Yes, butchering animals you have raised is hard; especially when they develop personalities, as turkeys do. But we have to be able to do the hard things in this life.
All these birds are going to die, it's only a question of when and how. Heritage birds might live for many years, comparable to other pets (dogs, cats), but BBs are not likely to last very long before developing problems. If they (and you) are lucky, they will just have heart attacks and be found dead in the yard; if unlucky, they will develop various ailments that reduce health and force you to make the same choices between merciful death or prolonging life. Better a quick and useful death, than sickness and suffering, and a dead bird you cannot use... that's one way to look at it, anyway.
A neighbor who raises pigs - 2 or 3 at a time - told me his way of looking at it: "They had a great life, and only one bad day." Wouldn't most of us like to say that about our own lives!
Personally, I can imagine keeping heritage breeds - especially the Bourbon Reds and Narragansetts - as pets, but I cannot imagine trying to prolong the lives of BBs. I say process those, and get your kids some heritage poults to raise as pets. If you can free-range them, they won't eat as much...
It's gonna be hard for me in a couple of weeks, killing these turkeys we've raised. But that was the promise I made, and I keep my promises.
All these birds are going to die, it's only a question of when and how. Heritage birds might live for many years, comparable to other pets (dogs, cats), but BBs are not likely to last very long before developing problems. If they (and you) are lucky, they will just have heart attacks and be found dead in the yard; if unlucky, they will develop various ailments that reduce health and force you to make the same choices between merciful death or prolonging life. Better a quick and useful death, than sickness and suffering, and a dead bird you cannot use... that's one way to look at it, anyway.
A neighbor who raises pigs - 2 or 3 at a time - told me his way of looking at it: "They had a great life, and only one bad day." Wouldn't most of us like to say that about our own lives!
Personally, I can imagine keeping heritage breeds - especially the Bourbon Reds and Narragansetts - as pets, but I cannot imagine trying to prolong the lives of BBs. I say process those, and get your kids some heritage poults to raise as pets. If you can free-range them, they won't eat as much...
It's gonna be hard for me in a couple of weeks, killing these turkeys we've raised. But that was the promise I made, and I keep my promises.
