Ok it been 5 months seen I receive my 24 baby day old turkeys . I ended up losing a few and ended up with a total of 17 birds
I send 6 to the butcher shop last week and 5 more today, no wait Thursday / yesterday .
And my freezers are full of turkeys
The 5 I did Thursday morning , I weight them early this morning before taking them to the local butcher shop and this where the results ;
large giant whites
1 tom - 42 lbs
3 hens / female - 28- 30 lbs
bourbon red
1 tom - 15 lb
Ok after picking them up from the shop and getting back to my house and placing them in there winter home before I cook them LOL I re-weight them once again ; these where the finally results of lbs,
large giant whites
1 tom 30 lbs
3 hens / female 20 22 lbs
bourbon red
1 tom - 9.5 lb
these birds where weight WITHOUT the necks , livers , gizzard , ECT. stuffed in side the body
I have the results from the 1st. patch but not on hand and the turkeys that I did do then where 2 different breed s, I try to find those results and weights .
I do have still yet have left 4 Royal Palm Turkeys 1 tom and 3 hens
And 2 Bourbon Red Turkeys -1 tom and 1 hen which I will keep a pair of each to try to breed for next year stock , the other two will go to the butcher with the 20 X-rocks in 5 weeks or so .
The things is I have to see if the price of the baby turkeys feed ratio per bird / per lbs , - care/ raising the bird -processing the bird at the butcher shop vs the lbs of meat .
Im thinking that there is about 10 to 20% lost in live weight vs finish bird weight meat and bone only no junk ( neck , livers , gizzard , ECT)
I know I over feed or always keep feed in there feeders 24/7 and there are not so call free range -there in an out side pens/ runs X amount of birds per pen / runs and my pens could be larger, there only 70 sq ft. per run/pens and there like pets also and I dont really think of them as a food sources only .
The reason I grew these birds at this large weight was thinks about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner , see we feed a very large family , last yr my mother in law bought two 20 lbs turkeys just for thanksgiving alone so I grew these thinking of that but as for just me and the wife during the coarse of the years of cooking a turkey dinner a 8 to 10 lbs would be plenty for us with left overs .
Next year I will only grow 2 very large birds with top weights of 25 to 30 lbs .plus and say 6 birds for just me and the wife for the yr. at 10 lbs or so which is plenty .
So like I stated I have to see how much each bird /lbs cost me to raise from start to finish , ruffly specking I figure a 22 lbs turkey--- bought/feeded / care for / processes and in the freezer cost about $45.00 or $2.05 a lb plus my time and labor
I send 6 to the butcher shop last week and 5 more today, no wait Thursday / yesterday .
And my freezers are full of turkeys
The 5 I did Thursday morning , I weight them early this morning before taking them to the local butcher shop and this where the results ;
large giant whites
1 tom - 42 lbs
3 hens / female - 28- 30 lbs
bourbon red
1 tom - 15 lb
Ok after picking them up from the shop and getting back to my house and placing them in there winter home before I cook them LOL I re-weight them once again ; these where the finally results of lbs,
large giant whites
1 tom 30 lbs
3 hens / female 20 22 lbs
bourbon red
1 tom - 9.5 lb
these birds where weight WITHOUT the necks , livers , gizzard , ECT. stuffed in side the body
I have the results from the 1st. patch but not on hand and the turkeys that I did do then where 2 different breed s, I try to find those results and weights .
I do have still yet have left 4 Royal Palm Turkeys 1 tom and 3 hens
And 2 Bourbon Red Turkeys -1 tom and 1 hen which I will keep a pair of each to try to breed for next year stock , the other two will go to the butcher with the 20 X-rocks in 5 weeks or so .
The things is I have to see if the price of the baby turkeys feed ratio per bird / per lbs , - care/ raising the bird -processing the bird at the butcher shop vs the lbs of meat .
Im thinking that there is about 10 to 20% lost in live weight vs finish bird weight meat and bone only no junk ( neck , livers , gizzard , ECT)
I know I over feed or always keep feed in there feeders 24/7 and there are not so call free range -there in an out side pens/ runs X amount of birds per pen / runs and my pens could be larger, there only 70 sq ft. per run/pens and there like pets also and I dont really think of them as a food sources only .
The reason I grew these birds at this large weight was thinks about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner , see we feed a very large family , last yr my mother in law bought two 20 lbs turkeys just for thanksgiving alone so I grew these thinking of that but as for just me and the wife during the coarse of the years of cooking a turkey dinner a 8 to 10 lbs would be plenty for us with left overs .
Next year I will only grow 2 very large birds with top weights of 25 to 30 lbs .plus and say 6 birds for just me and the wife for the yr. at 10 lbs or so which is plenty .
So like I stated I have to see how much each bird /lbs cost me to raise from start to finish , ruffly specking I figure a 22 lbs turkey--- bought/feeded / care for / processes and in the freezer cost about $45.00 or $2.05 a lb plus my time and labor
