I know this makes me crazy but I'm going to ask anyway

[chickenzoo]

LOL, I', sure he'd let you get one......... look how cute they are..... LOL

It is unbelievable how friendly and affectionate a full grown Emu can be. My male, Jazzy is like a big dog, comes over and puts his head on my shoulder for a HUG. He loves being petted and doted on. ; )

PS... peafowl are fun too..... hehe, a lot like turkeys

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
We need to talk in the spring, there used to be an Emu farm around here and I told my son they were giant turkeys.

I have wanted to hatch some myself, let me know when yours start laying.

Steve

 

[chickenzoo]

Quote:
We need to talk in the spring, there used to be an Emu farm around here and I told my son they were giant turkeys.

I have wanted to hatch some myself, let me know when yours start laying.

Steve

Sure Steve............................ glad you got a Sun roof in that new car, I see this in your future.....

 

[HennyJenny]

I WANT AN EMU!!!!

I love the emus - they are like big dogs - they walk up to my kids and lay their heads on my kids heads. My husband asked me what I was going to do with all of the eggs on the counter - I replied "throw them in the incubator" - his response was not friendly - I'm pretty sure a giant blue-green egg in the incubator would attract attention.

I have never seen a baby emu until now - that is adorable - how old is it?

ETA - I just showed my husband the picture of the baby emu..... I think he can be won over!

 

[Lagerdogger]

Quote:
Small World!. I'm from Huntington Beach Ca,

and it was exactly people who grew up there that I was refering to when I mentioned people that wouldn't eat food that didn't come in styrofoam!

I also agree with Ziggy that it is perfectly natural to take the slaughtering of animals very seriously. We slaughter chickens in a large group, and the first year I participated I didn't appreciate the calous attitude of the man with the knife. Since that time, I have had that job. Not because I like to kill things, but because I believe killing is serious business. The time for merriment is at the table, not in the killing cone. I once made a bad cut and the chicken got loose. It was hard to catch despite being seriously wounded. On the other hand, I am thankful that I have the space to raise my own food, and I wouldn't go back to store-bought poultry, eggs, or meat.

I love my turkeys, and my friends and neighbors are certain I cannot go through with the Thanksgiving slaughter. But I have done it enough to know that I can kill those birds because I believe in this lifestyle.

 

[Eagles_View]

Well well well.....looks like I started reading a topic I have trouble with and it's turned into a short story...I really do enjoy all you'alls
comments...but I have settled on the same problem with my own happy ending.

I don't care.
Yep...I don't care what it costs to feed "da girls"....or my "guinea guineas"....or my two new narragannett turkeys. I just want a piece
of the world I grew up with before I was taken to live in the city...the sounds and the smells of grandma's place has stayed deeply rooted in me and now, at the ripe ol age of 58 I can have my "memories" all alive and around me. We sold out in town, semi retired and moved to a 10 acre hobby farm...I've been a happy lark ever sense.

I have two of everything...family thinks I'm Noah reincarnated LOL.
I've tried buying a broody hen, she gave up on the eggs, so now she's in the flock and her eggs ended up in the trash.
My first 12 guineas were ate up one night by something.
So...I got 12 more and boy are they a force to be reconed with...adults now, I watched them scare off and attack a fox just last friday...chased him, jumped up on him, pecked him and gave him an ear splitting departing song to remember them by....I never bothered getting in a shot...they did just fine.

My hens lay the eggs and the whole mess is overseen by two jolly roos...one is a huge easter egger roo and the other is a tiny, strutting janpanese banty...looks like Enis and little Enis from the movie Smokey and the Bandit. LMAO

I'm not gonna eat any of them...just let em live out their lives here on Eagles View. They have names and some are more tame than others, nothing like looking over our foggy bottom ground from up here, hot coffee in your cup and a round fat barred rock hen sitting on the arm of your chair to get the day going.

All my birds free range. If they get to far away I have just got to step out the door, and slam it...then yell out anything and they will come running...they waddle, they walk and some fly towards me to gather at my feet for a treat.

Life just don't get no better than this.......just keep in mind, we are at the top of the food chain and can decide to love it or eat it.

-Eagles View
NE Missouri

 

[mamawolf544]

Quote:
Very well said. I have pretty birds for eggs and such and I buy meat birds and I call them Dinner the whole time. But I am very good to them, and feed them healthy snacks and let them range a little to be chickens. I have Turkey's I couldn't imagine eating but I am buying BBW's next year to eat. And I have been wanting a pig to raise and slaughter but we have a potbelly and she is so smart it makes it very hard to do. But on the flip side I really want to know what I am eating. So I am trying. But I do love looking at the birds.

 

[NakPakChick]

HennyJenny, I totally understand. We purchased two BBB last year. Thanksgiving and Christmas were their names. Ended up being a tom and a hen. They were like big dogs! They'd come lay with me on the grass, come running for treats, Mr. Turk (thanksgiving) would gobble when you whistled at him. But the time came, last november, when the deed had to be done. And he had gotten so huge that life was hard for him.
The turks free ranged with my chickens, walking up and down our driveway (about the length of a city block with a small incline). Mrs. T (christmas) started beating the crap out of him! She knew he wasn't gonna last long. We set a date, and low and behold the weather turned nasty. With good intentions I made up a bed for him in the horse trailer. Nice and comfy and out of the weather. How would we get him up the driveway? He wasn't walking much. So I decided let's put him the kids wagon and pull him up the driveway. He did not like that! Freaked out and had a heart attack! So I had to dress out a 60 pound turkey in the freezing cold, dark no less, while hubby went off to night shift. But I was spared having to put the knife to my "buddy". Boy did he taste good. We were atattched to him, he WAS a big pet, but we all knew what his purpose was. I thought my three boys would have a hard time with it, but they took it in stride. We had talked the whole summer about what the turkey's purpose was, how we were giving them a much better life than the factory farmed birds.

Mrs. T started laying some huge, excellent omelet eggs, so she got a bit of a reprive. But she won't make it another harsh winter. So to the stew pot she goes. It will be hard, but it's her best interest, and it was her purpose. I'll miss feeding her apples and tomatoes and strawberries tho....

Having a "pet" get old and in frail health is no easier tho. I just had to have my 27 year old mare put down. Hardest animal decision I have EVER had to make. It's hard either way.

I purchased some Royal Palm poults this spring, only have one left. He's a bit of a pet, but we'll see.

 

[Redbarn]

HI, I am new here and enjoy reading everyones post on this thread. Since I'm new, I will just express my own thoughts on what I do rather than suggesting to someone what to do. Even though the question on this thread is , butchering or feeding.. I myself have only 3 turkeys. Two I raised from the size of my palm and 1 that I just got from an auction full grown. I have so much pleasure in raising them, that I wouldn't consider butchering them. Since there is a shortage of 'wild turkeys', I would rather raise to mate them. and sell off their offsprings. Since I only have three turkeys, it doesn't take much feed , though I stopped giving them "Fast Grow" and placed them on the cattle feed instead. I also have a container of 'whey' protein powder , since they were small, I sprinkled the protein powder in their water. Now they can go out from their 'corn crib' where they stay, and mosey around the yard and pasture in the daytime and pick around the ground for food.. Towards the evening they jump back into their nesting area. So if I had a choice of butchering them? Or keeping them? I say, it's worth keeping them and will buy enough groceries to get my store bought turkey for almost nothing,.

 

[arabianequine]

Quote:
Seems like a lot of feed to me they might just have a heart attack anyways......I would butcher. Get some more turkeys in the spring or some in the spring for not meat.

I just had 3 butchered the other day and not attached to them at all really but I did not cull either. I bought them to lay eggs to hatch and the 2 hens were not laying so why keep feeding. They were all 1 1/2 years old.

Oh yeah I wanted to mention the tom that I had butchered had so much fat around its chest I am not surprised he did not have a heart attack.

ETA: don't over feed them I heard people say turkeys will just keep eating and eating and they don't need it if you wanna keep for a long period of time for a pet might be something to think about....and expensive to over feed if you don't need to. There is a thread about how much on average turkeys need to eat daily....I am thinking 1/3 pound? I can't remember maybe someone will tell us.


Good luck!