Turkey for meat...

[Jolyn]

I have two 20 week old Turkeys. I'm not sure how much they weigh but i'm guessing about 20 to 25 lbs. I really want to wait to cull them right before Thanksgiving so i don't have to freeze them. However i am thinking they will be too big by then. Should i cut their food in half? They are starving little creatures though...they get a little aggressive when they don't get food.

Also where do i get a huge pot to do the scalding of the bird after i've culled it and a plucking machine?

Thanks for any info!

 

[hobbyfarmrookie]

We are planning on using the pot from a turkey or fish fryer. They are big.

 

[kingmt]

You could use a small metal wash tub for scalding & I sale the plucker that is in my avatar just click on the link in my signature or my BYC page for more details. If your interested & have more questions about it send me a PM.

 

[Jolyn]

Thanks to you both!! Anyone else have any idea about keeping them til Nov?

 

[patandchickens]

You could scald it in a metal trashcan if you had a means of heating the water sufficiently -- I *think* a submersible bucket heater like the ones used in horse barns (to get water real hot for baths etc, not the ones used to keep drinking water ice-free) would do the job but have not tried it yet. I will next time I do a turkey, though, as dry-plucking was slow and left a zillion pinfeathers.

Honestly I do not think you have any much choice about keeping them to Nov other than the choice between "process now and freeze" or "keep on carefully-metered rations til then and hope they don't have leg or heart problems", sorry.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[MeatKing]

We have a propane turkey deepfryer combo set, think this would be perfect to use

 

[pdpatch]

A Turkey fryer was way to small to scald turkeys, except for Midget White's. We ended up using the propane burner from our smoker and a 55 gallon trash can filled between half and 3/4 full.

The turkey fryer Propane unit was a bit small and we didn't want all the hot water spilling.

We use a home made plucker, it's made form a PVC pipe cap and pieces of bundgy cord. There are many discussion on making the same type here in this forum. We find that we have to hand pluck the tale feather and larger primary wing feathers.

Tom

 

[ChanceRider]

I'm planning on using cinder blocks and a metal grate to elevate a large metal trash can over my propane turkey fryer burner. I don't trust that the burner stand alone would be stable enough to hold the trash can full of water.

I have MW's and BR's and don't think my turkey fryer pot is large enough to sufficiently immerse the birds for scalding.

Glad to hear that the trash can method has worked well for people. Rather than "reinvent the wheel" I prefer to "steal" other people's ideas

.

Now... off to look for a copy of the instructions for making a WhizBang Plucker.