These are my birds at the start of 2011
Initially (last year) I just got a few poults to see what raising turkeys was like. We found it very enjoyable and once we ate our first self raised "heritage" bird for Tday we were hooked. AMAZING!!!
I thought I would keep over our favorite tom and get a hen to supply our household (and maybe some family/friends) with our turkey meat needs. Then someone told me I need more than one hen to keep a tom occupied (makes since with what we knew about chickens) So we got three girls to keep our big boy happy. Then I was told how prolific turkeys can be . . . hmmm . . . I'm hearing one hen can easily successfully raise 20 poults a year . . . uh oh
Thus the 2011 Turkey Plan: sell fertile eggs, then sell leftover chicks, then sell sexed poults, then sell live Tday birds, butcher the rest, sell what I can, share the overage with family/friends/neighbors, & donate the leftovers to charity. I am figuring I can make enough to cover the cost of my turkey meat for the year, give some great gifts, help the world a little, and get a tax deduction out of it.
I can't wait to see the colors I get out of these guys!
This is Amos Moses; he's about 9 months old & was sold to me as a BSP X BSL, although the breeder has since said he could be off on the BSP part, but the hen was definately a BSL. He has very interseting penciling/squiggle lines on his tail feathers.
This is Ellie May; she was sold to me as a BSP X BSL also, but from a different breeder. She is a lovely lavender blue color with beautiful patterning. She is the favorite of the household, and it's very hard to take pics with her around as she always has her beak stuck right up to the camera.
This is Miss Audry; She was sold to me as a RB and has all appearances of one, although I don't know enough to judge the quality, and it didn't matter to me anyway as I was just looking for COLOR and hybrid vigor. Compared to the others she is the talker and alarmist, also camera shy. She looks a lot better in person but kept runing from me with the camera. She is also the highest percher; Ellie May is always coming to me to tell me what the "Stupid Red Headed B!@#$" (Ellie May's name for her not mine) is on top of now
This Sweetie; (she came named lol) She was sold to me as a MSG, she looks like one as far as I can tell, but there is a lot of conflicting info out there on this breed/coloring . . . what do you think? She is by far the most standoffish of the bunch, but came to us as the oldest, and wasn't really hand raised, so I don't judge her to harshly. Her coloring is gorgeous and I really can't wait to see what she produces. She is 2 and raised chicks last year, the breeder said she was his best layer/mom so we will see!
My goal is to raise our own meat for free (paid for with sales) and one day come up with a unique color/pattern that breeds true . . .
Initially (last year) I just got a few poults to see what raising turkeys was like. We found it very enjoyable and once we ate our first self raised "heritage" bird for Tday we were hooked. AMAZING!!!
I thought I would keep over our favorite tom and get a hen to supply our household (and maybe some family/friends) with our turkey meat needs. Then someone told me I need more than one hen to keep a tom occupied (makes since with what we knew about chickens) So we got three girls to keep our big boy happy. Then I was told how prolific turkeys can be . . . hmmm . . . I'm hearing one hen can easily successfully raise 20 poults a year . . . uh oh
Thus the 2011 Turkey Plan: sell fertile eggs, then sell leftover chicks, then sell sexed poults, then sell live Tday birds, butcher the rest, sell what I can, share the overage with family/friends/neighbors, & donate the leftovers to charity. I am figuring I can make enough to cover the cost of my turkey meat for the year, give some great gifts, help the world a little, and get a tax deduction out of it.
I can't wait to see the colors I get out of these guys!
This is Amos Moses; he's about 9 months old & was sold to me as a BSP X BSL, although the breeder has since said he could be off on the BSP part, but the hen was definately a BSL. He has very interseting penciling/squiggle lines on his tail feathers.
This is Ellie May; she was sold to me as a BSP X BSL also, but from a different breeder. She is a lovely lavender blue color with beautiful patterning. She is the favorite of the household, and it's very hard to take pics with her around as she always has her beak stuck right up to the camera.
This is Miss Audry; She was sold to me as a RB and has all appearances of one, although I don't know enough to judge the quality, and it didn't matter to me anyway as I was just looking for COLOR and hybrid vigor. Compared to the others she is the talker and alarmist, also camera shy. She looks a lot better in person but kept runing from me with the camera. She is also the highest percher; Ellie May is always coming to me to tell me what the "Stupid Red Headed B!@#$" (Ellie May's name for her not mine) is on top of now
This Sweetie; (she came named lol) She was sold to me as a MSG, she looks like one as far as I can tell, but there is a lot of conflicting info out there on this breed/coloring . . . what do you think? She is by far the most standoffish of the bunch, but came to us as the oldest, and wasn't really hand raised, so I don't judge her to harshly. Her coloring is gorgeous and I really can't wait to see what she produces. She is 2 and raised chicks last year, the breeder said she was his best layer/mom so we will see!
My goal is to raise our own meat for free (paid for with sales) and one day come up with a unique color/pattern that breeds true . . .
