Turkeys For 2013

[kuntrygirl]

Thanks Celie. I'll send you a PM about the sheep. I just love my sheep. They are a great group. When people see them out in the yard without being inside a fence, they always stop me and tell me my sheep are out and they will run away. I just laugh and tell them that they are tame and they ain't going nowhere. They know they eat good good good at my house. My family and friends tease me and say I have 4H sheep because they know how good I take care of them and the rest of my animals.

I butcher a young ram once a year. I take him to the butcher in Eunice and they process it for me and I usually bring home about 120 lbs of meat and put int he freezer. It lasts me about a year and then the next year I get another one and do the same thing. You talk about some good eatin'.

There is a mexican guy that comes to my house religiously EVERY single year to buy a ram. He just smiles when I open the door and says, "You know what I want." And I say yes and I show him his ram for the year. He and his family and friends cook a lamb in their ground pit. I want a pit in the ground to cook a lamb too.

Yes, the eggs are fertile. I will start collecting this weekend. I usually just eat the first few because I LOVE ME SOME TURKEY EGGS!!!!!!!! It's a treat to me.

How many lambs do your sheep usually Have, 1 or 2 ?  You have my mouth watering now !  
My brothers built a cement pit in my Mom's backyard, years ago, about 3 or 4 foot square and covered it with a removable grate. We used to have big BBQs and roast a side of pork or a suckling pig in it. They would get a piece of chicken wire to tie around the meat and use a couple pieces of re-bar through the middle to use as handles for 2 people to turn it over. It was easy to make and worked great. The grate just covered it when it wasn't being used so nobody would stumble on it.  Later one of my brothers , who has a fabrication shop made a Cajun microwave, which was portable. Microwave, my eye, it took me 24 hours to roast a pig in it, but it was soooooo good !
The only turkey eggs I eat are the ones that have a hairline crack, so I can't sell or hatch them, but I only had 2 turkey hens, then, now with a dozen hens???? They are good, aren't they?

How old was your 14 lb turkey? That's about what I would need. I wouldn't want mine to be that big.

I think turkeys have to grow their body structure (bones, etc.) and that seams to take 9 months or so, then they fatten up and put on weight, or so it seems to me. So if you want a small, meaty turkey, you may want a smaller growing turkey. From 9 months to their mature size, they seem to put on the meat. Before 9 months, they seem to have less meat on a large frame. I don't know this is so with all breeds, but it is something I observed. I'll know more after our Turkey egg swap to see which breed tastes best!     I'm getting hungry again!

My sheep started off lambing only 1 but after that, they have been lambing twins and I am so happy. I'm hoping for triplets but I doubt if that happens.

24 hours to roast a pig? Can you say YUMMY!!!!!!!! My mouth is drooling just thinking about that. That's why I want to get a couple pigs.

You have me wanting to try all sorts of things with these turkeys. I can't wait for the experiments to begin.

These discussions really have me thinking and learning a lot. Thanks for all of the information and wealth of knowledge that everyone is contributing.

I'm ready to stock up my freezer!

 

[Bettacreek]

I have a royal palm tom who needs some companions of his own. I want to get poults from the same breeder, since their hen is a blue palm. I'd love to have 25% blue palms hatching out for 2014! I also have a royal palm/BBB tom (dominant tom) and two BBW hens. So, this year it will mostly just be the BB genes flowing. I tried regular bronzes and didn't like them. The royal palm is my least favorite, but he's gorgeous, and I can use his feathers for natural crafting, plus the eggs/poults will be worth a lot more than the BBs.

 

[Arielle]

I have a royal palm tom who needs some companions of his own. I want to get poults from the same breeder, since their hen is a blue palm. I'd love to have 25% blue palms hatching out for 2014! I also have a royal palm/BBB tom (dominant tom) and two BBW hens. So, this year it will mostly just be the BB genes flowing. I tried regular bronzes and didn't like them. The royal palm is my least favorite, but he's gorgeous, and I can use his feathers for natural crafting, plus the eggs/poults will be worth a lot more than the BBs.

Would you expand with many more details on why you didn't like the reg bronzes ? The more we can know about each breed would be very helpful. Most people list what they like, but not what they didn't like. ANd if you can address factors like location, location, location.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have a royal palm tom who needs some companions of his own. I want to get poults from the same breeder, since their hen is a blue palm. I'd love to have 25% blue palms hatching out for 2014! I also have a royal palm/BBB tom (dominant tom) and two BBW hens. So, this year it will mostly just be the BB genes flowing. I tried regular bronzes and didn't like them. The royal palm is my least favorite, but he's gorgeous, and I can use his feathers for natural crafting, plus the eggs/poults will be worth a lot more than the BBs.

Would you expand with many more details on why you didn't like the  reg bronzes ?  The more we can know about each breed would be very helpful. Most people list what they like, but not what they didn't like.  ANd if you can address factors like  location, location, location.

Good point Arielle. I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Bettacreek]

I just thought that they were far too skittish. My royal palm doesn't like to be picked up, and I can't get as close to him, but he won't beat the crap out of me if I get within two feet of him either. The bronzes, I couldn't let the kids in the room, because if you walked around in there, they'd fly all over, and getting knocked upside the head by a turkey hurts much worse than you'd expect.
My broad breasted hens, you have to be careful with them, because they are TOO calm. I actually ran one over because the car doesn't matter to them. They will let you run right over them going less than 5mph, instead of trying to fly or run away. :/ They are great lap birds though, to an extent. If I sit on the wicker rocking chair, they'll fly up and fall asleep on my lap to a neck massage and a gentle rock. They ARE heavy though, and their bellies will make you too hot on a hot day.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I just thought that they were far too skittish. My royal palm doesn't like to be picked up, and I can't get as close to him, but he won't beat the crap out of me if I get within two feet of him either. The bronzes, I couldn't let the kids in the room, because if you walked around in there, they'd fly all over, and getting knocked upside the head by a turkey hurts much worse than you'd expect.
My broad breasted hens, you have to be careful with them, because they are TOO calm. I actually ran one over because the car doesn't matter to them. They will let you run right over them going less than 5mph, instead of trying to fly or run away. :/ They are great lap birds though, to an extent. If I sit on the wicker rocking chair, they'll fly up and fall asleep on my lap to a neck massage and a gentle rock. They ARE heavy though, and their bellies will make you too hot on a hot day.

Your broad breasted hens sound like my Bourbon Reds. They will not get out of the way for anything. When I'm out in the yard, I have to walk around them because they ain't going nowhere. The Bourbon Reds are a very friendly, tame and gentle breed. Now I have to see how tasty they are.

Your broad breasted hens sound nice! I can see them getting a neck massage from you. I love it !

 

[Bettacreek]

I love my "little" girls. They come up to say hello, and they are careful about other vehicles, but I guess they trust me and my car too much? They will sit on your lap and twitter away until they fall asleep. Ya know how they have the little lines on their neck of bare skin? The feathers cover it, but when you dig in there for a neck rub, you can feel a line down the neck with no feather buds, and that's where I give the neck rubs, lol.

The bronzes, eh. When we got them, the boyfriend got leery about buying any new birds. They were younger birds (about 3 months old), but they were raised exactly the same way as the BB hen we bought (the one I ran over). They hated even their previous owner. When I had to replace my pekin drake, the boyfriend was NOT happy. He didn't want me to buy him, because he was afraid that it would be like those bronze turkeys. Fortunately, I think his faith has been restored, because that pekin drake is even nicer than our previous drake, lol.

 

[Glenmar]

How old was your 14 lb turkey? That's about what I would need. I wouldn't want mine to be that big.

He was hatched in March.

 

[kuntrygirl]

How old was your 14 lb turkey? That's about what I would need. I wouldn't want mine to be that big.

He was hatched in March. 

Ok good. I"m making a note this. Thanks!

 

[Lexiluke]

I raised BBW and BBB for myself and others for Thanksgiving but also started with bourbon reds hatched the middle of June. I have 4 hens and one tom. Will my one male be able to take care of all four hens? I am hoping to increase my flock to 20+ this summer, while still selling the extra poults to help with feed cost. Hopefully the plan will work out. I think I will also raise 10-15 meat turkeys again.