What variety is on your table on Thursday?

[Featherfriendly]

I'm so jealous. My Narragansetts only weighed in at about 10-12 lbs. I'm roasting my Christmas turkey with the Thanksgiving one to have enough for the family feast. It's my first attempt, I started in June and fed them Blue Seal's Fat and Finish for the past 6 weeks, but they did not grow fat. I guess I'll have to try a bigger breed next year and figure out what went wrong.

 

[MissPrissy]

Feeding a bird for the table and feeding a bird to promote good health is two different things.

My biggest turkeys I try to start off in May.

My latest turkeys I hatched in July.

It depends on the bird but a standard large breed turkey will not give you the turkey you think of as a big turkey. You get a large chicken looking bird.

For the picture perfect turkey with the big buttery breast get a broad breasted variety or a cross broad breasted to feed out.

My turkey this year is a cross of my standard bronzes and my broad breasted hen. My standard toms mated her and I hatched many of her eggs this last spring and summer for Thanksgiving turkeys.

Two weeks before your butchering date add a double portion of cracked corn along with their feed. The corn helps them gain weight and you get a nice pad of fat that makes a heavy broth.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
I added extra portions of cracked corn to my turkeys feed a few weeks ago and they wouldn't eat the corn!! But they loved loved loved black oil sunflower seeds, so I fed them those aplenty. The guy at the feed store who sold me the corn ridiculed the seeds, but then they wouldn't eat the corn.... so I should've know better than to listen to him! Or, my turks are just weird.

 

[GBov]

An 11 pounder from Publix this year, things didnt work out for any poultry this year but next year will hopefully be a midget white