Turkeys for Thanksgiving?

[providentialpastures]

Hi,

My son is interested in raising some pastured turkeys to sell for Thanksgiving. Is it too late this year? At what age do you normally butcher them?

thanks,
jen

 

[silkiechicken]

I belive it is about 4-5 months old but I could be wrong. Depends on if you get the meat turkies or heratage types and how big you want them. I have two meat types and plan on butchering at 5 months old for a 30 lb table bird.

 

[pdpatch]

It depends on the type of turkey, Great white and BB bronze males will be around 15 to 20 pounds at 20 weeks, a Female would be around 12 to 15 pounds in the same time frame.

Heritage breeds are around the 15 to 20 pound dressed at 30 weeks for the larger breeds.

These are some general guide lines

I did a spot check of online Hatcheries and most were sold out for the year. SO you may have to call and see if they have any cancelations.

Tom

 

[sandspoultry]

It's to late in the year for heritage turkeys, you are looking at about min. 6 months for them and even for broad breasted whites they wouldn't be very filled out. In a turkey house under growing conditions you are looking at 4+months.

Steve in NC