighed 28# dressed and he cooked in 3 hours on 325 (170 degrees everywhere so actually overdone) and it was excellent. Very juicy and tasty with a bit of the typical heritage chewiness, but not bad at all and that was without a brine. I say just cook as normal.

 

[mstarr]

Thanks, wasteaway! That's what I'll do.

 

[Arielle]

see i like turkeys but i cant get any animals that are just gonna eat food so i wanna know if they are worth it to breed and eat the eggs?

I eat my birds and eat the extra eggs. A little hard to crack, but taste good. You need to define "worth" . . if you are talking dollars and cents, then no you are not likely to break even if you feed commercial grains. If you want a healthy food source of meat and eggs, then get the birds eating grass and bugs in addition to the grains and you will have very good food to eat.

If you want fast growth, then get BBW or BBB and feed commercial pellets and butcher at 4 months.

THe heritage birds grow out over a much longer time. My 4 month olds are about 20 pounds right now, ( estimated not actually weighed) and will grow until Christmas this year, then into the freezer.

Mine run all over the farm getting their food.

 

[Arielle]

I have a question about cooking a heritage turkey. I just processed my 1 1/2 yr old Bourbon Red hen. Is this turkey old enough that it would be better cooked in a pressure cooker like I do my older chickens, or can I roast it in the oven and at what temperature? Thanks, ahead of time for any shared info!

Lot to be said for letting the bird rest a few days before cooking. My most tender were left in the refrige for 2 days-- I haven't tried longer as I don't have the patience for longer. But 2 was worth repeating. Long and slow oven also works better in my experience. ANd I cook a lot of turkeys.

 

[Arielle]

ANyone know any one with info on how to breed AUburns???

 

[Lagerdogger]

Auburns are just bronze-based chocolates. True chocolates are black based. Cross a chocolate with a standard bronze. The offspring will be black, but carry a recessive bronze-based gene and a recessive chocolate. Cross these back to themselves and 1/4 will be auburns. The chocolate gene is sex-linked, and I haven't put any thought into the consequences of that, but I don't think it will matter.

 

[Arielle]

Auburns are just bronze-based chocolates. True chocolates are black based. Cross a chocolate with a standard bronze. The offspring will be black, but carry a recessive bronze-based gene and a recessive chocolate. Cross these back to themselves and 1/4 will be auburns. The chocolate gene is sex-linked, and I haven't put any thought into the consequences of that, but I don't think it will matter.

THe feathering on the back in the "auburn" coloring varies a lot. Some are more uniformly a dark"auburn" and others have lighter feathers sprinkled in, and one is mostly the lighter feathers. Usually uniform coloring is prefered but what is the right coloring for these birds?

And upon butchering a few I noticed the leg coloring. SOme are white, a few are pink. ANy thoughts on this?

 

[elizmartin]

see i like turkeys but i cant get any animals that are just gonna eat food so i wanna know if they are worth it to breed and eat the eggs?

Turkeys don't lay as regular as chickens so i think it depends if you just like enjoying the pretty birds walking around eating your bugs. they are good watch dogs and will make noise if someone comes.