Have you been raising this year's Thanksgiving turkey? Here's how to do it.....start making plans for next year! "Raising turkeys is similar to raising chickens, but with a little added grain-based protein and feed, according to Josh Johnson, 4-H poultry superintendent for the South Dakota State Fair." "Hobby farmers and poultry producers alike can either buy baby turkeys, or poults, that are a few days old or fertilized eggs to hatch themselves in an incubator. Some of the most popular turkeys raised for meat include broad breasted bronze and Bourbon red turkeys, according to Johnson." "While they’re young, poults need to be kept warm with a heat lamp and have a good amount of clean space for exercise, Johnson said. They should also have constant food and water available and be fed a relatively high-protein grain diet. As they grow larger, the amount of protein can be slowly decreased." "Raising a 20-pound turkey can take about five to six months, according to Johnson, which means that poultry producers usually start incubating eggs in the middle of March or buy their poults at the end of April to have them ready for Thanksgiving."
President Biden said to get a shotgun, open the window and shoot. In some circumstances, that's actually sound advice:
In Georgia, turkey season is in the spring, so it's too late for Thanksgiving this year. According to Exotic Meats USA, "Wild turkey are smaller and have darker meat, richer, more intense flavor, and firmer texture than domestic turkey. The breast, being smaller, tends to cook faster than legs or thighs. Wild turkey must not be overcooked because it would become too dry." Looks like he is tiptoeing down a runway, modeling his feathers.
That's why Franklin wanted to make them our national bird...not some carcass-scavenging raptor. I love seeing them strut around, although I don't often see them display. That pic I posted was a rare occasion...I took it through my bedroom window. I've never eaten wild turkey. One of my brothers used to hunt (deer, dove, turkey.) Like most wild birds, there ain't much meat on them, while farm-raised birds are bred to get so fat so fast that they sometimes collapse under their own bulk.
We generally have lots of turkeys, both in the yard and in the government. Here are some of the former: Personally, I wouldn't have either at my Thanksgiving table.
We used to raise turkeys here since cleaning them is much more efficient than chicken, although we raised them as well. All meat birds are gone now, as it is too much work and expense for this old man, but we do now have a few laying hens.
How so? I've never butchered/slaughtered/cleaned any critter. I've heard that the worse part of doing a chicken are the feathers.
My hands were too big to get into the cavities of chickens, but turkeys were no sweat. Plucking is about the same. Ducks and geese however are a nightmare. We raised them for a while also, but plucking those buggers was a nightmare...plus the predation was higher than with the other birds.
Interesting. I've had the occasional Peking duck, and even goose a couple of times. I can imagine that the oils present a challenge when trying to extract the feathers. I recall seeing homemade Chicken Plucker Machines a few years ago, but was not impressed enough to be a bird rancher. This one is a repurposed washing machine. I've seen large tubs with pvc pipes cut off to an angled point.
When I was little, I remember Grandma Bailey had live chickens which she killed and plucked. Joy and I were pretty little still, and watched in shock as the chickens flopped around after having their heads chopped off on the chopping block by Grandpa Bailey. Then , she had a galvanized washtub filled with very hot scalding water and in went the chickens for a few minutes to loosen up the feathers. Once they came out of the hot water, the feathers were pretty soft and came off easily. After that, she tied the chickens to the clothesline post by the feet , and cleaned the chickens, saving the giblets. Sometimes, there were little eggs inside, and Grandma Bailey saved those and added them to the chicken noodles that she made from the chicken. (It was a stewing hen). After I was grown and had chickens, my kids and I did the same thing when we bought chickens at the auction sale. Now, I do not want to do any of this, and would not want to eat a creature after I had to kill it. Actually, I am starting to not want to eat animals anymore anyway, and I do not even go fishing, which I always loved to do. However, Thanksgiving does require a turkey…….
I plucked a few chickens in my day. I hated picking all those final pin feathers out. My grandparents were sticklers on cleaning food properly. I don't think those chicken machines clean the chickens as good as a pair of hands can.