Turkeys...Bourbon Red or Narragansett?!

[growanstede]

So we recently moved to this farm and it came with thirty (very young) turkeys. (As an aside, we're in the Madison, WI area and if anyone wants to buy some breeding birds....we don't want to overwinter this many. )

They are either Bourbon Red (which we obviously have a lot of), Narragansett, or a mix of the two because they've all been hanging out together. But we're completely perplexed. We'd like to continue with the N's but....do we even have any?!

Thanks for any help! Pictures below:

 

[JedJackson]

You have a couple of bronze or maybe wild turkeys in there, a bunch of Bourbon reds, and it looks like probably a bunch of Narragansetts, which are gray, black and white, mainly. I am not positive they are pure, though, but I'll post pics of Narragansetts from the web so you can compare.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yeah I see bronze, bourbon, and Narragansett too.

 

[growanstede]

Well what would you guys do? I think some are only three/four months old. We have a slot to get all thirty processed at a local place at $11 a bird. Some are probably not even worth it. We could do it ourselves, but we're super behind because we JUST moved in here and we're still winterizing and moving in. I have no idea what the weight would be on them. And then what...? Sell them? Stock the freezer and eat a turkey a week? OR overwinter them, which is a PITA, because the turkey pen needs an overhaul and there's no way to keep the water from freezing over there. But we could put some in the second (big, empty 24x10) egg-layer pen, they'd have room...but then what? What would y'all BYCers do? Heritage turkeys eat like pigs and I want Narrangasetts but I don't even know if they're pure anymore.

 

[drumstick diva]

agree with Jed Jackson

 

[JedJackson]

Well what would you guys do? I think some are only three/four months old. We have a slot to get all thirty processed at a local place at $11 a bird. Some are probably not even worth it. We could do it ourselves, but we're super behind because we JUST moved in here and we're still winterizing and moving in. I have no idea what the weight would be on them. And then what...? Sell them? Stock the freezer and eat a turkey a week? OR overwinter them, which is a PITA, because the turkey pen needs an overhaul and there's no way to keep the water from freezing over there. But we could put some in the second (big, empty 24x10) egg-layer pen, they'd have room...but then what? What would y'all BYCers do? Heritage turkeys eat like pigs and I want Narrangasetts but I don't even know if they're pure anymore.

Is there the possibility of selling them alive where you live? That's what I would try. Perhaps someone would take the whole lot off your hands, and you could start again when you are ready, and with stock you know is pure.

I think you are right that many do not look like they are worth processing at this point. 5 or 6 of the Bourbons look reasonable, though, so you might tempt someone to take them all because of those, if you set a reasonable price for your area.

 

[Celeste Cannon]

See if you can sell them, check on craigslist to find any buyers. If theres an animal shelter that might work too? Or a local farm that would be willing to take them? I would take some but i'm in LA. You could always give them away as fresh thanksgiving meals

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I too would try selling them first. You can probably get 30-60 dollars a turkey alive, and maybe more.