Who is raising their own Thanksgiving turkey?

[PotterWatch]

What breed are you raising? What day do you process? How do you cook your bird? What is the weight of your processed bird?


We have a standard bronze this year. I had a bourbon red pair but decided to sell them a couple weeks ago as the tom was bullying my chickens. I'm hoping to process our bird this Saturday. I'm thinking of brining this year, something I've not done before. I think he will be around 20lbs, but I'll update after processing.

 

[AmericanMom]

Interested and following..
We ended up buying a frozen turkey this year, hopefully our last year. We ended up having 1 tom and 2 hens (bourbon Reds) and I want to use them for breeding next year.. We thought we had 2 toms and 1 hen

 

[cruisermedic]

We raised ours. We had broad breasted bronze. I processed one of the hens and she had to be over 20lbs processed. That was about a month ago. I'll have the other done in a few days. She should be just as big or bigger. I feed a mix because I have a lit of stuff together. I would do a bag or Purina game bird chow then a bag of crushed corn then a bag of turkey feed then scratch grains then layer feed then I would start all over again. A bag would last me nearly a week in my feeder. Plays whatever they ate from outside and what scraps I gave them from the table.

 

[JonathanL23]

We raised 12 turkeys couple years ago, they were about 8 months old, we had turkey for thanksgiving,Xmas,new years and easter. Plus we killed them and everything are self's. And cooking not sure my mom usually does that.

 

[PotterWatch]

Well, our "standard bronze" that I bought turned out to be a broad-breasted bronze. I didn't realize how big he had gotten! So now I have to fit a 38.8lb turkey in the oven early in the morning on Thursday. Should taste great!

 

[JonathanL23]

Wow 40lb turkey looks good. I had thanksgiving last month, can wait for Xmas turkey.

 

[dscottp]

We started with 4 BBBronze turkeys as a first effort and it's been interesting...
One was snatched by a Bald Eagle late in the spring and we ended up with a hen and two Toms. The hen went to a neighbor (I'm guessing 22-24lbs) and the Toms went into the freezer at 31 and 40 lbs. I have no idea what we'll do with so much turkey.
The 40 pounder is currently thawing and will hopefully fit in my smoker. It did NOT fit in a 48qt ice chest.



If it doesn't fit, I'll burn the paint off of a new sawzall blade and cut it in two, roasting half and smoking the other.

It has definitely been a learning year. I'm planning on raising standard birds with a later start next year as we only have 5 family members in state



Wish us luck!


Cheers,
d

 

[PotterWatch]

I would have started later or slaughtered earlier had I realized this bird was a different breed than what I ordered. I want a good sized bird but this is too big!

 

[JonathanL23]

Ya I killed 12 turkeys one year and they were 6 months old and were around 12-15lbs. So I think 8 months they would have been a perfect 20lbs.