Also, I'm both reading and watching Game of Thrones...can you tell?
The turkeys have come and gone. They started out cute, got really annoying, then thankfully got too big to escape, and finally were delicious!
I'm not sure if raising them is something we will do again. Actually, all summer I've been saying 'Never again!' but now that they are gone, it really wasn't that bad...was it? At least we would know what we were getting into (maybe?). I have to remember that I did not have a corn harvest this year because the turkeys and a couple rouge chickens escaped to eat three rounds of corn sprouts...we would have to me much better prepared next year, so I don't spend a summer yelling 'Off with their heads!'
I would much rather raise a couple pigs-they take about the same amount of time to raise and space, albeit with a lot more food, but in the end you get bacon. Figuring out the space to raise both pigs and turkeys would take some doing, but maybe it'll be something we can figure out....we'll see what I get talked into next year
We originally planned to raise the turkeys in the pasture, as with everything, that was easier said than done. They would escape and eat all my corn sprouts, roost all over the place, it would take forever to get them back in their pen at night, and while they were out exploring, the sheep would eat all their food. Ok, so plan B.
We ended up using about twice as much netting as I thought we would need to keep those wily beasts locked in. Every time I would think I had them on lock, one would escape out of a tiny gap (that is now a giant hole) and greet me on the wrong side of the fence. Using even more netting, they were on permanent lock down and they just kept getting bigger!
Finally turkey dead day was upon us. Seven of the eight turkey chicks we raised made it all the way to the end, but were they big enough?! Yes, the toms, with their feathers all puffed out looked huge. And yes, I usually referred to them as the velociraptors instead of turkeys, but still we haven't done this before and I was weirdly anxious about this! We had all these people ready to help, paying a lot of money for turkeys-did I do part part of the job good enough?
Yes, I did! They weighted between 20-40 pounds. The three hens ranged from 20-25 pounds, while the toms ranged 34-40 pounds-YAY!
In general, we had a great crew all working together on Dead Day. The amount of people willing to help slaughter turkeys on a cold November morning blew me away.
For me this was the best dead day ever, mostly because I didn't really have to do anything but organize, delegate, and help folks find our bathroom-not hard work! With so many people there to help, we decided it was the perfect day to get rid of some ducks too. You may remember my post about all the ducklings-it turned out that most of them were male and they had to go. They were so tiny after dealing with turkeys! It turned into a buy a turkey, get a duck free morning! I'm so happy we won't be feeding those little beasts all winter!
But let's get to the good stuff! Thanksgiving!! We got our 40 pounder in the brine as soon as everyone left, but not before we reenacted last years picture!
Our thanksgiving dinner just kept getting bigger and bigger, it felt a little like the whole county was coming and we just kept saying yes when folks asked if we still had room. With 19 people coming, it was a bring your own chair kinda party. The turkey took a little more time than I hoped, but was still delicious!
Keith is fairly certain that we could have a few more people next year, I guess we'll see! But does that mean we have to raise turkeys again, to make sure we have one big enough?
Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!
