Standing in the Grocery Store Pondering Turkeys

[Geena]

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.

Good to know. All our heritage turkeys came from Porter as well. It makes sense that he concentrates more on color, but seeing how we raise them for meat I'm more interested in size than color.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you all for this great discussion!

 

[Wild-Turkey]

My Red Bourbon jake is about 31 pounds and 8 months old, he is from Cackle hatchery (I now know it’s better to get local or from Porter’s). It depends largely on the breeding stock of each variety and where they come from. Just know that young turkeys, especially heritage, eat a lot. My four eat free choice and go through two medium-size bowls of 16%-18% protein feed a day.

 

[3KillerBs]

Just know that young turkeys, especially heritage, eat a lot. My four eat free choice and go through two medium-size bowls of 16%-18% protein feed a day.

I know I won't save any money.

Our intent with raising meat birds is to get chicken and turkey that doesn't have any of that "broth" or "tenderizing solution" injected into it.

That stuff not only tastes nasty (so much SALT), but my DH is allergic to something they use in it.

 

[Wild-Turkey]

I know I won't save any money.

Our intent with raising meat birds is to get chicken and turkey that doesn't have any of that "broth" or "tenderizing solution" injected into it.

That stuff not only tastes nasty (so much SALT), but my DH is allergic to something they use in it.

I completely understand that. I personally don’t buy factory farm meat or certain other brands of meat because of the abuse, but that stuff they inject is disgusting and so vague with the ingredients. I wish you good luck in raising meat birds. It can be hard but it’s also fun.