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Barnyard Buddies:  Heritage Bourbon Red Turkeys  |
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Tammyb
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Tammy
Bluffton
Ohio
USA
511 Posts |
 Posted - May 24 2011 : 7:48:00 PM
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I am just so excited I had to share !! I just picked up my Heritage Bourbon Red Turkeys and showed them their new home :) Does any one else raise turkeys for meat? We have laying hens for eggs and have raised meat birds for a few years but finally I was able to get a few turkeys.
Tammyb
sister chick #541
Live to leave a legacy
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2011 : 8:29:58 PM
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Yeah! Another turkey farmgirl to talk to!! I got mine a year ago. I have a tom and 4 hens left. We have butchered 4 toms so far. But I am keeping Harper and his 4 hens. They are laying eggs and some had started setting on them. But no luck. I think a snake was eating the eggs because they started out with a pile and ended up with none. So I have moved them all up front and they are basically free ranging. They have a small pastured area and 2 of the hens have been laying eggs in 2 places on the other side of the fence. One in the yard and the other along the driveway. I have yet to find the other 2 nests. I have unsuccesfully tried to get some hens to set on turkey eggs but no luck with them either yet. I will not give up though. I want to hatch them and sell them. I need to make some money here.
I am so happy to have someone to talk turkey with now! If you have any questions, just ask and I will try to help any way I can. I love my turkeys and they are so easy to raise. I can even herd them. They are so funny. But if one goes the wrong way, they all do. Anyway, have fun with them. And keep them WARM!
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2011 : 9:28:23 PM
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That is wonderful! The Burbon Reds are beautiful and taste great! I have a friend that raises them and I bought one from her last fall. He was wonderful!! I don't think you will be disappointed!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
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Tammyb
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Tammy
Bluffton
Ohio
USA
511 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2011 : 04:44:20 AM
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Thanks Kristine ...I am always giddy when I get a new chick or two but with the turkeys that means I only have one more animal I am wishing for ... goats! I have a few broad breasted turkeys coming next week to add to the mix. My freezer is going to look good with the cornish hens and turkeys this winter. I am sure I will be asking you a thing or two !
Alee I am glad you thought they tasted good!
Tammyb
#541
Live to leave a legacy
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2011 : 05:56:10 AM
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Tammy, they are good and they are pretty too. Keep in mind that they are slow to mature. I got mine in June thinking they would be ready for Thanksgiving. I had a friend come help and he got one of them. But a few days before Thanksgiving the 2 we butchered only weighed 6 and 8 pounds. I was so disappointed. The ones we picked out looked huge too. My step dad and mom were here that day and saw how small mine was and he said he'd go buy one at the store for our dinner. But I cooked it for Christmas and it was so good.
Then last month my hubby and I butchered the last 2 toms and they weighed. 12 and 14 pounds. So quite a lot bigger 5 months later. I had those 2 toms put up in a coop that whole time giving them just scratch grain and grass. Haven't sooked one yet but will soon. One was so fat. He was full of fat. The other one wasn't. I thought that was strange.
Anyway, when I said to make sure they are warm, I forgot one night to turn the heat lamp on. It was early June. It was warm. But that morning I found one little poult really cold. We tried everything to get it warmed back up but it died. It was so sad. So even though it might be 100 outside, they still need warmth. They chill so easy. And they grew pretty fast too.
I also have 6 Cornish cross chicks about 6 weeks old right now. I am letting them out during the day. They stay right in the pasture yard so far. Eating grass and bugs. I thought about making a little chicken tractor but I don't think I need to. They are getting big fast.
What kind of goats are you wanting? One of the farmgirls on here lives in Ohio and has Nubian goats. I have a Nubian and a Lamancha that I am milking right now. They both have twin kids. Only one little doeling that I will keep. The boys have to go soon. They are 7 weeks now.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2011 : 7:49:15 PM
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This is Harper. He is very proud of his feathers. ANd his ladies.
This is when they were in the barn out back and sitting on a nest of eggs. The eggs gradually disappeared so I moved them all up front where they are free to roam. And lay eggs all over the place. Another egg hunt every day!
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
Edited by - kristin sherrill on May 25 2011 7:51:02 PM |
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Tammyb
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Tammy
Bluffton
Ohio
USA
511 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2011 : 09:44:35 AM
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Your pictures are so ... cute !! Yes I even think future dinners are cute :)
One of the Bourbons is smaller than the other so I am hoping I have a boy and a girl ... need to figure that one out.
Looks like I am adding 2 broad-breasted white females to the mix.
Since I named the Bourbon Reds Thanks and Giving I am just gonna call the new girls "broads" :) !!
Tammyb
Live to leave a legacy
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2011 : 2:08:15 PM
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Tammy, it took me a long time to figure out who was who. Until the toms started puffing up, then I knew. And they were at least 5 months old then. So it was hard to tell. I ended up with 5 toms and 4 hens. They are so cute and funny. And they are so much better than my chickens are about getting in my garden too. Have fun with yours.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Tammyb
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Tammy
Bluffton
Ohio
USA
511 Posts |
Posted - Jun 27 2011 : 12:29:53 PM
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just moved the turkeys to their new home. A n old shed that was converted to a turkey coop. They are loving the room and the fenced in yard !
Tammyb
Live to leave a legacy
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CMac
True Blue Farmgirl
1074 Posts
Connie
Ashland City
TN
USA
1074 Posts |
Posted - Jun 27 2011 : 12:47:44 PM
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Harper is beautiful!
Connie
"I have three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for company."
Author: Henry David Thoreau |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jun 27 2011 : 1:02:27 PM
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Tammy, I bet they have grown alot. I have 8 new babies that were hatched a few days ago. We just moved them from the dining room to the back porch-laundry room. It's warm out there. The sun is coming through the window and they are all stretched out in it. I hope you turkeys grow big and pretty. But probably not by Thanksgiving. You may have to wait a bit longet to get a decent size to eat. But then again, yours might grow faster than mine did. Have fun!
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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oldbittyhen
True Blue Farmgirl
1511 Posts
tina
quartz hill
ca
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - Jun 27 2011 : 5:35:15 PM
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broad breasted tom poults will start strutting as young as 6 weeks old, drumming their wings and dropping their snoodes , they are easy to sex, lol...
"Knowlege is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad" |
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Tammyb
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Tammy
Bluffton
Ohio
USA
511 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2011 : 11:48:46 AM
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Funny !! These broads are just around 4 weeks old ... and getting big.
The Bourbon Reds are 5 weeks old and one is much larger than the other ...hoping for a Mr & Mrs :)
So far the are liking the sunshine and grass ! Hoping to keep any critters at bay until these are ready to go into the freezer.
Tammyb
Live to leave a legacy
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Dusky Beauty
True Blue Farmgirl
1108 Posts
Jen
Tonopah
AZ
USA
1108 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2011 : 09:56:14 AM
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Is there any particular reason you turkey-loving ladies prefer bourbon reds over say, narragansett? I'm considering raising turkeys next year for meat.
"The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated." ~Gandhi
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.” ~Will Rogers |
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sissarge
True Blue Farmgirl
502 Posts
Linda
Montgomery
Texas
USA
502 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2011 : 12:24:54 PM
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I have always wanted bourbon reds, but I have had the big whites ones like butterball and one thanksgiving, we cooked one and we weighed it at 36 lbs, wow, we had to much meat. Even tho there is 20 of us. We had plenty of soup, sandwiches, and pot pies. But now we have the eastern browns, and they are the mid-size turkeys, and they are a blast, they are friendly, and will follow me to the barn, and this week while working on the fence, they came and fussed and fussed with me. I lost one by drowning in the pond, but I have 2 males, and 1 female left, I call them, Christmas, new years and thanksgiving. But we are going to eat Thanksgiving and keep the other two, they seem to have connected and are courting. So I hope to have eggs. Thanks for letting me share. Have a Happy 4th. Farmgirl #946 Linda
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2011 : 12:44:41 PM
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Jen, I just love the volor of the BRs. I have had the white ones and they were just meat turkeys to me. These that I have left, Harper and his girls, are more like friends now. They are good birds. And they are so pretty. That's the reason I have my BRs.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Lorraine Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
158 Posts
lorraine
salt point
ny
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2011 : 1:12:04 PM
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your turkeys are beautiful! i have chickens and goats. we had ducks but got rid of them b/c they where messy. my husband &i are dieing to get turkies, so maybe next. how old should the bee and what is the best to feed them to get them to the 20lb mark?
LorraineMichelle
Farmgirl #3007
Chickens are like potato chips...
You can't have just one! |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2011 : 7:32:49 PM
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Lorraine, when we first butchered the 2 toms back in Nov. they were 5 months old then. And they only weighed 6 and 8 pounds. I had them out free ranging most of that time too. But was feeding them scratch and scraps. After that, I put them all up in coops and fed them lots of scratch. Then when we butchered the other 2 back in April or May, they weighed close to 18 pounds. So you might want to look into a higher protien feed and keep them cooped up to make them gain more weight faster.
Also the older heritage breeds will not get as big as a BB White will. Or it will take so much longer. I don't know how much Harper weighs now but he is 1 year old.
The hen that was on the nest out in the pasture had 3 eggs. One was starting to hatch but died. Then the other 2 eggs disappeared altogether. So she was still sitting on that empty nest. I got 7 eggs and put them in a tote with some straw and put a cage over it and put it under a shade tree. That was yesterday. Then we had a downpour for about 30 minutes. I had a tarp over the top but it blew off. She was soaked. I hope the eggs didn't get wet. I put the tarp back on. She's still on the nest. So in 30 days we might get some more poults.
And something did get my other turkey hen. I have 3 hens now and a tom.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Barnyard Buddies: Heritage Bourbon Red Turkeys |
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Heritage Bourbon Red Turkeys
