Life span of Bronze turkeys?

[thetajmahalcoop]

We are new to turkeys, bought 4 babies this summer, butchered 2 in november (18 lbs and 25 lbs) the 25 LBer is actually in the oven cooking today, we had the 18 lber for thanksgiving, my brother deep fried it and it was AMAZING! The second two we didnt butcher yet and now my butcher has closed for the winter....

well yesterday one started acting like it was having a hard time walking, and now this morning it's on it's death bed and I will not be medicating it/performing any heroic efforts on it as it was raised to eat and has had a very cushy life up to today. When I looked at her yesterday her legs appeared to be swollen, and now I am thinking it is her heart giving out because she so's heavy? I've read that this happens with cornish chickens before butchering. Has any one else had this experience? They are broad breasted Bronze that I'm sure came from a hatchery of some sort. We have never had any issues with the turkeys until now, despite everyone saying they are hard to raise. I'm a nurse and the legs are looking kinda like heart failure to me.........any response would be a big help thank you in advance. I think I'll be going with Bourbon Reds from here on out....

 

[Frosty]

Broad Breasted turkeys are very prone to leg problems because their legs have trouble supporting the weight, and turkeys in general can have heart problems (if I recall correctly they have very high blood pressure). So could be either or both going on there. What are you feeding? If they get a lot of corn in their diet, they'll have a lot of fat in there, too. I feed to keep weight gain as slow as possible, and free range if I can. It helps keep them from getting too massive too fast and helps cut down on the leg problems. I have actually heard of folks having BB turkeys for 12 years, though it certainly isn't common.

 

[thetajmahalcoop]

oh boy i need to find another ASAP then! they free range and get scraps like the chickens do, its been freezing up here in NY so they've been getting some corn and bread and extras like the chickens have been. poor dear I do feel bad but it doesn't appear to be suffering. <------going to call another butcher NOW

 

[Frosty]

Out of curiosity, why do you need to get another ASAP?

 

[thetajmahalcoop]

my butcher (who i love to death and very cheap I might add 1.80 a chicken to butcher, 5-10 turkey $) is closed for winter maintenance, I've called 3 others all closed for the season. I just called my aunt and she's asking her hubby if he will do it for me today/tomm, i have two bronzes, if they butcher both, I'll give them one to keep for themselves (and maybe trade for some of their venison or lamb hee hee hee insert evil laugh here.....)

 

[Frosty]

Ahhh... gotcha!

Good plan! Just wanted to make sure that you weren't planning to breed. Too bad you don't live close to me! I have a BB Bronze that fooled both myself and a friend who has been helping me butcher for the last several years. We thought that we left two hens (I plan to try crossing them with White Hollands) and darned if one didn't gobble at me the other day! So he has to either go to the freezer, or to somebody else.

 

[hunterjumper999]

frosty, im new to the idea of turkeys and just wondered why it would matter if they wanted to breed... just wondering

 

[Frosty]

These turkeys are the Broad Breasted variety. While the hens could breed with a heritage tom, the Broad Breasted tom is too big to do the deed. This is why they use artificial insemination for the BB turkeys.

 

[thetajmahalcoop]

FROSTY---wanted to update you....MY Dear Uncle and cousins came over Sat. eve to butcher the Hen, her legs were getting huge, I am really thinking heart Failure but I'm a human nurse, not a bird nurse.......any ways it went very quickly bc we decided to skin it vs. plucking as the sun was setting and it gets cold fast up here in NY this time of year. Was done and over with in less than an hour, with my Uncle teaching my DH along the way, DH didnt want any part in it at first, he got a little attached to the turkeys I think, but then was digging right in to help and learn. DH used to trap and skin animals for a living so this wasn't too far off. Thank you for all of your advice and I think if we do turkeys this year we will do them going into summer, not at the end of so we know our butcher can finish them up for us. Thanks again!

 

[sonew123]

how much did she weigh??