Do you have wild Turkeys on or near your property in VA? In southern Oregon, they are out in full force right now. The hills are filled with gobblers, trying to find the females. I can see 2 or 3 right now from my window big Toms, beards down to the ground, all puffed up, strutting around looking beautiful, gobbling every once in a while. We already found a nest with eggs.
We aren't too awful far from the Malones here in SW Va and have a lot of turkeys that visit our field throughout the year. Huge groups of them from 15-25 at a time will visit every couple days. Sometimes we are lucky enough to see the males strutting around full feathers fanned on display - so cool. They have finally gotten used to me enough that they don't take off the minute I open the patio doors anymore.
In Roseburg, about 100 miles north of Medford. They do not have white meat, not that great for eating. Hunting season is in the fall. Once they all mate in spring, you rarely see them again till fall. Once in a while, you will see the hens with their broods of chicks, then they come out again in the fall for hunting season?
I have raised plenty of chickens over the years basically for eggs. Only one year, 1984..just some 20yrs or so ago, we raised some chickens for meat. Once all the chickens were butchered and then processed in my kitchen, I declared that I would never go through that again!! I did quickly learn how to remove their innards but I was done ( I had a one month old breastfed baby)!
I still have to say that they were the BEST tasting chicken I have ever eaten 😋
Over the years I've discovered that the only homestead critters I can co-habitate with successfully are laying hens (and of course the roosters). I've tried raising turkeys and meat chickens, and couldn't kill them. Two years ago I went to my brother's house for Christmas. They had a fully grown tom turkey greeting everyone who arrived...from inside the house. This turkey was handsome as could be, and HUGE. Clearly he believed he was one of the family. I was so grateful to discover I wasn't the only one in the family who forged a very strong attachment to my homestead animals. It shocked me to learn that they killed and ate that friendly handsome boy a couple months later. I just can't do it. I'm a complete hypocrite and I'll be the first to admit it, but when they consider themselves part of the family, I can't kill them.
Initially, I thought why would anybody bother with turkeys? I eat them maybe once a year. But by the time I got to the comparison with chickens, I was 100% absorbed. This entire piece was totally fascinating. Thank you!
Off topic - but does anybody out there have a recommendation for a microscope for veterinary type use? I’ve been floundering with this for awhile.
The basic issue with the US food supply is that it is reported that 75% of the products consumed have a corn product as a component. The Dumb turkeys are feed corn that produce the Omega-6 which can be artery clogging. Why I avoid corn feed protein products and focus on grass feed meat and lamb from New Zealand which deliver the healthy Omega-3. A issue our cardiologists ignore. I wonder why? Oprah made the mistake years ago when she interviewed a guy who was critical of corn feed American beef and they almost bankrupted her. Since then the message has gone out: Don't tread on the corn lobby. Omega-3 blood test should show a value of over 8.0.
Cardiologists should be ordering the test routinely.
JGM-Have you ever tried skinning the way you would a beef animal? That's what I've always done with the wild turkeys I take during hunting season. Easier and faster than plucking.
They are fun to watch. The Tom's strutting and fanning to hopefully become irresistible to the hens. I've watched the hens nestling into the dirt to preclude Toms doing what they do all too often from some hen perspectives.
It just breaks my heart to know the cruelty inflicted on so many large factory raised animals. Just last week I put some corn out on a neighbor's yard for about 12 turkeys and one big beautiful Tom. They come into the neighborhood from the Mississippi river which is nearby, and they cross many roads to get here. I had one stroll thru my back arbor while a client was here, who had never seen that happen before! Your advice on birds will make some people choose their turkey wisely when eating, so many nasty additives everywhere in the food world.
For 5 or 6 years, my oldest son and I processed a hundred or more meat chickens a year on a friend’s (Linda) farm. I bought the chickens and feed; she made 2 tractors (open air caged pens), fed the birds and moved them onto fresh grass every day. Come processing time, Linda would bring the chickens in a couple at a time, I’d kill (in inverted cones), scald, and defeather them in a Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker I built from plans, and Oldest Son would finish the processing into clean whole chickens, chicken feet, livers and gizzards. We’d normally do 50+ a day on two weekends. A good day’s work that left you a little tired but feeling like you’d accomplished something.
One year Linda’s sister decided she wanted to raise turkeys (about 20) for Thanksgiving. We said we’d be happy to help with the processing. Figured it would be an easy day. We figured wrong.
The turkeys were super strong, one of the first slashed Linda’s sister with a spur so she was out of the lineup right away, had to wrestle each one into the kill cones, which were too small, barely fit in (turkey fryer) scalder, took forever for the feathers to loosen and the plucker to get the feathers done. Two escaped and flew up into the trees, where we were happy to leave them. Spent over 7 hours at it.
I remember helping my grandma butcher chickens for Sunday dinner. She could make quick work of the job with that big butchers knife. However, as a 10 year old my favorite part of the gruesome job was the hatchet across the neck as she held the chick down across a stump, one big WHACK and she quickly took the chick by the legs and hung them upside down on a clothes line. She had a black pot with hot water outside to dip the chicken in when ready to pull the feathers. Those chickens never felt a thing! It was as humane as I suppose it could be. Anyway, Jill thanks for the turkey talk! Enjoyed and learned much!
I was about 8 and watched my dad chop off the chicken's head against the wood stump, and then watched with horror as the chicken ran around the yard...headless!
I painted picture once for somebody who loved turkeys and never knew until I painted that picture how many beautiful colors are in their feathers and the snood and all around their head and neck, and when the light is just right you get rainbow colors in their black feathers - it is really beautiful! Your photos show some of this beauty.
We have families of 15 to 25 turkeys that come through our back field every couple of days looking for bugs and stuff and I have noticed that they don't look anything like the white ones, they're not big and round they're actually quite slender for their size comparatively.
I don't have the constitution to butcher anything or even to eat something I saw butchered. My husband and I do a lot of crappie fishing, I go in the house while he gets the fish out and fillets them. I would cook them up for him but it was a good long while before I could actually eat them like I do now. I'm too wimpy. 😂
Thank you for this informative and pleasant read. Was taken with the Polyface video of a large flock of pretty mobile white turkeys. Perhaps they were young and that helped with mobility.
I've always been fond of dark meat,
and perticularly as relates to turkey. I'm more than saddened to hear poultry is on the schedule for mRNA treatments. With human mRNA vaxes as contaninated as they are, I hate to think of creature versions. Have given up pork. Is this but another of madman Gates strategies?
I did get temporarily confused when you used 'birds' in the processing section. When I substituted carcass it became clearer.
Looking forward to your next book and sharing it.
Got a 2 prong for 3 prong gismo which works (tho I can't get the 3 pronged plug to fully go in) so I should be able to start some seeds under my ancient grow light by next week. Oh boy, late to the party already.
Have a great day and early planting. BTW how are the bees?
Thanks for the lesson on turkeys, Jill. I am worried about the mRNA shots that are being produced for fowl. I read elsewhere that pigs have been given mRNA shots for some time. We do avoid pork for the most part. Now we have to be concerned about chicken and turkey. Beef will be next!
Do you have wild Turkeys on or near your property in VA? In southern Oregon, they are out in full force right now. The hills are filled with gobblers, trying to find the females. I can see 2 or 3 right now from my window big Toms, beards down to the ground, all puffed up, strutting around looking beautiful, gobbling every once in a while. We already found a nest with eggs.
We aren't too awful far from the Malones here in SW Va and have a lot of turkeys that visit our field throughout the year. Huge groups of them from 15-25 at a time will visit every couple days. Sometimes we are lucky enough to see the males strutting around full feathers fanned on display - so cool. They have finally gotten used to me enough that they don't take off the minute I open the patio doors anymore.
Diana, Medford area, I'm guessing? Do the wild Turkeys have any white meat?
In Roseburg, about 100 miles north of Medford. They do not have white meat, not that great for eating. Hunting season is in the fall. Once they all mate in spring, you rarely see them again till fall. Once in a while, you will see the hens with their broods of chicks, then they come out again in the fall for hunting season?
I have raised plenty of chickens over the years basically for eggs. Only one year, 1984..just some 20yrs or so ago, we raised some chickens for meat. Once all the chickens were butchered and then processed in my kitchen, I declared that I would never go through that again!! I did quickly learn how to remove their innards but I was done ( I had a one month old breastfed baby)!
I still have to say that they were the BEST tasting chicken I have ever eaten 😋
Over the years I've discovered that the only homestead critters I can co-habitate with successfully are laying hens (and of course the roosters). I've tried raising turkeys and meat chickens, and couldn't kill them. Two years ago I went to my brother's house for Christmas. They had a fully grown tom turkey greeting everyone who arrived...from inside the house. This turkey was handsome as could be, and HUGE. Clearly he believed he was one of the family. I was so grateful to discover I wasn't the only one in the family who forged a very strong attachment to my homestead animals. It shocked me to learn that they killed and ate that friendly handsome boy a couple months later. I just can't do it. I'm a complete hypocrite and I'll be the first to admit it, but when they consider themselves part of the family, I can't kill them.
Bless you. I'm no vegetarian, but bless you.
Initially, I thought why would anybody bother with turkeys? I eat them maybe once a year. But by the time I got to the comparison with chickens, I was 100% absorbed. This entire piece was totally fascinating. Thank you!
Off topic - but does anybody out there have a recommendation for a microscope for veterinary type use? I’ve been floundering with this for awhile.
The basic issue with the US food supply is that it is reported that 75% of the products consumed have a corn product as a component. The Dumb turkeys are feed corn that produce the Omega-6 which can be artery clogging. Why I avoid corn feed protein products and focus on grass feed meat and lamb from New Zealand which deliver the healthy Omega-3. A issue our cardiologists ignore. I wonder why? Oprah made the mistake years ago when she interviewed a guy who was critical of corn feed American beef and they almost bankrupted her. Since then the message has gone out: Don't tread on the corn lobby. Omega-3 blood test should show a value of over 8.0.
Cardiologists should be ordering the test routinely.
JGM-Have you ever tried skinning the way you would a beef animal? That's what I've always done with the wild turkeys I take during hunting season. Easier and faster than plucking.
Never. But I will give it a try.
".. he developed a passionate relationship with the chrome bumper of our truck." 😂😂
Side note: All great info. I knew nothing about turkeys or their differences!
They are fun to watch. The Tom's strutting and fanning to hopefully become irresistible to the hens. I've watched the hens nestling into the dirt to preclude Toms doing what they do all too often from some hen perspectives.
It just breaks my heart to know the cruelty inflicted on so many large factory raised animals. Just last week I put some corn out on a neighbor's yard for about 12 turkeys and one big beautiful Tom. They come into the neighborhood from the Mississippi river which is nearby, and they cross many roads to get here. I had one stroll thru my back arbor while a client was here, who had never seen that happen before! Your advice on birds will make some people choose their turkey wisely when eating, so many nasty additives everywhere in the food world.
For 5 or 6 years, my oldest son and I processed a hundred or more meat chickens a year on a friend’s (Linda) farm. I bought the chickens and feed; she made 2 tractors (open air caged pens), fed the birds and moved them onto fresh grass every day. Come processing time, Linda would bring the chickens in a couple at a time, I’d kill (in inverted cones), scald, and defeather them in a Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker I built from plans, and Oldest Son would finish the processing into clean whole chickens, chicken feet, livers and gizzards. We’d normally do 50+ a day on two weekends. A good day’s work that left you a little tired but feeling like you’d accomplished something.
One year Linda’s sister decided she wanted to raise turkeys (about 20) for Thanksgiving. We said we’d be happy to help with the processing. Figured it would be an easy day. We figured wrong.
The turkeys were super strong, one of the first slashed Linda’s sister with a spur so she was out of the lineup right away, had to wrestle each one into the kill cones, which were too small, barely fit in (turkey fryer) scalder, took forever for the feathers to loosen and the plucker to get the feathers done. Two escaped and flew up into the trees, where we were happy to leave them. Spent over 7 hours at it.
Since then it’s been “hello, Butterball.”😁
I remember helping my grandma butcher chickens for Sunday dinner. She could make quick work of the job with that big butchers knife. However, as a 10 year old my favorite part of the gruesome job was the hatchet across the neck as she held the chick down across a stump, one big WHACK and she quickly took the chick by the legs and hung them upside down on a clothes line. She had a black pot with hot water outside to dip the chicken in when ready to pull the feathers. Those chickens never felt a thing! It was as humane as I suppose it could be. Anyway, Jill thanks for the turkey talk! Enjoyed and learned much!
I was about 8 and watched my dad chop off the chicken's head against the wood stump, and then watched with horror as the chicken ran around the yard...headless!
I will never look at my pre-ordered turkey the same way again. Thanks Dr. J. for the educational (with bursts of funny) piece today.
I painted picture once for somebody who loved turkeys and never knew until I painted that picture how many beautiful colors are in their feathers and the snood and all around their head and neck, and when the light is just right you get rainbow colors in their black feathers - it is really beautiful! Your photos show some of this beauty.
We have families of 15 to 25 turkeys that come through our back field every couple of days looking for bugs and stuff and I have noticed that they don't look anything like the white ones, they're not big and round they're actually quite slender for their size comparatively.
I don't have the constitution to butcher anything or even to eat something I saw butchered. My husband and I do a lot of crappie fishing, I go in the house while he gets the fish out and fillets them. I would cook them up for him but it was a good long while before I could actually eat them like I do now. I'm too wimpy. 😂
Thank you for this informative and pleasant read. Was taken with the Polyface video of a large flock of pretty mobile white turkeys. Perhaps they were young and that helped with mobility.
I've always been fond of dark meat,
and perticularly as relates to turkey. I'm more than saddened to hear poultry is on the schedule for mRNA treatments. With human mRNA vaxes as contaninated as they are, I hate to think of creature versions. Have given up pork. Is this but another of madman Gates strategies?
I did get temporarily confused when you used 'birds' in the processing section. When I substituted carcass it became clearer.
Looking forward to your next book and sharing it.
Got a 2 prong for 3 prong gismo which works (tho I can't get the 3 pronged plug to fully go in) so I should be able to start some seeds under my ancient grow light by next week. Oh boy, late to the party already.
Have a great day and early planting. BTW how are the bees?
Thank you Dr. Malone! Looking forward to your analysis of ACIP etc. All the best and Happy Easter!
Thanks for the lesson on turkeys, Jill. I am worried about the mRNA shots that are being produced for fowl. I read elsewhere that pigs have been given mRNA shots for some time. We do avoid pork for the most part. Now we have to be concerned about chicken and turkey. Beef will be next!