Ok we started chickens and turkeys this year. For turkeys we got bbb because someone was ordering them already so we had them add 2 more for us. My wife is wanting to keep raising turkeys so I get to do some leg work or try to at least. I have a problem of every time I go to google something about turkeys 8 times out of 10 I get cooking info so i'm making this thread which has probably been made a million times over but not seeing.
1. Is there a chart for turkeys like this http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html but instead of egg color tells skin color, size, average time to grow and how good it flys?
2. Do all heritage turkeys grow at the same rate or is there some that grow a little faster for a little less feed cost?
3. Does skin color really make much of a difference when processing the turkey?
4. Is there hybrid turkeys that grow faster but can still mate naturaly?
5. Is there a turkey you would recommend for a starting turkey?
This is a hobby/dinner thing so trying to keep it on the cheaper/easier side of things. I'm not wanting to buy turkeys every year i'd rather hatch my own flock. I saw one site where a farmer was listing differnces in some of his turkeys and rating the taste but lost the site and even that didn't answer most my questions.
Thanks for any info and advice.
josh
1. Is there a chart for turkeys like this http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html but instead of egg color tells skin color, size, average time to grow and how good it flys?
2. Do all heritage turkeys grow at the same rate or is there some that grow a little faster for a little less feed cost?
3. Does skin color really make much of a difference when processing the turkey?
4. Is there hybrid turkeys that grow faster but can still mate naturaly?
5. Is there a turkey you would recommend for a starting turkey?
This is a hobby/dinner thing so trying to keep it on the cheaper/easier side of things. I'm not wanting to buy turkeys every year i'd rather hatch my own flock. I saw one site where a farmer was listing differnces in some of his turkeys and rating the taste but lost the site and even that didn't answer most my questions.
Thanks for any info and advice.
josh