New to raising turkey's, Bourbon Reds

[NHchickenflock]

What's are peoples opinions on Bourbon Reds to raise for meat?
I am looking at picking up 2 6 week old poults.
Anything special I should know?
What is a general slaughter age?

 

[gingmf1980]

I currently raise Bourbon Reds they are a heritage breed so they take longer to grow out which means more cost in feed. They are a lighter bird so they will fly! My garden suffered this year as they were flying our of their coop I had to invest in some netting to stop them from eating all my green peppers. Some say they have a better flavor then the commercial turkeys but I won't be butchering for a few more months. Ours seem happy with the scraps from the garden (now that they can't steal anything from it anymore). They seem to be a lot smarter then our commercial turkeys they have more of a personality then the commercial birds. We have incubated their eggs and they seem to be pretty hardy specially after our 5 year old kept messing with the temperature. Hope this helps some

 

[NHchickenflock]

Would it be ok to keep them in a 5x8 coop?
Is it ok to free range them or will they roost somewhere else?
What age are you thinking you are going to slaughter them?
Thanks in advance!

 

[gingmf1980]

I usually don't go by age I go by weight but I do know the hens will only get to about 16 pounds and I believe the toms around 24 pounds so when they start looking yummy I go butcher lol. I don't free range I'm too nervous they will run off with the local wildlife so I usually keep them content with scraps from the garden worms from our compost bins etc. How many do you have in the 5x8 coop?

 

[NHchickenflock]

There will just be 2 in there, it's a coop inside my barn I used for chickens until I built a new 10x18 for them.