The Old Folks Home

[perchie.girl]

I'm glad y'all have brought up turkeys. We got a young Eastern Tom last fall. Come spring he was trying to make it with every bird he could catch; be it chicken or duck he didn't care. So we figured it was time to get him some girls of his own size. We ended up with some of them solid white turkeys with the pink heads. I guess those are the commercially used butterball types. So the plan worked and the two turkey girls who were gotten strictly as "escorts" were name Candy and Angel. As a little time went on, they started putting on weight. A LOT of weight. Even their feet are fat now. So I figure they're not meant to live long and won't do as pets. Kinda like cornish chickens that are meant to be eaten young. The kids have renamed them.... Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here's my dilemma. One of them is very friendly. I can squat down and she will stand between my knees and lay her head against me as I scratch her neck and head. She particularly likes when I scratch around her ears so she just closes her eyes and stands there. Will these turkeys in fact live a few years or are they a "fat'en'em'up'n'eat'em" breed?

Unfortunately unless you put them on an "air" diet they will get large enough to break their legs.... I had a neighbor who was given a White Tom because the original owners couldnt bear to dispatch him.... He was sixty pounds before he stopped being able to walk.... The hens might not fair so bad though becuase they are smaller in general...

I had two turkeys... Bought at the feed store so no clue as to what type... but they were the wild kind. Those birds were connusmate fliers. Mr. T was such a goofy bird.... He would sneak up on you like Snidely Whiplash and if you turned around he would reach down and peck at something like... "Oh I was just here pecking at This" I could gobble at him and he would gobble back and Fluff his feathers.... his face would get blue to show how handsome he was.... LOL.

The hen would just hang around... doing hen stuff. "Im not here.... you dont see me..."

My house is an odd arrangement.... But the dining room was where I had my computer setup... Sliding glass door Normally to the back yard actually opens to a Green house room. Inside that green house room was a pipe affixed to the wall above the slidign glass door and in an Ell formation was fastened to the support post for the roof of the green house. (No glass any more at that time I had the roof converted to roof) So there was an open space about twelve feet by seven awaiting the "some day" I could afford French doors. The pipe was left over from when it was used to support a privacy curatin.... another long story.

So I am sitting at my desk listening to the evening sounds.... Chickens putting themselves to bed Coyotes in the distance the thump thump thump of my horses hooves as she parks herself next to the Guinea coop.... Dont know why but she loves Guinea fowl.... the green house room is stuffed with boxes form my move there... I am typing away as the sun sets and I here a Giant THUMP outside the door.... OMG what in the heck... I turn on the Flourescent lights in the green house room and look around. Up pops Mr. T from the floor between some boxes.... he shakes his feathers out.... and looks up.

Here is the hen looking down at him from the pipe... he squats down and flaps those huge wings of his and is up on his perch a good twelve feet from the ground.... I could see the wisdom of the roosting spot... Taller than the trees outside yet protected from predators above. The smell of people all about would keep footed predators away... Unfortunately the perch was only about an inch and a half in diameter.... So I guess falling off the perch at night is a normal thing....

Mr. T was named after the character on the A Team.... Beautiful bronze feathers with irridescent blue and green and hints of gold.... He had the bling. and the attitude.

deb

 

[RoboDuck]

Our Eastern Tom has matured nicely and and gorgeous when he gets all poofy and full of color. We named him Hanks. When I introduce him, it's "This is my Tom, Hanks". I guess we'll just have to eat both the girls despite the pet quality personality one of them has. Hopefully some of the poults we have are girls. They're still too young to tell yet. We have sweetgrass, naragansett and eastern wild so hopefully we'll get hens out of one of those batches.

 

[Alaskan]

Alaskan, what kind of tires do you guys use up there?

I think most people use all weather tires in the summer, and then studded tires or chains, or even studs and chains in the winter.

 

[Peep_Show]

@Alaskan
So sorry you had to go through that. Sounds like you need some chocolate and ice cream Rx. Gooey chocolate cake works, too.

@chickadoodles
Nice looking turkeys. I use the large plastic bags, too, but stick a vacuum cleaner hose in it to suck out the air. Works for meat birds in gallon bags, too.

@bamadude
Hooray! You're back! We worry that your remedial sentences get longer and longer. Don't want to lose you! Straighten up and fly right... or at least fly under the radar.

@perchie.girl
I am experiencing PUI right now.

We just got back from the 3rd Annual Southwest Bacon Fest...DH's choice of weekend activities. We had VIP passes AND made friends with the main sponsor the night before at his Stumbling Steer Brewery where we stopped in for dinner. I have drunk a very large amount of his custom batch of bacon bourbon vanilla stout before noon our time. VIP passes meant we got in early so as to avoid the long lines at the vendor booths, our choice of seven items, and got reserved shady seating. Good eats! Driving in I had to laugh at the carloads of men. (Well, bacon and nine breweries in attendance. What do you expect?) I finally got to wear my "Praise the Lard" T-shirt with the pig on it....folks loved it. Anyway, the eats menu is:

http://www.southwestbaconfest.com/vip-bacon-bites








edited for clarity

 

[vehve]

Quote: Do they sell Nokia tires there?

 

[Alaskan]

 
Nice sized birds. You should get them vacuum sealed to preserve the quality of the meat better.

Thanks vehve but I don't know where to take them as big as they are. Arielle has been doing her own birds for a long time and she told me to do them like this. That they hold up good. 

When we have stuff too big to vaccuum pack, I wrap them with sarran wrap, oodles, and then a plastic bag, and the freeze.

 

[hennible]

Mine are penned other people free range theirs. I had to put mine on a diet for the last two months to keep them from over eatting. lol

Thank you for the info

I'm glad y'all have brought up turkeys.  We got a young Eastern Tom last fall.  Come spring he was trying to make it with every bird he could catch; be it chicken or duck he didn't care.  So we figured it was time to get him some girls of his own size.  We ended up with some of them solid white turkeys with the pink heads.  I guess those are the commercially used  butterball types.  So the plan worked and the two turkey girls who were gotten strictly as "escorts" were name Candy and Angel.  As a little time went on, they started putting on weight.  A LOT of weight.  Even their feet are fat now.  So I figure they're not meant to live long and won't do as pets.  Kinda like cornish chickens that are meant to be eaten young.  The kids have renamed them.... Thanksgiving and Christmas.   Here's my dilemma.  One of them is very friendly.  I can squat down and she will stand between my knees and lay her head against me as I scratch her neck and head.  She particularly likes when I scratch around her ears so she just closes her eyes and stands there.  Will these turkeys in fact live a few years or are they a "fat'en'em'up'n'eat'em" breed?

You could try heritage breeds as pets....

 

[Alaskan]

 

Alaskan, what kind of tires do you guys use up there?

I think most people use all weather tires in the summer, and then studded tires or chains, or even studs and chains in the winter.

Do they sell Nokia tires there?

Yes



AND @Peep_Show I WISH I HAD BEEN THERE!!!!! BACON AND BEER!!!!!

I might die of dehydration just thinking of the food that as there!


OK...hack and wheeze.....off to work

 

[vehve]

Bacon fest sounds delicious.

Alaskan, out of interest, what kind of reputation do the Nokia tires enjoy?

 

[hennible]

Yuck... I must go out and be "social".... Even put on make up in an attempt to be presentable

Lol... See, you can tell I'm impressed...