Standing in the Grocery Store Pondering Turkeys

[aliciaplus3]

Thank you for the update.

I think that 15-20lb dressed would be an acceptable weight range for my needs as host for a large family's holiday dinners.

we like to process our excess heritage jakes at about 7-8 months so this year DD and I agreed that we are not hatching past the end of april so that we can have all the extras processed by thanksgiving! (its TOO COLD to process in DECEMBER here)

we are working with mostly black turkeys. My DD has been breeding them for her fair project for the last 2 years so this will be her 3rd year taking birds she hatched for the meat class. this year we added some broad breasted black hens to the breeding pen( our local murdocks had them this past spring) and covering them with the biggest tom from we have. she set 8 eggs this past weekend due1-2-21 and will continue to set eggs weekly for at least a month so she has a good number of birds to choose from. some of our home raised birds last year dressed out at 22 pounds!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Usually it's too cold to butcher in December here too. It's in the 30's this year, and it had to be done. I have the best husband.

 

[aliciaplus3]

Usually it's too cold to butcher in December here too. It's in the 30's this year, and it had to be done. I have the best husband.

we did 3 turkeys this past sunday and I must say even though it got up to 42 by the time we were done it was COLD

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

we did 3 turkeys this past sunday and I must say even though it got up to 42 by the time we were done it was COLD

He took a big bucket of hot water out which helps to warm the hands. He also works outside year round, so he's well acclimated to the current temperature. I was cold and wondered how he did it.

 

[aliciaplus3]

He took a big bucket of hot water out which helps to warm the hands. He also works outside year round, so he's well acclimated to the current temperature. I was cold and wondered how he did it.

we also processed 10 cockerels and I have a tendency to spray myself when I spray off the bird during the final rinse before putting them in the shrink bag. we set up the plucker and a BIG pot of water over a propane burner so the entire process is completed outside( love leaving the mess outside) when we walk back inside the birds are sitting in their shrink bags resting on ice. this is a great system for the summer but looses its appeal this time of year>>>> lol

 

[Burdi]

I kept anywhere from 10 to 40 heritage turkeys, all genetics from Porter turkeys over a 10 year period. All of the Jakes would get to 15 pounds or more dressed by 7 or 8 months. The only exception is royal palms which only sometimes made it past 15 pounds at 1 year plus. Black Spanish and bourbon red seemed to grow fastest and get the biggest. By comparison broad breasted grew much faster and by 6 months were monsters. They were raised with the heritage birds on the same feed. Tasted much better than market birds but not quite as flavorful as heritage.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

we also processed 10 cockerels and I have a tendency to spray myself when I spray off the bird during the final rinse before putting them in the shrink bag. we set up the plucker and a BIG pot of water over a propane burner so the entire process is completed outside( love leaving the mess outside) when we walk back inside the birds are sitting in their shrink bags resting on ice. this is a great system for the summer but looses its appeal this time of year>>>> lol

My husband hand plucked them. He wants to fry them up later this week. Usually he skins them out. He also did one cockerel that was fighting with the rest in his group. I asked if I should pick out a duck so he could have turducken, but he declined to the relief of the ducks.

Is a plucker worth the investment? We don't do enough birds to have a system. He just sat out in the pasture on some railroad ties that are out there.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Pluckers are amazing and I'm never hand plucking anything every again if I can avoid it. If you're doing at least 3 chickens (or probably 1 turkey) it's worth the time and effort to set up, but they're W E T.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I kept anywhere from 10 to 40 heritage turkeys, all genetics from Porter turkeys over a 10 year period. All of the Jakes would get to 15 pounds or more dressed by 7 or 8 months. The only exception is royal palms which only sometimes made it past 15 pounds at 1 year plus. Black Spanish and bourbon red seemed to grow fastest and get the biggest. By comparison broad breasted grew much faster and by 6 months were monsters. They were raised with the heritage birds on the same feed. Tasted much better than market birds but not quite as flavorful as heritage.

Up until this past year, I had only Porter stock. I was surprised to see how much bigger the Murray Mcmurray stock is compared to Porter. I assume Porter mostly breeding for colors, so perhaps bigger isn't what he breeds for. It's why I originally stated it would take nearly a year to get a 20 pound turkey from heritage varieties. Now I see you can get them there sooner based on the hatchery. I also like the look of the black hens better. They have nice dark faces. Too bad the only black jake was obnoxious.

 

[aliciaplus3]

My husband hand plucked them. He wants to fry them up later this week. Usually he skins them out. He also did one cockerel that was fighting with the rest in his group. I asked if I should pick out a duck so he could have turducken, but he declined to the relief of the ducks.

Is a plucker worth the investment? We don't do enough birds to have a system. He just sat out in the pasture on some railroad ties that are out there.

we ran through 250-300 cx??? this past summer so for our operation a plucker is VERY well worth the money, I bought the biggest one I could find under $1000 .... still not quite big enough for a turkey over 20pounds but does help and a wonderful thing for cx and chickens.
up until last year we hand plucked because we would only do 10 birds at a time.... just extra cockerels.