Updated Turkey Pictures

[ImaCannin]

This year we grew 21 turkeys. At 16 weeks, we butchered 5 of the Tom's and they came back as a 25 , 3- 24, and one 23 lb bird ready for the oven! I will be taking 5 more birds in tomorrow. The hens are somewhat smaller and will take another two weeks before we can take them in.
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af75/ImaCannin/TurkeySept12c.jpg?t=1349498340
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af75/ImaCannin/TurkeySept12a.jpg?t=1349498340
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af75/ImaCannin/TurkeySept12b.jpg?t=1349498340
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af75/ImaCannin/turkey91512c.jpg?t=1349498340
They convert over to canned meat rather well..... !!!
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af75/ImaCannin/TurkeySept12Canned.jpg?t=1349498340
I canned 4 of the birds from the first go around and got 75 pints of turkey! I then cut up the raw bones for my dogs dinners. I cooked one of the birds and froze several baggie full for quick meals!

MMMMM GOOD TASTIN Home grown TURKEY@

[zap]

Oh ,,,,, Ima

I gotta kill all my chickens ..... they haven't laid much more then 1` egg n the last few months. But I just cant do it.

[ImaCannin]

We take ours to a "poultry butcher" Chickens cost 2.50 and turkeys are around 7 to 10 bucks depending on the size. Have you tried putting light in your hen house ... Maybe they are molting.

[Neuro]

What do you feed the Turkey's Ima?

[ImaCannin]

What do you feed the Turkey's Ima?

Their is a place down the road that sells NON gmo feed. It has corn, peas, wheat and some other stuff in it. :o

[Neuro]

Their is a place down the road that sells NON gmo feed. It has corn, peas, wheat and some other stuff in it. :o
How much do you spend per bird in feed to grow them to current size?

[ImaCannin]

How much do you spend per bird in feed to grow them to current size?

Sadly, I did not keep records of how much they ate / cost of feed. I can tell you that at the height, we were going thru about 300 lbs of feed a week. BUT.... I also have 23 laying hens and 30 meat chickens that I was feeding. I had some of the chickens butchered yesterday too. They came back about 6.7 lbs average.

[gunDriller]

i have been raising chickens. well, just 3.

they lay eggs :)

i try to keep to a budget with the food - commercial birdseed (ground wheat, corn, millet, sunflower) - that is costing me 28 cents a pound in 50 pound bags.

extra sunflowers cost about $13 for 20 pounds.

also, i give them mashed potatoes, 20 cents a pound.

overall, i try to free-range them, and to give them food-scraps and no-cost feeds.

they spend a lot of their time scratching worms out of the compost piles.

but on some days they are stuck in the coop. i don't let them free-range unless i'm home, too many predators. e.g. foxes sauntering through the yard at 9:30 AM.


but when it gets down to it, i know the eggs have been more expensive than if i bought them at the store.

[ImaCannin]

but when it gets down to it, i know the eggs have been more expensive than if i bought them at the store.

At least you know what goes into your eggs... Sometimes, seeing how your food is raised makes all the difference in the world! No matter what cost!
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/chicken-broiler-01.jpg

[Neuro]

At least you know what goes into your eggs... Sometimes, seeing how your food is raised makes all the difference in the world! No matter what cost!
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/chicken-broiler-01.jpg
I totally agree!

[LuckyStrike]

Why don't these turkeys fly away? I can't see a covering over their pen.


I just finished the extension to my chicken tractor today so they are totally sealed off in the tractor but can roam in the pen, and not roost in the barn and crap on the equipment. (not to mention hide their eggs) It was a productive weekend :)

[gunDriller]

one of the things i feed the chickens is 20# white office paper. i got a bunch of legal size reams at an estate sale. i tear up one piece every day into small pieces and add that to the frying pan drippings in a bucket. the paper soaks up the juices.

they get steak tartare (meat trimmings) and other treats all day long, but when they see me with the bucket at the end of the day, then they really come running. that is my 'carrot' to get them back to the coop.

[ImaCannin]

Why don't these turkeys fly away? I can't see a covering over their pen.


I just finished the extension to my chicken tractor today so they are totally sealed off in the tractor but can roam in the pen, and not roost in the barn and crap on the equipment. (not to mention hide their eggs) It was a productive weekend :)

Not sure why they dont fly away. Maybe because they are too fat to get some air! My hopes was to get my turkeys in a tractor , they mow the grass so well! Maybe next year.... if there is one!

[gunDriller]

i like wild turkeys too, they are beautiful.

but they are more like peacocks - slender and muscular (toms, hens, and babies).

also they put on big feather displays - especially during mating season.

but i've never seen one fly. they walk through the woods in groups.


they are different from chickens in that respect - my chickens don't fly a lot, but when they see a roost that they like a few feet off the ground, for laying an egg or just for sitting, they will fly up to it.


i would guess that most or all varieties of turkey just don't fly.

turkeys that are raised for food tend to be a lot fatter. if the wild ones don't fly, given they have to deal a lot more with predators, my guess is - the domestic ones don't fly because they can't.


but turkeys do have wings - by observation - Yum.