Congratulations.
I'm glad it went nicely.
I just processed our first turkeys ever. Heritage birds (Royal Palms), at the same age as yours but much smaller. I like the heritage breeds because you can just kind of forget about them. Except for a scoop of feed every day, they pretty much take care of themselves - roost in trees, forage for lots of their food, 100% free range. As little as I fed them, these boys had a good deal of fat on them.
Anyway, thought I'd share a few things that made our processing go easily.
We Saran Wrapped our birds. Yep. Saran wrap. My husband held them still while I wrapped them about 5 times around the middle to hold their wings. No need for a cone and you don't get the crud beat out of you, nor does the bird. The birds took the wrapping very well.
Dog chain collars - you know, "choke chains" or training collars. I use those to loop around their feet. Loop one end, then the other so it holds their feet in each loop. It's fast, easy, and super strong. I did the loops, my husband hung them for me.
He hung them over my chicken cones so their head, neck, and shoulders were in the cone. The rest of their body didn't fit but that did not matter since they were wrapped. I just wanted some control over their head. It was good for keeping things tidy.
I cut the carotid arteries just as I do my chickens. It was much easier than the chickens because there were no feathers on the turkeys' necks to deal with. The saran wrap worked beautifully!
We used a turkey fryer as a scalding container but, these "small" heritage birds were just small enough to fit in the 30 quart pot. 150 degrees, two 45 second dips, and that's it. They're resting in cold, salted water as I type.
Enjoy your bird. Happy Thanksgiving.
