Turkeys For 2013

[Zootopia]

When you are after "fast growing, corn fed fat pigs" you are right about them rooting up and eating everything they can get in their mouth. But this is the thing---- we are raising Heritage turkeys and there are Heritage Breeds of hogs that can be raised on pasture, grass fed. These breeds are not fast growing, putrid fat animals when raised as intended. Where I live in West Texas, it would not be possible to raise such an animal as we have little graze. I was raised in Ohio where lush green pasture is the norm and Heritage hogs are raised in grass pasture not grain. I do know that there are farms in Central Texas raising 2 Breeds of Heritage hogs and selling meat. This is not your Fathers hog, it is your Great Granddads hog. Very neat, but pretty expensive too. The hogs are slower growing with a wonderful flavor and not as fat as what we are used to from store bought, of course. But like raising our own birds, isnt that the point?

 

[Arielle]

I have 6 of Arielle's Red Bourbon eggs in my bator that are due to hatch on the 31st. This is only my second hatch so I am keeping my

I hope you have a good hatch!! I love my BR! NOt only pretty but also soooo friendly. Well, actually , all my birds are friendly.

No new hatches for me yet. But I have first time broody turkey hens sitting on a clutch of eggs. I think around 12-15 eggs. Both hens seem to be sitting on them together. Im guessing hatch day will be early sept. Im trying to decide what to do with my Toms so they don't disturb the hens and their clutch...


edited to add pics

Good girls!! Hope you can gt the tom situated so the girls can do their thng.

 

[Arielle]

Not to change the subject, but we are often asked, how to tell the sex of turkey poults and young adults. These are the facts I believe to be true and if anyone would care to contribute to the list, please do. If I have something wrong, please correct me, since I do not want to spread incorrect information. This seams to be the number one question asked on the turkey threads !

1. All colored feathered turkey hens will have lighter edging on the breast features and toms will have darker edging.
2. Males will weigh more than females hatched at the same time and this will become more apparent as they grow older.
3. Toms will have thicker legs than hens.
4. Both can have beards, but toms will grow longer.
5. Toms have longer thicker snoods as they reach maturity.
6. Toms Chronicles will be bigger than hens and the heads and necks will be a darker red.
7. Toms will be bald, while hens will develop a thin line of feathers up the back of their heads.
8. If you can hold the bird on your lap, laying on it's back, at any age, if it holds it's feet up close to it's back, it is probably a hen, because it is a defensive position for a tom or a rooster, too,(for that , matter) to extend one or both legs. This, I find works from day old chicks or poults, with 94 degree accuracy.
9. Both will display when young, but by the age of sexual maturity, only toms gobble.

This year I have done my own research on how to tell the sex of very young poults and chicks before they are old enough for the above! I have used a couple hundred poults to test as I hatched out Holland White, Midget White and A few Bourbon Red Poults this year, with 94% accuracy!
10. If you can hold the bird on your lap, laying on it's back, at any age, if it holds it's feet up close to it's back, it is probably a hen. If it extends it's legs or even just one leg, you probably have a tom. This, I find works with day old chicks and poults and seams to be based of their natural defensive posture of male vs female responses in these birds. I thought someone else might benefit from my findings, too, so I thought I would share.


Arielle, this is the experiment I spoke to you about last winter, before I had enough research done to support my suspicions. Hope it helps!

THis is great Cellie-- at what age does eat of the observations apply?? Or did I miss that somewhere??

 

[Arielle]

Im with you. DH and I have been seriously thinking about buying a pig off craigslist and have them butcher it for us. We already put chicken and turkey in the freezer why not pig too. Im also not ready to raise my own so we will look into buying from a farm every year.

I have TWO freezers and they are already full-- no room for anything. I need a third freezer!!

I have more turkeys to butcher and I would like to keep a few as roasters-- what do we call a turkey for roasting????

I'm praying DH gets the new DW installed soon because it is holding up the works. ONe thing after another is stoppng me from canning!

 

[Arielle]

How old are turkeys usually when they start to lay? My oldest are at 14 weeks, so I'm not thinking it is imminent, but would like to know when to get nesting areas ready.

They should start laying next spring.

Mine start the next spring.

Maybe those in TX and FL have different results??

 

[Arielle]

Celies list might help you.

How will I know the gender of my 42 days old pouls?

Not to change the subject, but we are often asked, how to tell the sex of turkey poults and young adults. These are the facts I believe to be true and if anyone would care to contribute to the list, please do. If I have something wrong, please correct me, since I do not want to spread incorrect information. This seams to be the number one question asked on the turkey threads !

1. All colored feathered turkey hens will have lighter edging on the breast features and toms will have darker edging.
2. Males will weigh more than females hatched at the same time and this will become more apparent as they grow older.
3. Toms will have thicker legs than hens.
4. Both can have beards, but toms will grow longer.
5. Toms have longer thicker snoods as they reach maturity.
6. Toms Chronicles will be bigger than hens and the heads and necks will be a darker red.
7. Toms will be bald, while hens will develop a thin line of feathers up the back of their heads.
8. If you can hold the bird on your lap, laying on it's back, at any age, if it holds it's feet up close to it's back, it is probably a hen, because it is a defensive position for a tom or a rooster, too,(for that , matter) to extend one or both legs. This, I find works from day old chicks or poults, with 94 degree accuracy.
9. Both will display when young, but by the age of sexual maturity, only toms gobble.

This year I have done my own research on how to tell the sex of very young poults and chicks before they are old enough for the above! I have used a couple hundred poults to test as I hatched out Holland White, Midget White and A few Bourbon Red Poults this year, with 94% accuracy!
10. If you can hold the bird on your lap, laying on it's back, at any age, if it holds it's feet up close to it's back, it is probably a hen. If it extends it's legs or even just one leg, you probably have a tom. This, I find works with day old chicks and poults and seams to be based of their natural defensive posture of male vs female responses in these birds. I thought someone else might benefit from my findings, too, so I thought I would share.


Arielle, this is the experiment I spoke to you about last winter, before I had enough research done to support my suspicions. Hope it helps!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I love to hear about different experiences--- room for that I think.

For another view, I read a blog out of Vt, did I mention that already?? He free ranges his stock of 40 sows on pasture and they do not rip up the pastures, bu forage. He uses eggs to give the smallest ones more protein, and whey and brewers grains for the older stock. NO commercial feed. No grain beyond the brewers waste. All locally produced.

I love pork, and we don't have poisonous snakes to worry about here!! THey are omnivores and will eat many things. THis guy makes sure his stock DON"T learn to eat the chickens, though he sa ys if a bird can be pinned in a corner it is a gonner, so he arranges the set up to prevent that.

He is also careful to say, pigs are NOT pets and need to be handled competently. ANd he has mixed breeds, recently adding a big black. Meaning he started with breeds noted for their commercial production and added this black which is a more heritage type. I'm trying to remember the size of his biggest boar-- 1400 pounds for one.

I think I can handle a turkey, not a boar!! lol

 

[Arielle]

Need a good knife for butchering-- dulled the shears, and broke the new knife.

HELP!!!!!

What do you recommend for a butchering knife??

 

[Celie]

When you are after "fast growing, corn fed fat pigs" you are right about them rooting up and eating everything they can get in their mouth. But this is the thing---- we are raising Heritage turkeys and there are Heritage Breeds of hogs that can be raised on pasture, grass fed. These breeds are not fast growing, putrid fat animals when raised as intended. Where I live in West Texas, it would not be possible to raise such an animal as we have little graze. I was raised in Ohio where lush green pasture is the norm and Heritage hogs are raised in grass pasture not grain. I do know that there are farms in Central Texas raising 2 Breeds of Heritage hogs and selling meat. This is not your Fathers hog, it is your Great Granddads hog. Very neat, but pretty expensive too. The hogs are slower growing with a wonderful flavor and not as fat as what we are used to from store bought, of course. But like raising our own birds, isnt that the point?

I was not aware heritage pigs existed since they are not native to the US. I read they were brought over with English settlers and raised in acorns for most part. I do not like the taste of wild boars and when my nephew mated his wild boar with my white domestic sow, they all tasted like a boar. I don't eat pork or shellfish anymore, for health reasons, but if I did, I would get one like you are talking about. Thanks for the info.

THis is great Cellie-- at what age does eat of the observations apply?? Or did I miss that somewhere??

At hatching you can tell using #8 the leg test, the others as soon as the characteristics appear. I noticed weight differences as early as 3 weeks in the very large breeds, such as Hollands.

I have TWO freezers and they are already full-- no room for anything. I need a third freezer!!

I have more turkeys to butcher and I would like to keep a few as roasters-- what do we call a turkey for roasting????

I'm praying DH gets the new DW installed soon because it is holding up the works. ONe thing after another is stoppng me from canning!

Remember, meat can only be frozen for x amounts of months, so make sure you rotate. I have 2, one chest and 1 upright, both keep a temp of -6 degrees, but I also freeze garden produce. It takes more time to rotate, than to just empty and refill, but, the time is worth the extra space involved. A chart of how much was put in and taken out and dating the packages helps ac lot. I keep any extra space filled with 2 litter bottles of ice and use them as I process livestock and the ice used is replaced with the processed livestock, since my frige is not large enough to hold the whole amount processed at one time for the 3 days needed for the meat to pass rigor. Also, being in hurricane country, the ice keeps temperature better when electric goes out and we use bagged ice cubes for summer get togethers, rather than buying it from the only store in town that sells ice. I also have ice to give to neighbors during hurricanes, who do not have generators. I am cheap, so I hate buying anything I can make myself. A roaster is any bird I can fit into my oven and cook without water. Roasting can be done on a rack if you want a crispier skin all around or in a roasting pan, if you want to save the drippings. I hope you get your DW installed soon and your canning done while the weather is nice! I'll be

and praying for you!

 

[Arielle]

When you are after "fast growing, corn fed fat pigs" you are right about them rooting up and eating everything they can get in their mouth. But this is the thing---- we are raising Heritage turkeys and there are Heritage Breeds of hogs that can be raised on pasture, grass fed. These breeds are not fast growing, putrid fat animals when raised as intended. Where I live in West Texas, it would not be possible to raise such an animal as we have little graze. I was raised in Ohio where lush green pasture is the norm and Heritage hogs are raised in grass pasture not grain. I do know that there are farms in Central Texas raising 2 Breeds of Heritage hogs and selling meat. This is not your Fathers hog, it is your Great Granddads hog. Very neat, but pretty expensive too. The hogs are slower growing with a wonderful flavor and not as fat as what we are used to from store bought, of course. But like raising our own birds, isnt that the point?

THis is wonderful-- sorry I missed this earlier. Heritage hogs can be cost effecitve IF NOT stuffed with commercial grain. Manage the land using appropirate seeds for a variety of greens. pumpkins, other squash-- goodness I have too much summer squash just from 5 hills.