Things are painfully slow at work right now, and I've been meaning to do a write-up on my experience with my first domestic turkeys this year. So here goes...
Backyard poultry was a stepping stone for me getting into hunting actually. When we bought our first house, my neighbors got me into chickens for eggs. Having chickens got me outside more, gardening and listening to podcasts about farming and food. Having chickens and learning more about farming also introduced me to butchering, because whenever you get chicks from a feed store there's a chance for roosters. Roosters don't last long in the suburbs A friend of mine (who I met through the "chicken community") was kind enough to teach me how to butcher last year, and it was much easier than I thought it would be. This same friend inspired me to start hunting as well, and I completed my hunter's education that fall.
By the time spring came around, I had remodeled my coop and chicken run. I was ready to raise some chickens for meat, and I bought 4 cornish cross chicks. Chicken people know that when spring comes, chick fever hits. It's hard to resist getting more of the little fluff-butts anytime you're in a feed store in the spring... "just one more". About a month after I got the meat chickens we were at Ranch and Home and my husband mentioned they had chicks, which I had been successfully ignoring. We went over to peek at them and noticed the turkey poults, and started talking about how hard(easy) it would be to add one to the flock. Needless to say, we came home with one Broad Breasted Bronze poult. I named him Jeffrey.
Jeffrey figured me out pretty quickly, constantly crying for attention until I picked him up. The first 3 weeks or so he would be snuck in to the house for short visits and would fall asleep looking content. In the meantime the meat chickens were growing quickly. When the butcher day came, my friends and I hosted a backyard butchering workshop. It was actually a lot of fun and helpful to those that were interested in either raising their own meat birds or just knowing about how it's done. My birds ranged 4-5 lbs dressed. Along the way, I shared with friends and family on social media: the growth of the birds, the butchering class, and the cuteness of Jeffrey. Many selfies were taken and posted on Thursdays for "Turkey Thursday". (Only a few people got that joke initially.) There were a variety of responses to the idea of me killing an animal that some considered my "pet", though I never considered him as a pet. I still don't know how to explain the mindset to someone who doesn't understand that you can love and appreciate an animal, then harvest it with respect and appreciation. I think part of me was also testing my ability to do that with livestock before hunting.
Summer came along, and I started to think about hunting too and started exploring hunting podcasts. (I have times at work where I process a lot of data and can listen to books and podcasts while I work. I also listen to things while doing chores and such at home.) I quickly fell in love with turkey hunting stories, and liked the idea of hunting something I had some knowledge about and knew how to field dress. So I kept listening to the turkey podcast and studying up on turkey hunting. (There's a side story here that I'll tell later.)
Somewhere along the line, I realized that Jeffrey was not maturing in the way I expected him to. The snood was not elongating and the head was still feathered... dude looks like a lady. Jeffrey was thereafter known as Miss Jeffrey. She remained extremely sweet, would lay at my feet in the pen. She was no longer small enough to hop onto my lap unexpectedly. I started to ween my friends off of the idea she'd be kept by posting her weight weekly. I think I was ready to process her in August, but my husband was not quite ready for killing day. The original plan was that she'd be butchered at a size and weight where she would still fit in the turkey fryer. A few times I asked the Mr if he was ready, and eventually I said "I'm doing it this week". She was 25 lbs live weight, and quite wide. It was unknown if she'd be able to fit in the fryer at this point.
A coworker and friend was interested in learning about the butcher process, and my neighbors (and kids) joined in as well. The whole thing went very well, and the kids enjoyed it after the killing was over. We took time to talk about all of the different turkey parts... the feathers, oil gland, crop, heart, bones and tendons. The kids took some feathers home and made writing quills out of them, and another coworker wanted some feathers for tying flies. Miss Jeffrey dressed out at 20.5 lbs and was too large for the fryer. We decided that she'd be best as a Thanksgiving turkey, so I put her in a heat shrink bag and into the freezer.
Thanksgiving at my grandmother's was fantastic. Miss Jeffrey baked beautifully and tasted great. My mom baked her, as she was staying overnight and was able to start her in the morning. I forgot to mention that she should be cooked at a lower temperature, so the meat was a bit dry, but very flavorful. Overall, the family was impressed. I could see my aunt cringe when I referred to our dinner as "she" though.
It was habit, I suppose. I took one last selfie with my first turkey to post on Facebook for the grand finale of "Turkey Thursday". I have had several people thank me for sharing the journey with them, or mention that they gave some extra thought to their Thanksgiving meal.
My second turkey is a slate blue jake named Wallace. I added him to the flock as a juvenile a couple weeks before I butchered Miss Jeffrey. Her reaction to him was priceless... strutting, purring, etc. I will probably butcher Wallace this weekend or next weekend; he's getting quite large.
[more pictures pending... working on uploading them]
