Two years ago we had the idea of raising our own heritage breed turkeys for meat.
We thought we would start small,
so I ordered a few bourbon red turkey poults from our local feed store.
From the very first day, these little birds were quite friendly
and curious about us.
Whenever we would approach them, they would come scampering over to us
to say hello.
Over the next few months, they continued to grow and continued to be quite friendly.
It didn't take long for us to realize that we would not be able to eat our new friends.
As the months passed, they grew and grew.
Eventually their mature feathers came in and it was apparent
that we had one hen and two Toms.
Finally we could name them.
They were given the names Tom, Chuck and Edith.
(much better than their original names...Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter)
By the following summer, they had developed into the showy
birds that they are now.
The turkeys spend their day free ranging.
They have the run of the farm,
and are usually found wherever the action is.
Whenever there are workmen on the farm, the turkeys are there.
When I am in the garden, the turkeys are there.
They love human attention; however they prefer not to be touched.
They have their own house where they roost at night.
We close them in at sundown and let them back out the next morning.
Their house is equipped with fresh feed and water,
however,
they seem to prefer foraging for whatever food they can find around the farm.
I am planning to hatch out a few turkey eggs this spring
for a local young man to raise and butcher for us.
This way I won't get attached to the birds,
and we will have delicious heritage breed turkey meat for next winter.
Rule of thumb:
if you name it, you won't eat it!
Cute picture of the week:
Comments
Could you send us a bit of that snow please? We have been snow free this winter and it's starting to make me nervous about forest fires this coming spring!
We had a dandy storm yesterday. -25 with the windchill this morning..brrrr!! Horses can eat inside for breakfast then out they go hopefully to enjoy a nice sunny day.
Have a great weekend.
~~Rain :)
I hope your snow is nice and gentle. Enjoy your weekend.
Enjoy the weekend...
Just got 3 Rabbits and they will be my breeding stock for meat Rabbits! and yes they all have names...Alice, Cleo and BUCK HENRY! And Alice is with bunnies! and they all have names too.....FOOD!
I could never eat one of my girls, who have been hiding out in their coop for going on three days now. We got quite a snow storm and they don't want a thing to do with it! :)
Your turkey's are sweet..never thought a turkey could have a sweet personality ;) You've opened my eyes Bev.