Turkeys For 2013

[chicken pickin]

I thought I would post pics of my Turkey while Il prepping for thanksgiving(my family always celebrates the day before) So today is the day for me. Today we are feeding a Family of 19.

My large roaster 18x14 does hold my 37lb bird wonderfully.






I will post pics after it is done cooking.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Just looked at the base of my super duper roaster = Food Network 16.75 x 14 x 5 35# is about the max in the BBW model. I can fit a larger size in my oven, but that size would need to come from a professional kitchen supply store.

Quote: As for hatching, yes they are like chickens, just 7 days longer. Porter's turkeys has a page on hatching. In the spring we ( BYC) usually have a hatch athon, the Cinco de MAyo hatch.

 

[Arielle]

I thought I would post pics of my Turkey while Il prepping for thanksgiving(my family always celebrates the day before) So today is the day for me. Today we are feeding a Family of 19.

My large roaster 18x14 does hold my 37lb bird wonderfully.






I will post pics after it is done cooking.

Nice plump bird!!! DId you raise this one?? Strike that, of course you did-- no 37 pounders at the stores.

With that beautiful pink skin I am wondering if turkeys have only one skin color.

 

[chicken pickin]

Nice plump bird!!! DId you raise this one?? Strike that, of course you did-- no 37 pounders at the stores.

With that beautiful pink skin I am wondering if turkeys have only one skin color.

LOL Yes I did raise this one. He was a BBW Tom and was roughly 22 weeks old or maybe he was 26 weeks old lol I cant remember when I got the poults

.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

I am thinking of ordering 5 broad breasted turkeys in the spring for food. I have a 100 sqft run with 2 dog houses in for my 4 ducks for the winter, while our pond is froze over. But from spring to fall, it's pretty much empty. Would hate to waste space if there's something I could use it for to help feed the family and have something to raise. I also have 9 chickens, but they have their own coop n run n free range. I have bird netting that goes over the runs from the spring to fall, but come down for winter due to snow wieght. Any ideas or heads up would be appreciated b4 I go into this. Such as: shelter, food noise, mess, etc

 

[chicken pickin]

I am thinking of ordering 5 broad breasted turkeys in the spring for food. I have a 100 sqft run with 2 dog houses in for my 4 ducks for the winter, while our pond is froze over. But from spring to fall, it's pretty much empty. Would hate to waste space if there's something I could use it for to help feed the family and have something to raise. I also have 9 chickens, but they have their own coop n run n free range. I have bird netting that goes over the runs from the spring to fall, but come down for winter due to snow wieght. Any ideas or heads up would be appreciated b4 I go into this. Such as: shelter, food noise, mess, etc

5 BB turkeys in a 100sgft run is going to be tight but is do-able just remember it is going to get very messy very fast. The ground will get mucked up with mud, poop, hay, shavings or whatever else you might lay down, And once the feed spills over and it will lol add rain to all of that

The smell is overwhelming at times. It will be easier to manage the 5 BBs if given a little extra space, whether it be a temporary fence made frome garden posts and chicken wire or even free range them during the day(I free range daily) as long as you don't have large predator problems in the area that will kill one. Make sure you clean the run often and lay down fresh hay so they dont have to lay in the muck. For housing it can be as simple as tarps to use as a wind break and cover from rain or as elaborate as a fully enclosed house. For my meat turkeys I use a 3 sided shelter made out of old fence panels 3 walls and 1 to cover the top and then a tarp over that to really keep the rain out of the sleeping area. For food I start them on a high protein multi flock or game bird starter it is 28% protein and around 12 weeks of age I switch to a multi flock starter/grower which is 22%protein they can also have kitchen scrapes like fruits and veggies etc. Noise for them is pretty minimal and shouldnt cause a problem, once the toms get older close to process day you may hear a few gobbles. They are easy to raise and very sweet so be careful they will grow on you and you will end up where I am now, raising a heritage variety so you can keep them year round.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Thanks, I have woods in the back of the property so I was worried about free ranging as far as, will they go into the trees with the wild turkeys and then not come back down?

 

[chicken pickin]

Broad Breasted dont really fly, They do jump up to roost when they are younger but as they get older their weight is too much for them and they will manage a running/waddle while flapping their wings like crazy while never leaving the ground lol. Don't worry they wont wander off or roost in the trees. The heritage variety on the other hand might attempt those things, luckily mine haven't tried yet, they stay home and like to roost on my front porch railing.

 

[yinepu]

THe birds are back----
Picked up 4 turkeys from the butchers as I have buyers for 2 of them. My 2 auburn toms at 15 months dressed at the same weight( w/i 1/2 pound) as 2 crossbred toms at 7 months. THe amt of muscling in the breast was slightly smaller in the younger boys.

Now I need help figuring out who the parents are on the crossbreds.


moms could be: bourbon reds or sweetgrass
dad could be : auburn or narrigansett

If anyone can fill me in on which cross to repeat, I'm terrible about figuring out the color thing.

Crosses are a dark brown, bronze possibly. Oddly I have no bronze hens so this must be a sexlinked color . . . .????


Also if 20% BW loss is used, a 15 pounder was 18.75 pounds???? IF my math is right this is a small tom!! Waaaaaaa. I want a bigger bird!!

from those breeds... I would go with the Sweetgrass X Narragansett or Sweetgrass X Auburn (see if your Auburns outweigh your Narragansetts)
my heaviest were Narragansett X Bronze X Black Spanish (2 generations to get there)... would be interesting to throw a Holland White into the mix

my "dream mix" would be Hollands crossed with Sweetgrass... but my Black Spanish were some big birds! So if I had more of them I would be tempted to add them into the mix too

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THanks for weighing in .

My AUburns are slightly smaller than my Narrigansetts ( same age) so I did not send the Narri to the soup pot ( yet) BR and AUburns are about the same size here.

WHen I look at the breed listings all I see are the SOP info, NOT what that line actually weighs in at.

I kept 2 of the largest auburns, and one smaller one that had a better( more) breast. Still need a hen for those boys though.

As for what Ib was asking about-- I led my BBW to a fenced pen area daily, they had to walk the distance, then walked around eating the grass. THeir growth rate was slower, and I raised them up longer, until the last week of just sitting by the food pan.

I now use the deep litter method in all my pens if possible. I keep adding material about every week and stir the poop piles into the mix. THis might work for the 4 months that your 5 are in the pen. As a comparison, I raised 6 in a pen 5 x 8( my first time 20 yrs ago-- I've learned a little since then. ) and the bottom I sprayed out regularly or the heavy rains washed it out while the birds sat up on their roosts. Stayed rather clean.

You are right to be mindful or predators. I have 2 barier fences in most areas of my property. Meaning a predator needs to get passed two fences or more to get a bird. Of course I can't keep the chickens from flying over the fence-- my buff orp numbers are dwindling.