A REAL THANKSGIVING BIRD
(Page 3 of 7)
October/November 1998
By the Mother Earth News editors
Any sort of barn, shed, or coop will serve as a shelter. It needn't be large, since the birds have an outdoor area for exercise. With rare exceptions, it needn't be heated or cooled, just a well-ventilated place where the birds can get out of the rain, sun, or wind. This shelter should provide the birds free access to the fenced-in pasture. Keep the turkey feeder inside this shelter so food stays dry, and provide a rounded stick or branch about an inch in diameter and a foot off the ground for a perch.
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Feeding
There are three feeding stages to raising a turkey. The "starter" phase runs from birth to eight weeks, during which time the basic ration is a 26% to 28% protein poultry feed. The "grower" phase runs from eight to 16 weeks, when the basic ration is a 20% to 22% poultry feed. The "finishing" stage runs from 16 weeks to 24 weeks, with a basic ration of approximately 16% poultry feed. During the starter phase, it is best to feed the young birds their poultry feed in mash form. After that, the birds are large enough to eat poultry feed in a pellet form. I always feed the mash in a tray, dish, or feeder of some type to keep it off the ground. With pellets, I put some in the feeder and some on the ground, where the birds can scratch at them and pick them up with some natural grit. Let them eat as much as they want.
Along with prepared feeds, the birds will benefit from various supplemental feeds. Some of this the birds will get by scratching around: bugs, worms, and weed seeds. You can add grass clippings, alfalfa hay, and table scraps; little should go to waste with these big birds around.
From eight weeks on, it is also appropriate to scatter some grain—corn, oats, milo, or a mixed bag of "scratch—on the ground for the birds. This feed variety will yield a more savory bird, but it's important to remember that this is all supplement. Because of their rapid growth rate, your turkeys' basic diet should be a prepared high-protein feed.
Both chickens and turkeys will digest their feed better with some prepared grit. The usual is oyster shell, available at most feed stores; scatter some around with the prepared feed. Keep in mind that a freerange bird is not necessarily an "organic" bird. (I think of organic poultry as birds raised on feed grown without any herbicides, pesticides, or commercial fertilizers.)
Like any other farm animal, turkeys need clean fresh water available at all times. Feed stores and poultry supply catalogs sell portable automatic waterers constructed so that the young birds won't fall in and drown.
Dressing Out Your Birds
At somewhere between 20 and 26 weeks (24 being the most common) it is time to kill, dress, and prepare your turkeys. I would never claim that butchering is fun but of all the farm and game animals I've butchered over the years, I have found turkeys the easiest. I have never gotten attached to a turkey. And a turkey will "come clean" easier and faster than other animals. Though just part-time homesteaders, last Thanksgiving my wife and I had six turkeys killed, dressed out, and ready for the freezer in two hours. With the first bird, you will feel slow and uncertain (and perhaps a bit squeamish). But with a little practice, this will seem like a routine farm chore.
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