World's most expensive turkeys update

Some of you will remember my search for Narragansett turkeys which brought me to Dave's Garden. For thoes who don't know,( or are old and forget like I do) we drove all the way down to Jackson Mi from Traverse City Mi (Only a couple hundred miles) to get these birds. Counting the 6 bucks each we paid for them, the price of gas, the flat tire and the speeding ticket my husband got, we figure the little buzzards cost us about 50 bucks a piece.

They started their lives in my studio, then moved to the fawn pen where they slept every night with the little buck I am rehabbing. The fawn now sleeps outside and so do the turkeys. Their chosen perch is over my backyard gate. They sit up there all night, about 7 feet off the ground. (I had no clue turkeys could poop so much in their SLEEP!)

During the day, they hang out with our misceleanious duck families, chase bugs and harrass the peacock. If I am outside working, they follow me around and offer advice on whatever I am doing. They have taken over picking up the dead bees outside the hives every evening. I love the vocalizations. They chatter to each other and to me all day long. At night it's almost like a slumber party as they chat themselves to sleep. Even though we have seen no strutting (I think they are intimidated by the peacock and his struts) it is now obvious that we have one tom and three hens. This fall we will pick the best of the hens to keep with the tom. (It WON'T be the stupid one who gets on the wrong side of the fence and peeps for me to come get her)

I am realy impressed with the Narragansett breed. They grow much slower than the bronze breasted (who have already outgrown my roaster in 2 months) and are content to just hang about the yard. I would say that the tom probably weighs about 7 pounds.

Here' a shot showing the whole gate

Great pics !!!

I have one Narragansett hen and she's a lot more mellow then my bourbon reds. At this point in time I plan to keep her to try to breed in the spring, but which tom I am undecided.

They poop BIG time !!!! Such a mess, oy !!

Mine have discovered they can get on the roof of the house so they can see the 'hood......

Julie

Hey, if you are in Northern Michigan maybe we can get them together! Or at least I may have more tom's next year. Where did you get your narraganset? I have a friend that has a Narragansett/ White Palm cross and it is the most beautiful bird I have ever seen. Some idiot had him NUTERED before she got him. (SHe didn't want to hear him gobble) Boy I would have loved to see that Vet's face....

Isn't it funny that they seem to like high places mopre than other turkeys? My bronze never even tried to jump a fence and the sleep under a bush. My peacock like the roof, but then he likes to survey his domaine. I can just imagine what the traffic out front will be next year when he has his full feathers.

Wait, I want to hear about the rehabbing of the buck, too. WHat? Do tell.

I would really like to meet the vet who was willing to neuter. No one around here will,,,, not that I've, you know, asked around or anything....ummm........Ithat would be just foolish and..... I.............who would do a thing like that! :).

My narraganset came from cacklehatchery, along with my bourbon reds, my royal palms and my giant whites.

The narraganset and the royal palm are the nicest of the bunch. The bourbon reds are on the aggressive side, atleast here at my house....lol. The giant whites just waddle around.

Here is a pic I got this evening of my narraganset, ignore the duck he was begging for treats...lol

Julie

here are the bourbon reds....

Here is a royal palm and a bourbon red sitting on the bench of the picnic table waiting for a handout

Julie

The reds are beautiful! Mine like to hang with the ducks too. I think it's because the ducks usually have food.

That duck is my smallest runner and while the ducks in general are standoffish that one will follow me and actually jump up and down begging food and take it from my fingers. The turkeys stalk me and literally jump to snatch food away from me. I am short (5'1 on a good day...lol) and have to hold my hands up to keep them from stealing all the treats before I can dole it out in a even fashion.

I like the fact that the turkeys all stay together in a pretty tight knit cluster when they roam the yard. They follow me which can sometimes be a pain. I have seen them rip whole pepper plants right out of the ground while the chickens just mutilate and tear apart a plant leaving a tiny stalk behind..... that is depressing either way !!! I do a lot of my veggies in containers on my deck and for some reason figured they would be safe...HAH, was I wrong !!! My poor tomatoes and peppers are in shambles but if I am going to feed something I guess it's better to be my birds than wild ones...lol.

The turkeys are ravenous and eat a lot. I feed twice a day and they always appear to be starving. I got 9 poults from the hatchery because I had read and been told by a friend that for some reasons turkeys have a high death rate and seem to drop off without explanation the first few weeks. I was very relieved I only lost 1 bird (one of the whites and it appeared to have broken it's neck during the night) I think it may have fallen off it's roost in the dark and hit wrong and that was before they were old enough to be released in the big pen.

Originally it was never my intention to have more than 3-4max to butcher for the freezer etc.. Now that I have extra I am thinking of keeping 2-hens and a tom. Although I admit I try not to get too attached to my birds and avoid naming them since they may go to freezer camp but the turkeys will be harder than the roosters to butcher. They have spent too much time following me talking to me and in general wanting to be with me. I spent weeks with one of the white ones flinging itself at me to be held "crying" and wanting to be comforted every time it laid eyes on me.

And I have already had one parent of my daughter's friend call and inquire if I had turkey eggs she could have. She swears they are the best eating and she would dearly love to have a supply of them....lol.

The down side of the turkeys is they are messier...bigger poop by far !!! They eat a lot in my opinion, but mine only get to free range when I am home to help guard against predators. And those huge feet can really mangle stuff like hostas, daylilies, tomatoes etc.... Not to mention they think I am a squat tree stump they can perch on anytime they see me stand still in the yard...lol. That is very inconvenient when you have big dirty turkey feet in your hair and on your work clothes before you leave in the morning.....

Julie

Oh thank God there is someone else who considders poultry food! SOme times I'm a little hesitant to say that I actually EAT my birds and bunnies. I give them good lives, but I don't considder them pets unless they are the breeding stock and even then, they better watch their step.

People told us there was a low survival rate of turkeys too, so we got more than we needed. We have only lost two out of 9. One died the day after we got it and we lost one to the bald eagle. (She just SAT there with it dareing me to do anything). Now we have a LOT of turkey, but I finialy figured out that I don't have to freeze the whole. We will butcher them and freeze them in sections so I can make manageable meals. There is NO way that I have a pan for one of thoes bronzes.

I have my Turkeys and ducks loose and my garden caged!

I name things, but it tends to be a pretty loose system. My breeder bunnies are "Pat the Bunny", "Hare Krishna" and "Little rabbit Foo Foo". The names stay the same, but the rabbits occasionally change as needed

My flower beds have suffered the most !!! I walk past the beds trying not to look and think about how much I spent....lol

I know what you mean, a lot of folks get whigged out thinking you will eat something you raised. I spend a lot of money feeding my birds and giving them extras that are good for them, so my reasoning is why should I then turn around and give away the extra roosters when I can use the meat to feed my family.

I had a rare day off work and spent the morning butchering six roosters. It's not something I enjoy or look forward to but we'll enjoy the meals they provide.

I planned at one time to do bunnies but just never got around to it. For now I am content with poultry...eggs and meat, ya can't get much better than that !!

Julie =0)

Bunnies are easy once you get the hang of it. We had some problems in the beginning with babies being born on cold nights and one mother that unfortunately, liked to snack on her babies. (EEEWWWW) Well, we solved that by putting heating pads under the floor of the hutches (left on low for a few days before the anticapated births and about a week after) and replaced Hare Karishna with a better mommy. Now, I breed twice a year and average about 30 rabbits a year to butcher.

Bunnies butcher really fast and I use them in any recipie that uses chicken. People are always asking us for any extra meat and for one poor woman who is alergic to almost every other meat, we package them in 1/2 bunny packages. That's just perfect for two people.

I used to pay 14 bucks or more for pretty bland rabbit meat at the store (when I could find it), My home grown bunnies and birds taste way better than anything I can get at the store and I KNOW they have been raised and butchered humanely. I also KNOW every thing they have been fed. I really like that!

Your poor flower beds! I had some loose chickens at one time ,the Three French hens (a strange Christmas gift) and the Bandits (two americaunnas). Thoes little buggers tore up absolutely everything and every day was an "Easter egg hunt"! No more loose chickens for me!

LOL, about the "Easter Egg Hunt" . I don't think I'll have too many problems, my poor flock doesn't get to free range near as much as I would like them to. I like to be here to do guard duty just in case there is an issue with a 2 or 4 legged predator, not to mention winged..lol.

I do worry that someone will get it into their head to steal the turkeys as they get bigger. I know it sounds far fetched, but I've heard of stranger things happening.

Up until last fall I had a neighbor that raised rabbits for meat and I use to buy from them when I had a hankering. They moved to a bigger place , but I pass it on my way home from work , well on the days I don't take the motorcycle, it's a back road that is too bumpy.

Julie