Why do you wait 3 - 5 days after you kill a turkey before you cook them?

[Frosty]

Too bad you can't do it like we do up here... Fill a big water trough the night before, start processing around noon, break the ice on the trough to toss the first turkey in... It's usually between 4 and 8 degrees out when we are doing the work.

 

[Celie]

Too bad you can't do it like we do up here... Fill a big water trough the night before, start processing around noon, break the ice on the trough to toss the first turkey in... It's usually between 4 and 8 degrees out when we are doing the work.

Frosty, I am glad I do not live where I have to work in 4 and 8 degree temps to process a turkey. The turkeys would freeze to death before I could slaughter them! LOL Ans I would too! Is it really that cold at noon in November? It is in the low 70's here today, and we are still wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts and t-shirts. Wow, I don't think I'd survive there! I'm just a Southern girl. How do you keep them from freezing while you are plucking them? How do you process your turkeys during the summer? What Breed do you raise? OMG, Are you getting them long handled underwear for Christmas? LOL

If you need to thaw out, come down South for a while!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

All of this info is in the How to guide post 987865, by ivan3, 3 days 6 hours ago​

I'm sorry, but I can't find this post. I've tried both the BYC search engine above and google, but only your post comes up as a "hit." Can you post a link to Ivan's post? Thanks so much!

 

[Celie]

I'm sorry, but I can't find this post. I've tried both the BYC search engine above and google, but only your post comes up as a "hit." Can you post a link to Ivan's post? Thanks so much!

It is 24 posts under this one right now, about 26 after I post this answer, titled"how to guide"
started by TamTurkey (10/29/12 at 6:28am)

 

[Frosty]

Frosty, I am glad I do not live where I have to work in 4 and 8 degree temps to process a turkey. The turkeys would freeze to death before I could slaughter them! LOL Ans I would too! Is it really that cold at noon in November? It is in the low 70's here today, and we are still wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts and t-shirts. Wow, I don't think I'd survive there! I'm just a Southern girl. How do you keep them from freezing while you are plucking them? How do you process your turkeys during the summer? What Breed do you raise? OMG, Are you getting them long handled underwear for Christmas? LOL

If you need to thaw out, come down South for a while!

The 'average' highs for that time of year are supposed to be around the mid 20's, but for example we did them on Nov 19th last year and the high was 7, the low was -2. Most of the time it seems to work that way. We do the plucking in the back of a building and have a heater going in addition to the fire to heat the water for scalding, so it's not bad once we get to work (probably around 40 in the building). I don't process turkeys in the summer, just sometimes chickens. Then I put ice in the water.

The funny part is, I was in the military and retired here. Before they sent me here, I was stationed on Guam, where a cold day was in the 70's. Up here, I have seen over 100 in the summer, and the coldest I've seen was -38F (not including windchill). So when people ask about how cold hardy turkeys or peafowl are, I feel somewhat qualified to answer.

 

[Celie]

The 'average' highs for that time of year are supposed to be around the mid 20's, but for example we did them on Nov 19th last year and the high was 7, the low was -2. Most of the time it seems to work that way. We do the plucking in the back of a building and have a heater going in addition to the fire to heat the water for scalding, so it's not bad once we get to work (probably around 40 in the building). I don't process turkeys in the summer, just sometimes chickens. Then I put ice in the water.

The funny part is, I was in the military and retired here. Before they sent me here, I was stationed on Guam, where a cold day was in the 70's. Up here, I have seen over 100 in the summer, and the coldest I've seen was -38F (not including windchill). So when people ask about how cold hardy turkeys or peafowl are, I feel somewhat qualified to answer.

You certainally are! What breeds do you raise?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

It is 24 posts under this one right now, about 26 after I post this answer, titled"how to guide"
started by TamTurkey (10/29/12 at 6:28am)

I'm so sorry to be such a bother, but I'm REALLY confused. There are only 25 posts in this thread (now 26 because I've added one), so I just don't understand how there can be a post "24 posts under this one right now."
I'm feeling exceptionally stupid right about now.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

It is 24 posts under this one right now, about 26 after I post this answer, titled"how to guide"
started by TamTurkey (10/29/12 at 6:28am)

Ahhhhhh! I think I've found it! Could THIS be the post you're writing about?



Quote:

 

[Cottage Rose]

Thank you all for this information!

 

[Celie]

Ahhhhhh! I think I've found it! Could THIS be the post you're writing about?

That's it, now you are looking at weeks of reading, especially the last one, but it is well worth it. I didn't there was so much medical knowledge for readers to have, except a studying veterinarian!