It's August- and already people are thinking about their
holiday turkeys. I usually wait until September to start taking orders, but people are anxious, and excited. Of course, my mind is on getting my nugget off to school! But others are
contemplating other fabulous holidays, like Thanksgiving! So, to kick
off your Thanksgiving planning, here is the deposit form for Turkeys.
Like always, we can't promise an exact size, but we really do our best.
For reference, they generally state that you need 1 pound per person
eating. Realizing that some of the weight of the bird is going to be
bones and such, so that doesn't mean each person is eating a pound of
meat, though I know a lot of folks could! You can round that up or down
based on how many leftovers you would like to have.
Some
info about our birds - we raise 2 types of birds. One is called
"Heritage" which means they come from a long line of registered breeds
that can breed on their own, and have some traceability back to wild
turkeys. There are 6 recognized breeds by the American Poultry
Association, and we have a few of those on the farm - Bourbon Reds,
Black Spanish, White Holland, Narragansett, Blue Slate and Royal Palm.
We have bred our own birds this year, from a few small hens and toms we
kept last year. I don't segregate my breeds, so mine are mostly mixed
breeds from those few. But they are the same size and quality as a
registered breed. Since we also have a resident wild tom that I am sure
has been successful in breeding, many of our hatches might have him as
their father. If a heritage bird is what you want, keep in mind that the
hens are usually 6-11 pounds in size, and the toms are typically 12-18
pounds.
The other
breed of bird is called a broad-breasted, or double breasted turkey.
These guys are genetic hybrids, just like our chickens, bred
specifically to grow an extra breast muscle. These are the big turkeys
that have that big round chest and look great on your holiday table. I
struggle with getting the size just right on these guys. Two years ago,
they grew way too big, and no one wanted 30 pound turkeys! Last year I
overcompensated and got them way too late, and most never topped 20
pounds. I got them a bit earlier this year, and am hoping the toms will
come in around that perfect 20-25 pound size that a lot of people want.
It's too early to tell, as they are still quite small, but they grow so
much faster than their heritage cousins. If you want a bird between 9-12 pounds, I will have plenty of
them. Every turkey is going this year, and last night, I tried my best to count them and counted at least 100. So we have more to sell than I thought!
If
you want a holiday turkey - we process them the weekend before
Thanksgiving, so you can pick them up fresh, and not have to defrost
it! If you want one for a subsequent holiday, we can freeze them for
you, and you can make arrangements to pick them up. If you are interested, there are two ways to sign up:
online or print out and mail in this
form