Turkeys Gobble Gobble that tomato!

They turkeys have been a blast to raise. Such personality for dingy birds.

We purchased 7 birds, and surprisingly enough, we still have 7! We have decided to butcher the 5 belted whites, and save the 2 chocolates for breeding next year. The cost of keeping 2 turkeys through the winter I don't feel Will be too significant, as compared to purchasing poults. We can also get a MUCH earlier start one them. Plus with the demand of turkey poults and the ease of raising them, I am anticipating selling poults or hatching eggs to help them pay for their feed.

We ended up with 4 white toms and one hen, and a pair of the chocolates. Not too bad for picking them when they were so tiny.

They look gimungus when they display, but when smooth, they are only about 8#.

They have been SLOW growers, however. I am HOPING to have them ready for Thanksgiving.

I still have not decided where I will take them to be butchered. I am thinking I had better get to business on that soon.

The photo was a hoot to take, as we had thrown in a piece of tomato and they were chasing the one bird that was carrying it and running like his tail was on fire to keep it away. In the end, he dropped the tomato, and the flock converged and he was forced to share. LOL

If you want comical, definitely get heritage turkeys. And YES they are MUCH different than Broad Breasted Birds. Who are NOT at all active. They tend to be allot friendlier tho, as the heritage breeds are fast and they do fly. Ours could hop out of fence of their pasture, even with their wings trimmed, but they seem content where they are. The photo, also taken today, shows allot of growth but not like those chickens did.