I got turkeys!

[Blondie]

Just picked up a couple of bronze breasted turkeys yesterday. The feed store had people there selling chickens, rabbits, turkeys, etc. They are about 5 weeks old and cost $10 each. They make these high pitched cheeping noises. I'm hoping to have the nerve to eat them at Thanksgiving.

I wanted a Tom and Jen, so the guy does the "string test". He swears by it. We'll see.

I have them in a separate coop until they get as big as the chickens. The chickens and goats are very curious.

 

[Motherhenandflock]

Yeah, you will love your turkeys. Maybe you could name them Thanksgiving and Christmas!
What is the "string test"?

 

[Blondie]

The string test is where you hold a string with a weight on it (like a nail) over the chicken and if it swings back and forth it is male. If it swings in a circle it's female.

Just like the old days before ultrasounds, we would do that to pregnant woman. It was right 50% of the time!

 

[Motherhenandflock]

Oh! I was ready to grab some string.

I'll just wait until I hear gobbling.
And your turks look great, by the way! They are fun birds.

 

[EboyDog]

I have 5 turkeys which are my first and I too had visions of Thanksgiving feast in my mind when I bought them but I'm trying so hard to stick to my rule of not naming anything I plan to eat but it's getting so hard esp when they gather around me when I walk under the apple tree all due to the fact that me and my 5 year have figured out they LOVE summer apples (of course it's only my nature to cut chucks of apples for them and feed them by hand!!).

 

[jkcove08]

We have 6 adult turkeys and several younger ones. 2 of my toms will be for thanksgiving and Christmas. IT doesnt take long to figure out who will go when they chase the cars and poo on my DH truck, that is a death sentence right there. LOL But as far as naming them you just have to give them food names. We had 2 pigs we raised to butcher ans we named them ham and bacon. The kids understood right from the start. Jen