Turkeys about breeding time

[CrealCritter]

So I have 6 Burbon Red turkeys left. 2 mature hens alone in one yard and 2 young Tom's and 2 young hens in another yard.

My "plan" is to put one young Tom in with my 2 mature hens. That way I'll have 2 breading sets of two hens and one tom in each yard. I plan on putting the young Tom in with the 2 mature hens tomorrow, so they can over winter together and be ready to breed come spring. I just hope the two mature hens accept the young tom and don't try and kill him. Turkeys are strange birds... So who knows what will happen.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Good luck - hope it goes well~

 

[CrealCritter]

Good luck - hope it goes well~

It went very well surprisingly. I had my doubts at first though. One of the mature hens circled the young tom, making a popping noise she did that about 2 mins then the other hen joined in also circling and making the same popping noise. This lasted about 5 minutes. Then both hens started cooing and everything has been cool since.

I learned the popping noise is kind of like us when we say stranger danger. And cooing noise is like us when we are happy or content. So my mature ladies approve of the young tom which was a bit of a relief. I checked on them a little bit ago and they are all cuddled together on the roost.

when we processed the Tom, I forgot to remove the craw it's a bag of skin, that is in the chest cavity that holds spare food. You have to stick your hand in-between the neck skin and neck meat and follow the fleshy tube to you can grab the pouch and pull it out. Also there's the treakia that needs to come out also but it's different from the craw.

 

[Mini Horses]

Where's pic of roasted tom???? Do we have a report?

 

[CrealCritter]

Where's pic of roasted tom???? Do we have a report?

Kind of got busy and forgot about it... Leftover Tom is in the fridge now. Daughter and I are making soup tomorrow 'i'll get some pics then.

 

[Mini Horses]

Guess those old gals though he was cute enough!

 

[CrealCritter]

Guess those old gals though he was cute enough!

He's mighty tasty!

 

[CrealCritter]

First time a turkey requires 2 pots (4 and 3 gallon) to make soup and I haven't even added and veggies in yet Ole Turkey Tom is gonna make a lot of soup and bone broth.

My wife asked me if I saved enough for turkey pot pies. Well yes... Two large containers of white meat for you.

I think I need a bigger pot.

 

[sumi]

Goodness, that is a LOT of food! This reminds me, I should look for marked down turkeys in the supermarkets starting about nowish...

 

[CrealCritter]

Goodness, that is a LOT of food! This reminds me, I should look for marked down turkeys in the supermarkets starting about nowish...

Yeah it's crazy how much a single mature turkey tom will make. And this is what is left over from Christmas dinner, where 27 people eat some turkey too. I think I need like a 10 or 15 gallon pot. I sent my wife to the store for more canning jars.